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Before Babe Ruth, there was the Phillies' Gavvy Cravath

Municipal Judge Clarence Cravath's reputation for crustiness led California lawyers to avoid certain topics in his Laguna Beach courtroom.

Mentions of foreign law or Washington bureaucrats could ignite the prickly temper that decades earlier earned Cravath the nickname "Cactus". And any attorney who mentioned Babe Ruth's name risked not just his case but his well-being.

"He wasn't much of a fan of Babe Ruth," his granddaughter, Ginger McMillian, told the New York Post in 2000. "He didn't like Babe's style. He thought he was a hot dog."

He had good reason to feel that way.

Aided by the tightly wound balls A.