Latest / Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History / 1946 • Baseball Clip • Leo Durocher Radio Show

Transcript

1946 • Baseball Clip • Leo Durocher Radio Show · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

• 0:00
  This is RetroSports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
• 0:07
  Welcome to Leo DeRosier.
• 0:09
  Chimney Sweep, America's number one such destroyer, presents the famous fiery manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers,
• 0:14
  Leo DeRosier, and a sparkling new 15 minute program, your sports question box.
• 0:19
  You send in the questions, any question on any sport or game, and Leo answers it.
• 0:25
  Every question used, Chimney Sweep, such destroyer, pays the sender $5,
• 0:30
  and the question considered by Leo, the most interesting, nets the sender $50, compliments of Chimney Sweep.
• 0:37
  Send in your question tonight. All questions become the property of Chimney Sweep.
• 0:42
  And here's the masterminding manager of those dashing, slam bang Brooklyn Dodgers, Leo DeRosier.
• 0:48
  Hi ya folks, hello to all of you. Boy, what a wonderful world. It's sure great to be alive.
• 0:52
  Leo, this from you? Why I thought this is...
• 0:55
  I know what you thought, Frank. I know what everybody thought, but this is the new DeRosier.
• 0:59
  Everybody's friend, not mad at anyone. Yes, sir, Frank, you're looking at gentlemen Leo DeRosier.
• 1:04
  This I gotta hear.
• 1:06
  You and me both, Frank.
• 1:07
  Well, just keep your ears open, both of you.
• 1:09
  Oh, that's more like it.
• 1:10
  Yeah, now we can start the show. The first question comes from H.A. Brown of Cleveland, Ohio.
• 1:15
  Mr. Brown was an umpire.
• 1:16
  Never heard of him, and if I never heard of him, he's no umpire. You're so touchy, Leo.
• 1:21
  I'm sure DeRosier can, remember? It seems, Leo, that Mr. Brown acted as umpire during a schoolboy game one day last summer.
• 1:28
  He wants some advice from you.
• 1:29
  This must be the end of the world, an umpire asking me for advice.
• 1:33
  In any case, here's Mr. Brown's letter.
• 1:35
  One day last summer, I was acting as umpire of a baseball game between two local Chews Up Schoolboy teams.
• 1:41
  The Die Hards and the Murderers.
• 1:43
  What names those kids can dream up?
• 1:45
  Right. A member of the Die Hards hit a home run, but in circling the bases, he failed to touch second.
• 1:50
  After he completed the circuit, I ruled him out for this omission. The captain of the Die Hards was mad as a hornet.
• 1:55
  That's not very mad in Brooklyn.
• 1:57
  The captain said I had no right to call the missed base to the scorer's attention unless some member of the opposing team, that is the Murderers, had first called it to my attention.
• 2:06
  What he actually said was, I should have kept my big mouth shut.
• 2:10
  Ah, there's a kid after my own heart. Find out his name, Frank, and tell him there's a job waiting for him on the Dodgers when he grows up.
• 2:16
  I suppose you'd use him as a pinched beef, are you, Leo?
• 2:18
  Well, how else, Frank? I can just hear the announcer saying, so-and-so now screaming for derosier.
• 2:23
  Yes, sir, I can use that lad.
• 2:25
  And now, how about a ruling on the play?
• 2:27
  Well, the captain of the Die Hards was absolutely right. The umpires should have kept quiet.
• 2:31
  In a baseball game, every player is supposed to be wide awake and on his toes every minute of the game.
• 2:36
  If they're not interested enough in their opponent's mistakes to catch them, then like the captain of the Die Hards said, the umpire should have kept his big mouth shut.
• 2:44
  And the run should have counted. $5 for Mr. Brown.
• 2:48
  Mary Wallace of Oceanside, California wants you to tell her the distance of the longest swim on record.
• 2:53
  And jumping right out of the pool with the answer, Frank, here it is.
• 2:56
  Back in February 1935, Pedro Candisti swam 281 miles between Santa Fe and Surrey in the waters of the Pareña River in Argentine South America.
• 3:06
  You sound like you were right there, Leo.
• 3:08
  Me? I'm rowing the boat for the kid and handing him out hot coffee and axle grease. Next?
• 3:12
  Well, now if the lift will give me a chance, I've got a few facts and figures that will prove interesting to every homemaker.
• 3:17
  When your heating bills run high at the temperature of your house, stays low, folks, get rid of that soot in your furnace.
