Latest / Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History / 1954 • Baseball Clip • Leo Durocher answers fan questions - Radio

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1954 • Baseball Clip • Leo Durocher answers fan questions - Radio · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

• 0:00
  This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
• 0:07
  Listen to Leo DeRotier. Chimney Sweep, America's number one soot destroyer, presents the famous fiery manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Leo DeRotier, in a sparkling new 15 minute program, your sports question box.
• 0:20
  You send in the questions, any question on any sport or game, and Leo answers it. For every question used, Chimney Sweep soot destroyer pays the sender $5.
• 0:30
  And the question considered by Leo the most interesting nets the sender $50. Compliments of Chimney Sweep. Send in your question tonight. All questions become the property of Chimney Sweep.
• 0:41
  And here's the masterminding manager of those dashing slam bang Brooklyn Dodgers, Leo DeRotier.
• 0:47
  Hi, you sport fans. This is DeRotier speaking. And this is Frank Chase.
• 0:51
  Sticks his oar in every chance he gets. Let's get to the questions, Chase.
• 0:55
  You know, without me, DeRotier, there'd be nobody to ask you these questions.
• 0:59
  I can think of a lot worse things happening to me. You can. I can. You know, I got a kick out of standing here and trying to stick you with the customer's inquiries.
• 1:07
  Yeah. I sort of guessed you liked your end of the work, so today, guess what?
• 1:11
  What?
• 1:12
  I've got a question for you. Okay, give. I'll get to it, Chumsy. I'll get to it. Let's attend to the listeners for the time being.
• 1:19
  Okay. Number one is from Jay Tobin of Niagara Falls, New York.
• 1:24
  Just remember, we'll get back to you later.
• 1:26
  I'll remember. Mr. Tobin asks, is it possible for three men to be retired with only two pitched balls?
• 1:33
  That's a chestnut from the year one.
• 1:35
  Maybe Mr. Tobin is in his baseball infancy and he's still waiting for the answer.
• 1:40
  Yes, it's possible, but not very likely. For three men to be ruled out on two pitched balls, the umpire would-
• 1:46
  A dear friend of Mr. DeRotier's, as you've no doubt heard, Mr. Tobin.
• 1:49
  You're killing me, Chase. Now clam up and let me go on.
• 1:52
  To knock off three batters on two pitched balls, the umpire would have to make use of a rule which is very seldom enforced.
• 1:59
  It is section two of rule 44 and says, the batter is out if he fails to take his position within one minute after the umpire has called for the batsman.
• 2:08
  The first two men could be put out on the very first two pitched balls any way you choose.
• 2:13
  But then that guy in the blue suit would have to dig into the rule book, like I said, in order to declare the third man out for not taking his place in the batter's box in time.
• 2:22
  Five dollars to you for that question, Mr. Tobin. And here's one from George Ludlam of East Dorset, Vermont.
• 2:28
  Mr. Ludlam asks, in weighing English prize fighters, what is a stone?
• 2:33
  That's a very interesting question, Mr. Ludlam, and one well worth a five dollar chimney sweep check.
• 2:38
  Watch your job, Ken. The lip is taking over the commercials.
• 2:42
  Yeah, can't you hear my knees rattle?
• 2:44
  Were those your knees, Roberts, all along? I thought they were your brains.
• 2:47
  As sweet a guy as ever I worked with. But Mr. Ludlam still wants to know his answer.
• 2:52
  And here's Mr. Ludlam's question again. In weighing English prize fighters, what is a stone?
• 2:57
  It's 14 pounds. So if Ludlam is Junior Wellerweight champion and weighs 140 pounds, he'd be the ten stone champion of England.
• 3:06
  Mr. Ludlam would also like to know, in measuring horses, what is a hand?
• 3:11
  That's four inches. And if Mr. Ludlam is also a horse and is ten hands high, that makes him three and a third feet tall.
• 3:18
  And I'd be delighted to put on the gloves with him.
• 3:20
  I'll report your agreeableness, Leo. In the meantime, we'll send Mr. Ludlam a five spot, which he can leave to his widow and children.
• 3:26
  And now a word from Ken Roberts.
• 3:28
  Friends, go easy on that coal shovel this winter.
• 3:31
  Planting in the fuel won't push up the temperature of your home until you clean soot out of your heating plant.
• 3:36
  Soot wastes fuel, steals heat. So right now, start using Chimney Sweep Soot Destroyer.
• 3:42
  Chimney Sweep is the quick, easy, almost miraculous way to get rid of soot in furnaces, flues, fireplaces and chimneys.
• 3:49
  Soot that steals valuable heat, dirties, drapes and furnishings, and exposes your family to chimney fire
• 3:55
  and coal gas explosion dangers.
• 3:58
  Chimney Sweep is safe, perfectly safe, so easy to use.
• 4:02
  Just sprinkle a cupful of Chimney Sweep on the fire every week as directed.
