Latest / Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History / 1948 • Baseball Clip • Dizzy Dean High Batting Average - Radio Interview

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1948 • Baseball Clip • Dizzy Dean High Batting Average - Radio Interview · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

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  This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
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  Well, here he is again, folks. Dizzy Dean, brought to you by the makers of Johnson's
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  wax for Karnoo, the wax fortified auto polish that cleans and polishes your car in one easy
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  application.
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  Howdy, folks. Frank, how about you and me talking a little bit about Stan Musel, the
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  star hitter of the Cardinals? Ted Williams, a slugging hero for Boston Red Sox and their
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  respectable batting averages.
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  All right, Diz. Friends, this is Frank Eschen, very happy to collaborate with Jerome Herman
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  Dizzy Dean at a discussion of two great hitters. But, Dizzy, you mean Musel and Williams and
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  their respective averages, I daresay.
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  Go ahead and dare say all you want, Frank, but I'd like to ask you a question before
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  you start daresaying any more.
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  Shoot, Jerome, always eager to cooperate.
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  Well, Frank, the last time I looked, Musel was hitting.376 and Williams was hitting
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  .365.
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  Frank, don't you think them as respectable averages?
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  Touche, Jerome, touche. Yes, I'll admit you were right the first time. Those are very
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  respectable averages. Now go even a little further along the Dizzy Dean rhetorical highway.
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  I'd say that those two batters have hit for a lot of respectable bases.
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  But what was the other point besides your sinister desire to catch me in a grammatical
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  trap?
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  I was going to say, Frank, that I guess most folks will admit that Williams and Musel is
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  about as good a pair of natural hitters that has come along in a long time. They both got
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  off to a great start, but they won't finish with that.400 average the baseball writers
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  and radio commentators was talking about early in the season.
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  A difficult objective to achieve, Jerome.
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  It's more than that, Frank. It's just doggone tough to hit.400. At one time they were both
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  over.400, as I remember, and it was really something to try to keep up that pace. And
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  any time they'd get only two out of five, which is hitting.400 for the day, they'd
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  drop a point or two. And that meant that in order to keep pace or maybe gain a little,
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  they'd have to get two for four, which is.500, or three for five, which is.600.
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  The point I want to make, Frank, is that anybody who ever hits.400 in the major leagues really
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  has something to be proud of.
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  And so to take a leap from your book, Diz, anybody who is hitting.376 or.365 can feel
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  comfortable in having a respectable batting average.
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  Now, Diz, we come to the mailbag department. We have two letters today. Mr. William Shamball
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  of Cincinnati writes about pitchers. He notes that so many of them were unable to hurl many
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  complete games, wilting after only four or five innings. And he recalls Rube Waddell,
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  who rarely reported at the park except on days when he was due to pitch. And almost
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  without exception, Rube was able to finish what he started. Mr. Shamball suggests that
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  it might be a good idea to give pitchers a couple of days off, Diz, so they'd have the
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  necessary rest, and perhaps they'd be able to pitch more complete games.
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  Frank, that idea probably will make a big hit with the pitchers. Boy, that would be
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  fine to have a couple of days off to go fishing or something without having to worry about
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  the ballpark. But I think the manager would raise a big kick about that. You see, Frank,
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  that is the matter of staying in condition. A pitcher has to run a lot. He ain't going
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  to keep his legs in shape setting on a riverbank with a fishing pole in his hand.
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  And here's another thing, Diz. Doesn't the average manager like to have his better pitchers
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  available for an occasional relief job?
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  Right you are, Frank. The year me and Paul won fifty games between us, I reckon we saved
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  maybe a dozen more, helping out now and then with an inning or two to stop a rally or protect
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  a small lead. Then I used to break in now and then as a pinch runner or a pinch batter
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  myself.
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  Ah, yes, yes. You were an asset of great versatility, Diz.
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  It wasn't so much that, Frank. I could get a hold of that old ball once in a while. Boy,
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  I loved a hit. I'll never forget one game when I went to hit for somebody. The other
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  club had walked Bill DeLancey, a good left-hand batter, to get at the pitcher. And Frankie
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  Frisk calls old Diz from the bullpen. He tells me the bases is loaded, but we're three runs
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  behind. Funny how managers always tell those things, when for pity sakes I was watching
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  as close as old Frankie was. Anyhow, he told me to try to get on. Well, the count gets
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  to three balls and nothing, and I don't look at third base at all. I know what the sign
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  is, though. I could see out of the corner of my eye that Mike Gonzalez was giving the
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  take sign. But I knew the pitcher was in the hole. He knew the take sign was on. I knew
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  he'd grew one for old Diz, trying to get back somewhere even on the count. Sure enough,
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  he grew one, a nice, fat fast ball. And, Frank, I couldn't hold back. I let her have it and
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  pounded that old ball far into the left field seats. As I passed third base, Mike Gonzalez
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  was having a fifth. Dizzy, he says, you crazy. Why you swing at that ball? Don't you know
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  the count? She is three and nothing, and we was three runs behind. And I says, keep your
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  shirt on, Mike. I know we was three runs behind, but we ain't no more.