• 3:24
  Soot wastes fuel, steels heat. So right now, use chimney sweep soot destroyer.
• 3:29
  Chimney sweep is the quick, easy, almost miraculous way to clean out soot from furnaces, flows, fireplaces, and chimneys.
• 3:36
  Soot that steals valuable heat, dirties, drapes, and furnishings, and exposes your family to chimney fire and coal gas explosion dangers.
• 3:44
  Chimney sweep is safe, perfectly safe, so easy to use.
• 3:48
  Just sprinkle a cup full of chimney sweep on the fire every week as directed. No fuss, no musts.
• 3:54
  Use chimney sweep and coal and oil furnaces, coal and wood fireplaces, stoves.
• 4:00
  Get chimney sweep soot destroyer tomorrow. Only $1 big three pound can, only a $1.89 giant six pound can.
• 4:08
  All hardware, department, and chain stores.
• 4:11
  Friends, don't accept an imitation.
• 4:13
  Insist on genuine chimney sweep. It's America's number one soot destroyer.
• 4:18
  And for more heat, a cleaner home, just sprinkle chimney sweep on the fire every week.
• 4:23
  Now, back to Leo D'Rosier and Frank Chase.
• 4:26
  K.L. Chavizi of New York City wants to know the name of the pitcher who fanned the mighty Casey in the poem, Casey at the Bat.
• 4:33
  Well, that's something I always wanted to know myself. I could have used that guy plenty last season.
• 4:38
  The pitcher's name, Leo. We'll get the personal troubles later.
• 4:41
  Well, I'm trying to tell you the guy didn't have a name.
• 4:43
  Oh, come, come, Leo. Everybody has a name.
• 4:45
  Well, this guy didn't, see? Ernest there who wrote the poem never gave him a name. He's baseball's unknown man.
• 4:51
  Well, if you can't give Mr. Chavizi the pitcher's name, maybe you'd like to recite the poem for him.
• 4:55
  Oh, sure. It only runs 13 stanzas and we got all the time in the world.
• 4:59
  Well, how about the finale then, the last stanza?
• 5:02
  Oh, boy. Well, Mr. Ricky hears this. D'Rosier reciting poetry. But here goes anything to please the customer.
• 5:08
  Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.
• 5:12
  We now present Mr. Leo D'Rosier, manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team,
• 5:17
  and a heartwarming rendition of the final stanza of that greatest of all baseball poems, Casey at the Bat.
• 5:24
  Mr. D'Rosier.
• 5:26
  Oh, somewhere in this favorite land, the sun is shining bright.
• 5:30
  The band is playing somewhere and somewhere hearts are light, and somewhere men are laughing,
• 5:35
  and somewhere children shout, but there is no joy in Mudville. Mighty Casey had struck out.
• 5:42
  Beautiful, Leo. Beautiful. Didn't you think so, Ken?
• 5:45
  Superb, Frank. Superb. Don't remember when I've heard anything so moving.
• 5:49
  Very funny. Next question right now.
• 5:52
  From Mort Blumberg of Washington, what's the highest speed ever made in an automobile?
• 5:57
  Well, of course, since Mr. Ricky gave the boys those cars at the end of the season,
• 6:00
  there may have been a whole lot of new records made.
• 6:03
  But the last official automobile time was set by John R. Cobb on August 23, 1939,
• 6:09
  in two one-mile runs over the Bonville Salt Flats, Cobb averaged 369.7 miles per hour.
• 6:16
  Say, that ain't coasting.
• 6:17
  $5 to Mr. Blumberg.
• 6:18
  And that ain't hay.
• 6:20
  Now, Leo, I have a man from Havana.
• 6:23
  You sound like Dr. I. Q.
• 6:25
  That's who I meant to sound like. Glad you guessed it.
• 6:27
  Well, wonderful to be on the mic with a guy who thinks he's a mimic.
• 6:30
  Okay, what does the Havana gent want to know?
• 6:32
  On what sport do Americans spend the most money each year?
• 6:35
  The answer is fishing.
• 6:37
  Pre-war figures show that Americans spent about $1 billion, $200 million a year on their rods and reels.
• 6:43
  Hunting was in second place with an annual outlay of some $650 million.
• 6:48
  Golfers laid another $600 million on the line for the love of that game.
• 6:52
  Motor boarding was fourth with about the same amount as in golf.
• 6:56
  And bowling was fifth with the cash registers ringing up $450 million.
