When he appeared as the first person on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1954, slugger Eddie Mathews was shown taking what baseball legend Ty Cobb called one of the three or four perfect swings he'd seen.

It was a skill Mathews acquired early in life through endless hours of practice.

"My mother used to pitch to me, and my father would shag balls," he said when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978. "If I hit one up the middle, close to my mother, I'd have some extra chores to do."

Being forced to avoid hitting his mother helped the left-handed swinging Mathews develop into a pull hitter who routinely drove the ball to right field.

Mathews (1931-2001), the seventh major league to hit 500 home runs, recorded 512 for his career. Until Mike Schmidt broke the record, Mathews held the major league mark for the most home runs by a third baseman. He also drove in 1,453 runs and hit .271 for his career. He played in three World Series, his team winning the first (1957, with the Milwaukee Braves) and the last (1968, with the Detroit Tigers).

In addition, Mathews was the only player in the Braves' franchise history to play in all three of their cities: Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta.

"Mathews wanted no part of that, so he signed with Johnny Moore, a Braves scout who had followed him since sandlot days."

Mathews and his father also chose Boston because they took a long view, and the Braves had the oldest third baseman in baseball.

He and his father calculated correctly. The fast-developing Mathews used his experience in the minor leagues to quickly rise through the Braves' system. He made the big leagues in three years.

Mathews was known mostly for his offense. But through dedication and repetition, he made himself an all-around ballplayer.

"He had that good power swing, but he didn't limit it to that," said Roland Hemond, an executive with Boston and Milwaukee. "He made himself into a far better third baseman that anyone anticipated. He took ground ball after ground ball."

Sometimes that extra work carried a painful lesson.

"Connie Ryan, one of our coaches, would hit 50 to 100 ground balls to Eddie every day in spring training," said Johnny Logan, a shortstop for the Braves. "He broke his nose three times fielding balls. He'd work hard for a couple of hours."

Even after Mathews smoothed out his fielding, balls sometimes hit him in the shins or on the chest. But he wouldn't let the fear stop him. He learned to keep the ball in front of him so he could make the play.

The extra work and his fearlessness paid off. In Game 7 of the 1957 World Series against the New York Yankees, he made a diving stop of a hot grounder with the bases loaded and beat the runner to third base for the final out of the game, clinching the title for the Braves.

It was an attitude he needed to maintain if he was to succeed.

Mathews' all-out approach was never more evident that during spring training in his early years. The exhibition game meant nothing, yet he still ran over Commissioner Ford Frick and some fans while trying to catch a foul ball.

Even when he hit the ball to an infielder for a sure out, he didn't give in. The hard-driving Mathews would charge to first base anyway.

"He helped us win the 1957 World Series on a routing groundball to (Yankee second baseman) Jerry Coleman that he beat out," Hemond said in the Chicago Tribune. "He surprised Coleman. We went on to score in that inning. That exemplified Eddie Mathews."

"He played every game like the world was coming to an end tomorrow," Chuck Tanner, former major league manager, said in "The 500 Home Run Club."

When Mathews failed, he took it hard. But he didn't let that failure affect his next game.

"I remember one time I was pitching the second game of a double-header in the middle of the summer in Chicago," said former teammate Gene Conley. "It was really hot. Eddie was 0 for 4 in the game, and he was so mad he sat out in the dugout. I was sitting there waiting to warm up for the second game. Suddenly, he jumped don on the floor of the dugout and did 25 pushups. I'm thinking, 'this guy is crazy.' But he was just so frustrated by the first game that he had to do something to get it out of his system."

Mathews' health began to decline in 1996 after his pelvis was crushed in a boating accident. It was serious and came at an age when many would have given up. But he went back to what always worked. He simply refused to surrender.

"I work out three times a week," he told Sports Illustrated in 1999 of his recovery, "and I'm fighting like hell to feel good again."