tonight, legends of baseball. beginning with babe ruth a slugger who changed the game. san francisco's own joe demaggio. the clipper who married marlin monroe. jackie robinson made baseball history and american history.

the first african american player to play baseball. and number 24, generations recognized the man known as the say hey kid. i talk with willie hayes ahead on a second look. i'm frankerville. welcome to a second look. today we have a show totally dedicated to baseball. george herman ruth jr. grew up playing baseball. two years after he joined the major leagues he was playing for the red sox. two years later he pitched two winning games for the red sox in the world series after a season where he hit 11 home runs. the next year, he hit 29 home runs and became a national

star. in 1920 the red sox sold ruth to the yankees. ruth began hitting the ball out of the park and by the end of the season, he thrilled the crowd by calling his shots. actually pointing to the outfield stands before hitting a home run to the exact spot. off the field, babe ruth's reputation was equally large. but he was also known for his countless visits to orphanages and children's hospitals. babe ruth died from cancer at the age of 53. the new york times obituary described ruth as good natured to a fault. so perhaps he may have found

some humor to babe ruth which fans noticed got one thing wrong. joe rosen filed this report in 1985. >> reporter: baseball's babe ruth. a legend who crushed 60 home runs in a single season. >> the king of baseball. >> reporter: loved children. was larger than life. fans loved him. and the legend was a lefty. he grew famous as a yankee but grew up in baltimore. played for st. mary's industrial school. now a statute stands tall in the hero's hometown. it importallizes the babe, but wait he's holding a glove only a right hander would use. >> no one noticed in fact, the

information that was supplied to me mostly came through the babe ruth museum. >> it came about innocently. the artist was working on a period glove who she thought was ruth's actual glove. experts missed the mistake on model after model. even after considering every conceivable detail. the kind of socks, the angle of the cap. finally this winter they discovered the flaw. by then it was too late. the clay model was about to be dipped in bronze. >> 800 pounds of clay on a welder, it would have meant tearing the arm off really to replace that glove because it was welded in there.

>> so everybody clammed up. >> it was the end of no return. >> reporter: until a fan called in and complained. some fans were peeved. >> they should have done the research on babe ruth. >> took away from who he was really. >> when i read the paper, i thought i should pack my things and go. but i'm here. for the duration. >> reporter: so, will they ever make it right? left, i wonder what the babe would have thought. would he have minded? nah. at camden yards. >> babe ruth's generosity and lovefor children is part of baseball legend. his spirit lived on in oakland in 1989. that's when the oakland a's dave henderson took a page from babe ruth's play book and made a young man very happy. >> reporter: at 10 years of age. phillip of berkeley has already learned the big lessons in life. you have to take the bad with

the good. and you could say phillip has experienced the very bad with the very good. phillip had brain cancer, doctors can treat it but they can't cure it. and that's where the a's come in. remember the famous babe ruth story where the babe tells a kid in the hospital he will hit a homer for him that day. well that's what dave henderson did. >> he said he was going to hit a home run for me. >> reporter: and here it is. >> and he hit it. it's hit well and there she goes. >> i didn't think he was going to hit it. but he cracked that boy. he fooled me. he hit that ball hard, man. that ball went far.

that was a ice ball. >> when he hit it i said phillip that's for you and he goes, yes. >> reporter: this afternoon the salvation army took phillip and his family back to the oakland coliseum for another game and a chance to say thanks. >> i said i was going to hit a home run. i always say that. you want me to sign this card? >> yes. >> that looks like a home run swing. >> i was just talking to him and we were talking about the game and i said i was going to hit a home run. >> how can you promise him something like that? >> that's not a promise, is it. >> joe demaggio the slugger who captured the heart of marlin monroe. and later he opened the door to equality on the field. the first black man in the major leagues. jackie robinson. an interview with his daughter about her legendary father.