• 7:00
  And what about the so-called attendance sports, football, baseball, basketball games, crack meets, that sort of thing?
• 7:06
  Way down the line, Frank.
• 7:07
  Sports fans spent only a measly $260 million on paid admissions to sporting contests,
• 7:13
  according to the most recent figures, just chicken feet.
• 7:17
  Yeah, does Mr. Ricky know that you consider $260 million chicken feet?
• 7:21
  He never asked me, so I never told him.
• 7:23
  And don't you?
• 7:24
  You're right there with all the answers today, Leo.
• 7:26
  Well, you know I'm beginning to believe what those umps say about me.
• 7:29
  Yeah, what's that?
• 7:30
  Derosha knows the answer to everything.
• 7:32
  Oh, you do, eh?
• 7:33
  Well, grab hold of this one.
• 7:35
  Each week, sports fans, we dream up one question that the lip hasn't heard about in advance.
• 7:40
  Today, the question is on a subject dear to Leo's heart, baseball.
• 7:44
  Here it is.
• 7:45
  Well, far away, Frank.
• 7:46
  Here's the situation, Leo.
• 7:47
  The first batter up hits a foul fly which the catcher catches.
• 7:51
  The batter still goes to first base.
• 7:54
  Well, the only thing I can see there is that the catcher in the field with the hitter,
• 7:58
  in other words, tipped his back.
• 8:00
  That's right.
• 8:01
  Now, the next hitter up hits a long fly to center field, which is also caught.
• 8:06
  The man on first scores.
• 8:07
  How do you explain it?
• 8:09
  Hits a long fly to center field, which is caught.
• 8:12
  Right.
• 8:13
  The center fielder held the ball.
• 8:15
  Right?
• 8:16
  There was no wild throws after he threw it back into the infield.
• 8:19
  No, nothing of that.
• 8:20
  I give up.
• 8:22
  The center fielder sees that the ball is going over his head.
• 8:25
  He leaps for the ball and in so doing loses his glove, which hits and stops the ball in flight.
• 8:31
  The ball drops down into his bare hands.
• 8:34
  A piece of equipment interfering with the ball in flight carries with it a free base penalty.
• 8:40
  Honey, in 20 years I've been in this game, I've never seen it happen.
• 8:44
  I got guys in the Brooklyn Club can't even catch it with a glove on.
• 8:47
  You got them catching it with it off.
• 8:49
  Okay, Leo, let's get back to the customers and their question.
• 8:52
  Where'd you dig the last one up?
• 8:54
  Oh, I've become something of a student of the game these last few weeks.
• 8:57
  Well, he's up on your homework, or I won't be able to look at my own players next year.
• 9:01
  I'll have one of those surprise items for you every week, Leo.
• 9:04
  Just to let the customers see how you think on your feet.
• 9:07
  My pal.
• 9:08
  Now back to the show and a question from R.M. Bell of Las Vegas, Nevada.
• 9:11
  It's about cards.
• 9:12
  Why doesn't he write the St. Louis papers?
• 9:14
  His question has to do with playing cards, not the Cardinals' baseball club.
• 9:18
  Mr. Bell wants you to tell him who is supposed to be represented by the four kings in a deck of ordinary playing cards.
• 9:24
  Why, this is a royal cinch.
• 9:26
  The four kings are supposed to be four real kings of olden times.
• 9:30
  They're David, Alexander, Caesar, and Charlemagne.
• 9:34
  Next.
• 9:35
  And now we come to the most interesting question of the week.
• 9:37
  In baseball, what is the record for consecutive scoreless innings?
• 9:41
  Just a minute, Leo. Before you answer that, I've got a word or two to say to the fans.
• 9:45
  Soot threatens your family.
• 9:47
  Yes, clogging soot in your heating plant causes many a chimney fire, causes many a furnace explosion by trapping coal gases.
• 9:55
  Right now, use chimney sweep soot destroyer to clean out dangerous soot.
• 9:59
  Chimney sweep is the quick, easy, almost miraculous way to get rid of soot in furnaces, flues, fireplaces, and chimneys.
• 10:06
  Soot that steals valuable heat, dirties, drapes, and furnishings, and exposes your family to chimney fire and coal gas explosion dangers.
• 10:15
  Chimney sweep is safe, perfectly safe, so easy to use too.
• 10:20
  All you do is sprinkle a cup full of chimney sweep on the fire every week as directed.