• 4:06
  No fuss, no muss. Use Chimney Sweep in coal and oil furnaces, coal and wood fireplaces, stoves.
• 4:13
  Get Chimney Sweep Soot Destroyer tomorrow, only one dollar or a dollar eighty-nine.
• 4:18
  All hardware, department and chain stores.
• 4:21
  Don't take an imitation. Insist on genuine Chimney Sweep. It's America's number one Soot Destroyer.
• 4:27
  And for a much warmer, much cleaner home, just sprinkle Chimney Sweep on the fire every week.
• 4:33
  And now back to Leo DeRosha and Frank Chase and your questions on sports.
• 4:37
  Here's a question on golf, Leo, and it comes from Barbara Rogers of Philadelphia.
• 4:42
  A member of Roger Wilkoen out, no doubt.
• 4:44
  Keep your feet on the ground, Leo, and listen to the lady's question.
• 4:48
  She says, I just started to play golf last summer, and one day my opponent said she would give me five bisques.
• 4:55
  Not wanting to display my ignorance, I didn't like to ask what she was talking about.
• 4:59
  But I would like to ask you, what is a bisque?
• 5:02
  A bisque, Miss Rogers, is a handicap of one stroke that you can take wherever you choose.
• 5:07
  If your opponent gave you five bisques, it meant that you could take five strokes all on one hole,
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  or scatter them wherever they would do you the most good.
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  Whereas, if she'd given you five strokes, you would have had to take each stroke on the hole specified on the scorecard.
• 5:24
  Just remember one thing, Miss Rogers.
• 5:26
  You have to take your bisque, or bisques, on any given hole before you tee off on the next hole.
• 5:32
  And Leo, you know the term bisque is also used in tennis. In that game, it means a point.
• 5:36
  You always have to know more than I do.
• 5:38
  Oh, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Leo.
• 5:40
  Well, you sound money-happy when you do.
• 5:42
  Well, that's not bicker, Bob, and get on to the next problem.
• 5:44
  Well, first send Miss Roger five dollars.
• 5:46
  I'll do that. And now, Zach Yates of Suffolk, Virginia, wants to talk about money.
• 5:50
  There's a guy after my own heart. How much does he want to give me?
• 5:53
  Not a penny. Mr. Yates is interested in authenticating that story.
• 5:58
  But Tunney received a check for a million dollars for his 1927 fight with Dempsey in Chicago.
• 6:03
  Well, that one has been argued all over the place. But here's the story as I've heard it.
• 6:08
  Tech's record guaranteed Gene Tooney 37.5% of the gate for that Chicago battle.
• 6:14
  And when they finished counting the fans, Tooney's percentage came to 990,445 dollars.
• 6:21
  That still ain't a million.
• 6:23
  Now, aren't you the clever lad? Gene first gave Rickard a personal check for his own for 9,555 dollars.
• 6:31
  Then, just for the thrill of it, and in order to make a good story for the newspaper boys,
• 6:36
  Rickard handed Tooney his check for one million dollars.
• 6:39
  But you say the story isn't true, Leo.
• 6:41
  I didn't say anything of the kind. I merely said it had never been verified. What's next?
• 6:46
  We're in a bowling alley this time, Leo.
• 6:48
  Radio's a wonderful thing, all right. With just a word or two, we can change the entire scene.
• 6:52
  Right. John Conley, Jr. of Glen Cove, New York, presents this problem.
• 6:57
  A bowler knocks down nine pins with his first ball, leaving the tenth pin wobbling back and forth.
• 7:04
  Being somewhat nearsighted, he fails to notice the wobbling pin and rolls his second ball.
• 7:09
  But before the second ball is halfway down the alley, the tenth pin finally tumbles over.
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  Does the bowler get credit for a strike or a spare?
• 7:19
  Neither one. In bowling, it's against the rules to roll your second ball while any of the pins are unsteady.
• 7:25
  If you do, any pin that falls down, in this case the tenth pin, is set up again, and you have to take your second shot over. Next?
• 7:33
  On basketball from R. Thomas of Birmingham, Alabama.
• 7:37
  What all does Mr. Thomas all want us to tell him all?
• 7:40
  He all says like this, Leo. In a basketball game, a player trying to bat the ball away from his own basket, accidentally bats it right in.
• 7:49
  Two points for the opposition and a vote of thanks. Next question.
• 7:52
  Wait a moment. There's more.
• 7:54
  Realizing what he's done, and before the ball touches the floor or any other player, he shoots it back through the basket from the underside and out over the rim.
• 8:03
  Sort of unraveling his own goal, you mean.
• 8:05
  Yeah, that's the idea.
• 8:06
  Well, it doesn't make any difference. Still two points for his opponents. Once a ball is dropped through the basket, nothing else matters. The score is good.
• 8:14
  You're a hard man, DeRosha.
• 8:16
  Well, it comes from banging my head against guys like you.
• 8:18
  Here's our next problem.