the romance that thrilled

the world. the marriage of marlin monroe and joe demaggio. two top performers living out to reputations as outstanding growing cards. congratulations in an occasion where all the baseball lovers and movie stars go. nice work marlin and the same to you joe. welcome back to a second look. it was perhaps the most famous marriage in baseball history. the hollywood star and baseball player. the newlyweds made their home in san francisco in a house that joe demaggio had bought for his parents. demaggio-monroe marriage only

lasted 374 days but his deep affection for marlin monroe lasted for his lifetime. bob mackenzie remembered joe demaggio's life and career when he died in 1999. >> joe demaggio may have heard the sound of cheering more often than any other sports hero, any president, any rock star, emperor or king. baseball fans loved him in an era where baseball was really the national past time. as important as the movies. and its heros more honored than movie stars. >> he was not only one of the best players, he was known as a gentleman. this was in a day where sports figures thought it was part of the job to set an example of how to behave. >> we had a little rough tip

but i rather enjoyed it. >> reporter: after a few years of playing ball, demaggio played for the yankees. he had 11 all star appearances. getting a hit in 56 straight games. >> out of the entire nation including joe it all finally ended in cleveland and appears today as one of the game's most untouchable records. >> on behalf of all fans around the country i want to congratlation you for breaking that record. >> he demanded a huge payday for that day and he got it. the cheers got louder if that's possible when he married marlin monroe. joe wanted marlin to quit her career, she wouldn't. when they divorced fans were disillusions and demaggio according to friends was

devastated. after her death he sought to it that there were always fresh flowers on her grave. he never married again. after a stint for the a's, demaggio retired to a quiet almost recollusive life in north beach where he would play golf and would often be seen walking alone. >> all right, come on. >> let's go. >> all right, keep pushing. keep pushing. >> go. >> an autograph session was a rare occasion for him. he didn't like his picture taken and didn't give interviews. he was coaxed into old remembrances. >> just a piece of wood and the gloves, i think they were about five owned by the fellows in 1919 in the east side. with those five we shared with the opposing team. >> reporter: long after the

cheering stopped, joe demaggio maintained his reputation of a gentleman with a minimum of fuss and expected others to do the same. jackie robinson, the first black man to play in the major leagues. and some insight into the private life of this famous man. >> at the dinner table there was a lot of teaching that went on. >> reflections from jackie robinson's daughter and later the say hey kid. willie mays.

welcome back to second look. tonight baseball great and the man who broke the major league color barrier. jackie robinson. it was in 1970 that jackie robinson signed a contract and became the first african american player. with his great skills as a powerful hitter and lightning fast player known for stealing

bases, jackie robinson was voted rookie of the year. in 2007, some of his teammates spoke to reporter adam hosley about the legacy of jackie robinson. >> reporter: 16 years before the march in washington and four years before roosevelt signed integration, one man was already known in america. jackie robinson faced a game without color and 60 years later his legacy is entrenched into the soul of america. >> he knew if he failed, baseball as far as the advent of black men were going to be set back another 25 years. >> it's hard for me to imagine anybody who could have done this. so completely and so lastingly as jackie. he brought the team into a

contending team while he layed. >> but jackie and other teammates did not fail. in fact, they thrived and forced a change that caught the attention of the leader of american's civil rights movement. >> i will never forget martin luther king sitting at my dinner tame. 28 days before he died. he said to me don you and jock -- jackie and roy will never now how easier you made it for me to do my job. >> the team had to accept him, they were winning games for him. the fans in brooklyn loved this guy because he could play. even the opposite found out that hey after all this guy was outstanding as a player. america was blessed by jackie shaking us up real good. jackie terrified the game. he did the thing that baseball needed to have done to show that this is the perfect

affirmative action. the opportunity is given, it's all yours. in 1996, jackie robinson's daughter sharon appeared on mornings on 2. she spoke with steve mcpartlang about her famous father. >> if he wasn't traveling, he was home at 5:00. there was a lot of teachings on the dinner table. he talked about the civil rights. he was a basic man. meat and potatoes, fried chicken. grits every morning. his politics was one of his complexities and was what he struggled with and where he fit in as he went on. >> do you think your dad ever was able to appreciate and comprehend the contributions he made. or at the end there was the stories that he was bitter and taken advantage of. >> i don't think he was bitter.