• 10:25
  No fuss, no musts.
• 10:26
  Use chimney sweep in coal and oil furnaces, coal and wood fireplaces, stoves.
• 10:32
  Get chimney sweep soot destroyer tomorrow, sure. Only $1 or $1.89, all hardware department and chain stores.
• 10:40
  Chimney sweep is on sale in Canada too.
• 10:43
  Don't take an imitation.
• 10:44
  Insist on chimney sweep. Genuine chimney sweep soot destroyer.
• 10:49
  And remember, be sure and sprinkle chimney sweep on the fire every week.
• 10:53
  And now for the most interesting question of this week.
• 10:56
  The most interesting question of this week comes from, and its $50 award goes to,
• 11:01
  Mrs. T.S. Atkins of Westerly, Rhode Island.
• 11:04
  Mrs. Atkins writes, in reading about that 19-inning scoreless tie between the dodges and the red.
• 11:09
  Well, I guess I'll never hear the end of that one.
• 11:11
  And if Mrs. Atkins wants to know why we didn't win, tell her we're only human.
• 11:16
  Well, that isn't what she wants to know.
• 11:17
  She says newspaper reports of the game refer to it as the longest scoreless tie on record,
• 11:22
  but then went on to point out that more scoreless innings had been played in a game between the pirates and the Braves back in 1918.
• 11:29
  Well, that's right. It was on August 1, 1918, that the pirates beat the Braves in the 21st inning when they scored two runs.
• 11:36
  The only scoring of the game.
• 11:38
  So that pirate-brave game actually ran 20 scoreless innings before a run crossed the plate.
• 11:43
  Mrs. Atkins knows all that, Ken. Here's what she wants to know.
• 11:46
  Was the record for scoreless innings made in that pirate-brave duel?
• 11:50
  No, it wasn't. And a funny thing is none of the sports writers mentioned the real record game.
• 11:54
  Back in 1893, Washington and St. Louis played, and here's what happened.
• 11:58
  On August 27th, the teams went 12 innings without a run.
• 12:02
  Play was suspended on account of darkness.
• 12:04
  When the game was resumed on August 28th, another 14 innings passed with nothing but gooseache.
• 12:10
  Yeah, but wasn't the same game.
• 12:12
  I wasn't there, Frank, but the official scores marked it down as a single game.
• 12:16
  It lasted 27 innings, and the first 26 of them were scoreless.
• 12:20
  Incidentally, Washington won the game in the 27th inning.
• 12:24
  By what score?
• 12:25
  1 to nothing, I hope. What do you mean, you hope?
• 12:28
  What difference does it make? Washington won, and that's enough for any ball clip to know.
• 12:32
  Let's get on to the next question.
• 12:34
  First off, congratulations and a check for $50 to Mrs. Atkins.
• 12:37
  And that's all for today, Leo. I want a few seconds to tell the fans how to send in their questions.
• 12:41
  You know, folks, this is your sports question box.
• 12:44
  You send in the questions, any question, on any sport or any card game.
• 12:48
  For every question used on any program, we'll mail the sender $5.
• 12:52
  But that's not all. If your question is judged most interesting of the week,
• 12:56
  we'll mail you a check for $50.
• 12:58
  Just write your question on a plain piece of paper, and be sure to include your name and address.
• 13:03
  Mail to Leo DeRosier, American Broadcasting Company, New York City, 20, New York.
• 13:09
  This is Leo DeRosier saying, see you next week, same time, same station.
• 13:15
  One hour'll be back for Chimney's Week with more answers to your sports question box.
• 13:20
  Meantime, remember, in life, as in baseball, a sacrifice never hurts your batting average.
• 13:26
  Friends, don't let soot in your heating plant. Start a chimney fire.
• 13:30
  Don't let soot clog your furnace flues and perhaps cause a dangerous coal gas explosion.
• 13:36
  Don't let soot steal heat, too, and dirty up your home.
• 13:40
  Get Chimney Sweep Soot Destroyer tomorrow from any hardware department or chain store,
• 13:44
  and start using it right away.
• 13:46
  If your dealer happens to be out of Chimney Sweep, just mail $1 along with your name and address to Chimney Sweep Orange, New Jersey.
• 13:53
  That's Chimney Sweep Orange, New Jersey.
• 13:55
  And we'll see that you receive your Chimney Sweep Soot Destroyer promptly and post-paid.
• 14:00
  Your sports question box is the original production of Frank Chase.