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  What kind of a fit did Frisch have then, Diz?
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  Oh, he just shook his head and called me some kind of a dumb, lucky stiff.
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  Yes, but I daresay Frisch was glad you weren't taking a day off fishing that afternoon.
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  Yeah, Frank, see what I mean. Yes, I think you win that one for Mr. Shambaud, Diz. And
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  here's the other letter from the mailbag. Mr. Stuart Boggs of Philadelphia wants to
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  know something about the importance of jockeys in baseball. And did the old Gas House gang
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  go in much for that sort of stuff? First of all, Diz, you might explain what a jockey
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  is. Glad to, Frank. In horse racing, a jockey rides a horse. In baseball, the jockey rides
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  the other team. And while the baseball jockey don't use no spurs or no whip, he can sting
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  you plenty. Yes, I guess the dugout jockey always has been and always will be a part
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  of the game, Frank. And we used to break out in a little jockeying now and then in them
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  good old Gas House gang days. I'll tell you one time we really went to town, Frank, in
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  the 1934 World Series.
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  Yes, I seem to recall there were some sharp harpoons thrown during that October Classic
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  Jerome, remarks that were very, well, we might say ex cathedra, with authority, that is.
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  No, we never let religion get into our jockeying, Frank. But we had a lot of fun with them tigers.
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  We called them pussycats all through the series. And we got a little help from the tigers and
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  the Detroit papers.
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  How is that? That sounds like treason.
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  Well, for one thing, schoolboy Rowe did a little ad-libbing on the radio. He was on
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  a program and his heart was full of honeymoon at that particular time. And in a pause he
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  spoke a few words to his bride. He says, How am I doing, Edna? And, brother, I bet he was
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  many a time he'd never said that. He sure was miserable out there, trying to pitch with
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  Pat Crawford, our number one jockey, and all the others, asking out loud how he was doing
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  Edna. Then the Detroit papers give us some material. Mickey Cochran was injured in some
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  kind of a play, and of course, Detroit was all excited about that. One of the papers
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  came out with a big headline, flur across the top of the first page, which, with news
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  of Cochran's injury. And there was a big picture of Mike and under it, also in big type, it
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  said, Our Stricken Leader. Boy, we got knowledge out of that one. Mickey didn't show his nose
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  anywhere without some jockey starting a cheer for our stricken leader.
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  Frankie sure was a lot of fun pitching with that old gas house gang. And, Frank, we got
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  paid for it, too.
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  Yes, and here's something that you'll get paid for in the form of extra special Sunday
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  satisfaction. Some advice, Dizzy, for those who like to get the utmost pleasure out of
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  their cars. You know, man, if you're going to drive a bright, keen-looking automobile,
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  one thing is certain. You've got to get rid of road film. You know, that sticky film made
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  up of exhaust fumes, oil, bugs, and a lot of other things. Now, water can't touch that
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  film, and so week after week it keeps collecting on your paint and chrome. Your car loses its
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  sparkle so gradually that you may even forget how bright and shiny it used to look. Well,
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  you can bring back that sparkle. You can bring it back in one easy application with Johnson's
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  wax-fortified car new. Johnson's car new contains five cleaning ingredients. That's why. Those
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  ingredients cut right through that road film, carry it away, let the real finish of your
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  car show through. And because car new is wax-fortified, car new polishes your car, too. It gives the
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  car finish the bright beauty it had the day it left the showroom. And remember, it's all
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  done in one application. You just rub car new on, let it dry to a white powder, and
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  wipe it off. Your car is cleaned and polished from bumper to bumper, from top to hubcaps.
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  So before this weekend is over, drop in on your service station owner or other dealer
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  and get some car new, C-A-R-N-U, Johnson's car new. Then just rub it on, wipe it off,
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  and see that brilliant shine come back, that Sunday shine you may have thought was gone
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  forever. Now, dear, without sound advice on its way, I agree with you that it must have
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  been a lot of fun traveling with those colorful Cardinals. That's what the baseball writers
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  used to say, Frank. They didn't get much sleep, but there never was a dull moment. Pepper
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  Martin and Rip Collins had a fancy Dan Pepper game they'd put on during practice. They always
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  wove the crowd. But don't forget there was a lot of baseball in that club, Frank. Terry
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  Moore, Leo DeRosier, Joe Medrick, Rip Collins, and Frankie Fritz.
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  And it was all good-natured fun, too, Diz. I mean, the boys always were in shape to play
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  a lot of baseball.
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  You said it, Frank. Baseball was them boys' life. That's all they thought about, outside
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  of having a little fun. But I know what you mean. There was no playboys on that ball club.
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  A playboy just couldn't stay long in that club.
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  And that sounds like a story, Diz.
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  I won't say what year this was or what club it was, Frank, because it's a true story,
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  and I don't want nobody to know exactly who I'm talking about. But there was one pitcher
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  who liked to stay up kind of late. He didn't know how to take care of his money, either.
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  And the manager, knowing this pitcher, had a family back home arranged with the front
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  office to send the pitcher's paycheck to his wife so the family would be sure to have some
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  money. You see, this pitcher was liable to give it all away. He was so big-hearted when
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  he got on the evening merry-go-round.
