Welcome to the Baseball History Podcast: Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities. I’m your game announcer Bob Wright. This is game 16 of the 2006 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 1 week of May.
May 1, 1939 At Comiskey Park, the White Sox defeat the Cubs and Dizzy Dean, 4-1, in an exhibition game to benefit Monty Stratton. Startton, a former pitcher who lost his leg in an off-season hunting accident, tries to pitch in the game and receives a new car and nearly $30,000 as a result of the contest.
Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean, was born January 16, 1910, in Lucas, Arkansas. The brash Cardinals fireballer, burst upon the big league scene in 1932 and averaged 24 wins over his first five full seasons. A winner of four consecutive National League strikeout crowns, “Diz” was 30-7 in 1934 when he and his brother Paul led the “Gashouse Gang” to the World Championship. A broken toe suffered in the 1937 All-Star Game led to an arm injury that eventually shortened his playing days.
Dizzy Dean actually had only six full seasons in the majors, but no player packed more accomplishments, excitement, and shenanigans into a shorter time.
Dean was given his nickname by his sergeant in the army, where he picked up the basics of pitching. He was pitching for a semi-pro team in San Antonio when a manager in the Cardinals’ farm system spotted him at a tryout camp. The Cardinals signed him, and he split 1930 between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Houston, rolling up a combined 25-10 minor league record before pitching a three-hitter for St. Louis on the last day of the season. Returned to Houston for the 1931 campaign, Dean struck out 303 batters on his way to 26 victories.
As a rookie in 1932, the 21-year-old Dean was joining the “Gas House Gang” World Champions. He won 18 and led the National League in strikeouts, shutouts, and innings pitched. He helped his own cause repeatedly with superb fielding, a .258 batting average, and fine speed on the bases. From 1933 to 1936 Dean dominated batters. During this stretch he won 102 games, led the league in complete games each year, and averaged 50 games and more than 300 innings per season. In 1933 he struck out 17 Cubs in a game, a major league record at that time.
During spring training in 1934, Dizzy proudly predicted that he and his brother Paul would win 45 games that season. The incredible prediction seemed ludicrous because Paul had never pitched a game in the majors. Yet Dizzy’s boast proved conservative; he won 30 and Paul won 19. Dizzy led the league in wins, strikeouts, shutouts, and complete games, was second to Carl Hubbell for the Earned Run Average crown, and batted .246. He easily outdistanced Paul Waner for the Most Valuable Player award. He capped off his spectacular year with two wins over the Tigers in the World Series, including a shutout in the seventh game.
The 1935 season proved a virtual carbon copy of 1934 as the Deans won 47. Dizzy slipped to 28 victories but still led the league in many pitching categories. This time he was edged out by Gabby Hartnett for Most Valuable Player. Dean won 24 and saved 11 the next year and again narrowly missed the Most Valuable Player award, losing to Carl Hubbell.
While pitching for the National League in the 1937 All-Star Game, Dean faced Earl Averill of the Cleveland Indians, batting for the American League. Averill hit a line drive back at the mound, hitting Dean on the foot. Told that his big toe was “fractured,” Dean said, “Fractured, hell, the damn thing’s broken!” Dean came back too soon, and changed his pitching motion in a way that favored his sore toe. In so doing, he hurt his arm, losing his great fastball.
Traded to the Cubs for three players and $185,000 just before the start of the 1938 season, he replaced his blazing fastball and dazzling curve with a changeup and slow curve. Dean was able to chip in a 7-1 mark with a 1.81 Earned Run Average in 13 games, helping Chicago to the National League pennant. Over the next three years Dean appeared in only 30 games.
At age 30 he retired and became a broadcaster for the St. Louis Browns. His bold and zany antics on and off the field have made him one of the most recognizable characters in American folklore. He loved to challenge and bait opposing players before and during games. His popularity and colorful approach to the game continued unabated when he entered the radio broadcaster’s booth. His malapropisms and blatant avoidance of the rules of grammar were legendary, and fans loved it.
Dizzy Dean made a one-game comeback on September 28, 1947. After broadcasting several poor pitching performances in a row, he grew frustrated, saying on the air, (quote)”Doggone it, I can pitch better than nine out of the ten guys on this staff!” (end quote) The wives of the Browns pitchers complained, and management, needing to sell tickets somehow, took him up on his offer and had him pitch the last game of the season. At age 37, Dean pitched four innings, allowing no runs, and rapped a single in his only at-bat. Rounding first base, he pulled his hamstring. Returning to the broadcast booth at the end of the game, he said, (quote)”I said I can pitch better than nine of the ten guys on the staff, and I can. But I’m done. Talking’s my game now, and I’m just glad that muscle I pulled wasn’t in my throat.” (quote)
In 1950 he began doing baseball’s Game of the Week on national television. He remained in sportscasting for more than 20 years.
Dizzy Dean was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1953 and died on July 17, 1974, in Reno, Nevada
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: G
Gap
The space between outfielders. Because only three players cover the entire outfield, wide stretches of uncovered field exist. The size of the gaps between the center fielder and the left fielder and between the center fielder and the right fielder is determined by the defensive position of the outfielder. A gap hitter is a hitter who hits the ball between the outfielders.
And now for the ninth inning…
Continuing our trip around baseball cities…
Wichita Wranglers
This team is double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals and plays their home games at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. The stadium was built in 1934 as a Work Projects Administration assignment and is the eighth oldest baseball stadium still in use in professional baseball.
The stadium was actually built as a result of a freak accident. Before 1935, professional baseball and the National Baseball Congress Kansas State Tournament were played at Island Park, located where the Arkansas River once split just north of the current Douglas Street Bridge. A smoldering cigarette that was dropped in the wooden structure, however, burned Island Park to the ground.
The next stadium was built at a site that was called Payne Field, at Maple and Sycamore. Hap Dumont, who had started the NBC and the Kansas State Tournament in 1931, promised Wichita he would host a national semi-pro baseball tournament if a new stadium was built. Payne Field had served as a landing strip for the earlier aircraft manufacturers in the city.
The new stadium was named Lawrence Stadium, in honor of Robert Lawrence, a civic leader in the city who died in 1934. Lawrence had built a mansion at Seneca and Maple, three blocks west of the stadium, now the site of the Kansas Masonic Home. Dumont died in 1971, and following a major renovation in 1972, the ballpark was renamed Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. The stadium underwent two more major renovations in 1989 and 2001, resulting in the current facility. Lawrence-Dumont is the second oldest stadium in the Texas League. Only Ray Winder Field in Little Rock, Arkansas is older.
From 1935, the NBC tournament has drawn huge crowds and hundreds of future major league players to Wichita.
The Wichita Wranglers have captured two Texas League Championships since calling Lawrence-Dumont home in 1989.
For those of you that want to stick around, here’s an
Extra Inning
First, I want to thank all of you who stuck around during all of the earlier shows when I was recording from my cave. I think I now have the major recording problems fixed. At least it sounds better to me.
It seems kind funny to me, but a couple of people have asked if I have ever been a baseball announcer because of how I introduce myself in the intro. The answer is a big no. In fact, to do this show I have to do heavy editing. I really don’t see how the real announcers do it. I am just a big fan that enjoys talking baseball.
I want to thank Dennis at Star Struck for the nice things he said about this show. I will be playing a promo of his show at the end of this show. If you are a baseball fan, you will enjoy the show even if you aren’t an Astros fan.
You can email me at baseballhistory@gmail.com. Transcripts of the game can be found at baseballhistorypodcast.blogspot.com. Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
TWIBH- Dizzy
Dean,
Baseball
Dictionary- Gap,
Tour- Wichita
Wranglers
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