he certainly recognized that he was still no matter how successful he was he was still a black man in this society and there was that glass ceiling and there was still discrimination in all levels of management but he was not bitter. he had a wonderful last year. all of the tributes for his 25 years. people still came up to him and recognized him walking the street. bitterness i wouldn't say was part of his character. when we back to a second look, one of baseball's greatest characters the giants own willie mays. - ( helicopter whirring ) - ( roars )

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and willie mays was considered one of the best player. but for demaggio said mays was the best player. he said whenever he looked in his pocket look he would see

willie mays. and we've taken an exert from that show beginning with willie mays joining the new york giants in 1951. >> back to throw. the giants won the pennant. the giant won the pennant. >> the new york giants weren't just some average baseball team. they were one of the grand titanses of the game. one of the original major league teams with a legacy few could match. when the giants went after a player, he had to match the giants standard. willie mays would prove to be their greatest player of all time. >> race was no longer the overwhelming obstacle for proball. jackie robinson had broken that. but mays did have to make an overwhelming change. going from the farm team to the

majors. he hit .477 an astonishing average that meant he was connecting with almost every ball. >> we were playing our exhibition game in sue city iowa. i was in a movie and on the screen it came, willie mays report to the lobby. now nobody knows me in sue city because that was my first time there and it was leo. leo says you're coming up tomorrow. >> leo derocha. >> leo derocha. i said i don't want to come up tomorrow because i'm just hitting .270. he said if you can hit half of that you can come up. the next day i was on a plane. i didn't go up to minneapolis. they sent more -- for my clothes there.

they had to send a reply on why they were taking me to the giants. >> he joined the giants for his first major league game that year in pittsburgh. in some ways he was just another rookie ballplayer coming up from the minors. but there was already something about him that caused the camera to hang on mays. as he went through the paces of getting off the plane. getting on the bus. getting a hotel room. what was it? he was not an unusually big man for a professional athlete. mays stood 5'10" and weighed 170 pounds but not a bit was wasted. despite his physical health and great ability, the step forced mays to stumble into a huge slump. >> it brought him up. i won't forget he went 0-12, 0- 14 or something. i went down in the dug out and he was kind of quiet. >> i started crying and worrying about, you're not going to hit. you're not going to do anything and they're going to send you

back so leo came to me. i will never forget this. he said hey, you don't have to hit here. you just play center field. you really don't have to do anything but play defense. i think that relaxed me a little bit and i think i had fun after that. >> his first hit he had a home run. after that there was no stopping him. he was gone. >> i think when people like you sometimes they let you hit a home run. i think, spawn, i was 0-14. i think he wanted me to stay. that was really what it was all about. >> it was the first of 660 home runs. he would hit in the next 23 years. it was just 1951 and willie mays would finish the season as rookie of the year. he had a star power from the start that was hard to resist. despite his extraordinary abilities, he still seemed to be a normal young man filled with celebrity in new york.

whether he was on the field or hamming it up on a popular tv game show. >> you play for the national -- of, would you be my ball team. part of the giants team? >> yes. >> well sir, i think i've got you. did you hit your 31st home run today. do you play center field? are you willie mays? >> there was little that was arrogant about a young willie mays. he played ball in harlem with the kids. enjoying the game at least as much as coming up to bat at the polo grounds not so far away. he seemed so easy to come around, especially for kids. he was like a big kid himself. meeting so many people so suddenly that remembering all those names seemed impossible. mays got around that problem by greeting folks with a simple,

say hey. soon he was the say hey kid. in 1954, all the elements were on the baseball field for that singular play in center field that has been known in sports for almost a half century simply as the catch. before for the cleveland indians was at plate. >> way back, it is -- willie mays just brought this crowd to its feet with a catch that must have been an obstacle illusion to a lot of people. >> when you look at this sketch and you see me running as i'm running i'm worried about getting the ball back into the end field. i'm not worried about catching the ball. i have the ball already in my hand. i am worried about if i catch this ball how am i going to get this ball back in the end field because i'm running for speed. i could do all that. >> reporter: the giants won the world series that year.

mays was the team's big gun and all was right with the world. >> that's it for this week's second look. i'm frank somerville and we'll see you again next week.

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