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  Still late in the season there was an important ball game coming up the next day. Maybe the
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  pennant would hang on it. And this pitcher, I'm telling you about, really could throw
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  that ball when he was right. So the manager tells him he's going to pitch that important
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  game the next day, and would he please get home early that night so he'd be in shape.
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  It didn't do no good, though. The pitcher got on the merry-go-round just the same that
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  evening and didn't get home till the sun was up. You could see when he checked in at the
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  ballpark that he hadn't been taking care of himself. The manager catches on right away,
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  and he's madder than a wet hint. He said to the pitcher, Joe, that was the pitcher's name,
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  wasn't the pitcher's name, Frank. I'm just using a tone guitar. I just call him Joe.
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  Anyhow, the manager says, Joe, I asked you to take care of yourself so you could pitch
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  this important game. And just look at you. But in shape or not, I said you were going
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  to pitch, and doggone you, you are going to pitch. And the pitcher crouched back, I'll
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  be doggone if I pitch, Mac. You send my paychecks to my wife. Let her pitch.
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  Well now, Diz, it's your turn to pitch. Coach Dean, will you give out now with your weekly
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  parcel of advice to young Americans to help them in their ambition to become big leaguers?
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  Yes, Frank, and maybe sometime we'll get some organized hip from this idea out for the young
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  ball players. I am talking about the hip young ball players can get from good coaching. Up
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  to a certain stage, boys can go along on their own. They can learn to hit by praxis. They
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  can learn to catch flies and handle grounders the same way. But when they get a little older
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  and are thinking about getting a tryout in a year or two, it's time to polish up their
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  baseball. In other words, there's a right and a wrong way to do many important things
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  in baseball. That's where it would help if the boys could arrange to have some expert
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  coaching. In almost every city in the country, there are a few old ball players retired but
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  still interested in the game. Why not try to find such an old ball player in your town
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  or a neighborhood? I'll bet he'd be tickled to death to have you call on him and ask if
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  he wouldn't give you a couple of hours of his time each week. He can show you how to
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  tag runners. He can show the first baseman how to shift. He can show the start-stop and
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  second baseman how to work double plays. You've got to know how to do them things right. And
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  it wouldn't take much work to put a little sliding pit in how some old-time ball players
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  learn you how to slide properly. Many a game in the big leagues is won by a hook slide
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  or a quick double play. Baseball now has a fine-tension plan. Old ball players can retire
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  with some security. And my idea is to have baseball do something about this. And I am
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  talking right now to Mr. Ford Frick and Mr. Will Harris, the two big-legged presidents.
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  If they don't include some kind of a coaching project in that fair-pinching plan, Mr. Frick
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  and Mr. Harris, it'll give the old players something to do in the game they lack so well.
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  And it will do an awful lot for the kids. And it will help to develop more and better
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  ball players to make the big leagues bigger and better.
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  Say, those are words of profound wisdom, Coach Dean. And now if you'll grab that crystal
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  ball, you are now Dizzy Dean the reporter. How about the big league setup, Diz, as you
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  see it entering the head of the stretch? And what's going to be the deciding factor in
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  the two races?
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  Pitching, as I see it, Frank. For instance, the Yankees have been doing all right lately.
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  Frank Shea, who was off-form early in the year, seems to be OK now. That added hip down
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  the stretch could give the Yankees a big advantage. And in the National League, George Munger
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  could make a big difference for the Cardinals. The Braves need some help for Spahn and Sane.
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  Two men can carry the load for a while, but they get tired. If either should crack, it
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  would be too bad for the Braves.
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  Diz, do you think the schedule favors any particular club?
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  Well, most people think it does, Frank. For instance, the Yankees and Red Sox will close
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  the season playing each other. The strength of the league is in the East. Some believe
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  it gives Cleveland an edge down the stretch. In the National League, the Cardinals will
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  have the tough Cubs and Pirates to play in the last few days. But the Dodgers and Braves
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  play a late September series.
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  The way I see it, Frank, you've got to win those games down the stretch. And the second
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  division clubs may be tougher than the ones up near the top.
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  Well, folks, we hope you'll be right back with us at this same time next week to listen
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  to Dizzy Dean. He's brought to you by Johnson's Carnu, the wax-fortified auto polish that
• 14:27
  cleans and polishes your car in one easy application. Carnu cleans when you rub it on, loosens road
• 14:34
  film and carries it right off your car. Then Carnu polishes when you wipe it off, makes
• 14:39
  your car sparkle almost like new. Ask for Johnson's Carnu today. Save time, save work
• 14:46
  while making your car as bright as a dollar. Remember to give your car that Sunday shine,
• 14:51
  rub it on, wipe it off, is all you do with Carnu.
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  And this is Old Day. I hope all you folks are on the stand this time next Saturday.
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  I'll be pitching across again for Johnson's Carnu.
• 15:03
  This is Frank Eschen saying goodbye until next Saturday for the makers of Johnson's
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  wax-fortified auto polish, Carnu. This program came to you from KSD St. Louis. This is NBC,
• 15:20
  the national broadcasting company.
• 15:23
  WMAQ, NBC in Chicago.