Hank Bauer, wounded World War II Marine and New York Yankees legacy, died on February 9 at the age of 84. The cause of death -- cancer.

Bauer, who managed the 1966 Baltimore Orioles to their first World Series title, was a three-time All-Star Yankees outfielder during his time with the team that won nine American League pennants and seven World Series titles in just 10 years. Bauer, a Yankees fixture from 1948-59, set the Series record with a 17-game hitting streak. His record still stands.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner says, "Hank Bauer is an emblem of a generation that helped shape the landscape of our country. He was a natural leader and a teammate in every sense of the word, and his contributions went well beyond the baseball field. His service to the Yankees, his country, and his family shows why I have been so privileged to call him a friend."

Bauer's baseball accomplishments, which also include playing two seasons with and later managing the Kansas City Athletics and scouting for the Yankees and Royals, are not his only claims to fame. He also earned two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts for his courageous dedication to the United States.

Enlisting in the Marines shortly after Pearl Harbor, Bauer was wounded in Okinawa when he was hit in the leg by shrapnel just 53 days after he arrived on the island with 64 other men. "Only six of us came out," said Bauer who signed with the Yankees minor league after his discharge and sported his Marine Corps crewcut throughout the baseball career that landed him with the likes of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, and a young Roger Maris.

During the same week Bauer lost his life, two other players of his time also passed away -- Steve Barber, who pitched for Bauer in Baltimore and Lew Burdette, who played against the Yankees in the 1957 and 1958 World Series.

Bauer is remembered by many.

"I am truly heartbroken," says Berra. "Hank was a wonderful teammate and friend for so long. Nobody was more dedicated and proud to be a Yankee, he gave you everything he had."

Actress Mariska Hargitay lost her father on Thursday to multiple myeloma. Mickey Hargitay, the 1955 Mr. Universe, Mr. America, Mr. Olympia, and one-time husband of late sex symbol Jayne Mansfield died at the age of 80 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Born Miklos Hargitay in Hungary, Mickey emigrated to the United States after World War II. Here he entered the world of bodybuilding and then landed a role in Mae West's Las Vegas Revue. Mansfield, who saw the show in 1956, married Hargitay in 1958 -- and the two later had daughter Mariska and two other children. Mansfield and Hargitay divorced in 1964 -- and Mansfield died in a car crash in 1967.

Family members shared in a statement to the media, "words cannot express how saddened we are by the loss of Mickey. At the same time, we are so grateful for who he was and is to all of us, and for the love he gave us in our lives. He will continue to be our source of inspiration and strength."

Hargitay, also know for a few Hercules-style movies, is survived by his wife of 38 years, Ellen, a daughter, a stepdaughter, two sons, a brother, a sister, 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Crime novelist and American author Frank Morrison Spillane, better known to his millions of fans as Mickey Spillane, creator of the fictional detective Mike Hammer, passed away at his home from cancer.

Spillane, who grew up in a tough blue-collar neighborhood, started his career as a writer for pulp magazines and comic books. He was paid twelve dollars a piece for a block of copy and could do as many as fifty blocks of copy a day.

Spillane, who began his novels on a manual Smith Corona, referred to himself as a writer, not an author, because a writer is someone who writes books to sell them. When a friend told Spillane he didn't care for the sex and violence in the crime novels, Spillane told him, "That's what sells, and I need the money."

When literary critics objected to the level of sex and violence in his novels, Spillane was quoted as saying, "Those big-shot writers could never dig the fact that there are more salted peanuts consumed than caviar. If the public likes you, you're good."

Jane Spillane, his wife, said she could think of nothing she didn't adore about her husband. "He was the most generous man who walked the Earth," she said. "He was kind to everyone, even strangers."

About his death, Jane remarked, "He had cancer, and he was doing so well. Everybody thought he would be around for a long time."

Spillane also wrote two children's books, appeared in the films Ring of Fear and The Girl Hunters; the television show Colombo and series of commercials in a parody of his tough guy image for Miller Lite. He was 88.