• 8:19
  Save it, chum. I got one for you this time, remember?
• 8:22
  Oh, yeah. This is where you try and put me on the spot, eh?
• 8:25
  That's right. But to show you what a square guy I am, I'll let Ken Roberts help you out, if he can.
• 8:31
  You mean we can gang up on you, two against one?
• 8:34
  That's kid stuff in my league.
• 8:35
  Okay, Ken. Let's stick our chins way out and give the lip the poke at us that he's been looking forward to.
• 8:41
  Get a large load of this, you eggheads. Here's the question. There's two out. The bases are loaded. The next batter hits a home run, and not a man scores. What's the answer?
• 8:53
  Wait a moment. Two out, the bases loaded. The next batter up hits a home run, and nobody scores. Not a man scores.
• 9:01
  Right. That don't seem possible.
• 9:03
  I saw it happen.
• 9:04
  Well, now, just a minute. There's only one thing I can think of that might be wrong with that, Leo. Does the batter or any of the, do any of the runners forget to touch one of the bases?
• 9:12
  They did not. They touched all bases.
• 9:15
  All the bases were touched?
• 9:16
  They were.
• 9:17
  And the home run was a fair ball.
• 9:19
  It was.
• 9:20
  And the run scored?
• 9:22
  Not a man scores.
• 9:23
  I said not a man scores.
• 9:24
  I don't get it.
• 9:25
  I don't get it either, Leo.
• 9:26
  Do you give up?
• 9:27
  I give up.
• 9:28
  Remember, I said not a man scores.
• 9:30
  We got that.
• 9:31
  It was a girls' game.
• 9:32
  Oh, please.
• 9:33
  Oh, no, Leo. What were you doing watching a girls' game?
• 9:36
  Two geniuses, huh?
• 9:37
  Well, you've had your fun. Now back to the custom.
• 9:40
  Okay. What is it this time?
• 9:41
  This time we come to the most interesting question of the week. Where does the expression behind the eight ball originate?
• 9:47
  And taking up my cue, I have a few facts to lay on the table. If any of you listeners are behind the eight ball because of dirty or sooty chimneys, you can clean up the whole situation with chimney sweep.
• 9:58
  Soot may look harmless enough, but look out for it. Soot in your furnace and chimney may cause a chimney fire or by trapping cold gases, cause a furnace explosion.
• 10:08
  Get rid of dangerous soot now with chimney sweep soot destroyer.
• 10:12
  Chimney sweep is the quick, easy, almost miraculous way to clean out soot from furnaces, flues, fireplaces, and chimneys.
• 10:19
  Soot that steals valuable heat, dirties, drapes, and furnishings, and exposes your family to chimney fire and cold gas explosion dangers.
• 10:27
  Chimney sweep is perfectly safe, so easy to use. Just sprinkle a cup full of chimney sweep on the fire every week as directed.
• 10:35
  No fuss, no muss. Use chimney sweep in coal and oil furnaces, coal and wood fireplaces, stoves.
• 10:43
  Get chimney sweep soot destroyer tomorrow, only one dollar or a dollar eighty-nine.
• 10:49
  All hardware, department, and chain stores. Chimney sweep is on sale in Canada too.
• 10:54
  Don't accept an imitation. Insist on chimney sweep. Genuine chimney sweep soot destroyer.
• 11:01
  And remember, be sure and sprinkle chimney sweep on the fire every week.
• 11:06
  And now, back to the most interesting question of the week.
• 11:09
  This week's most interesting question was sent in by W.W. Lewis of Louisiana, and is, as I said before, a query on how the expression behind the eight ball originated.
• 11:19
  Well, I suppose he figures me as a guy who should certainly know if anybody does.
• 11:23
  Well, it is rumored, Leo, that you sometimes live behind the eight ball for weeks on end.
• 11:28
  Well, you ain't just saying it. I'm thinking of having the place air conditioned.
• 11:32
  But maybe Mr. Lewis would like it better if we gave him his answer without wasting any more time.
• 11:36
  And so?
• 11:37
  Nobody knows for certain, Mr. Lewis, where, when, or how that expression came into being.
• 11:42
  But here's our guess. There are fifteen balls on a pool table numbered from one to fifteen.
• 11:47
  Numbers one to seven are solid colors, and numbers nine to fifteen are striped.
• 11:51
  Moreover, the eight ball right in the middle is dead black and is the only black ball on the table.
• 11:56
  Right. Now, in the game known as black ball, one player has to sink all the solid colored balls while his opponent tries to sink the ringers.
• 12:05
  When a player's object balls have all been made, he then sinks the eight ball and wins the game.
• 12:10
  But according to the rules, if a player pockets the eight ball before he has cleared his object ball, he loses the game just like that.
• 12:18
  Get the idea? Let's suppose you're one of the players, Mr. Lewis, and your cue ball is penned in the corner.
• 12:24
  Not a quarter of an inch separates the eight ball and the cue ball. How are you fixed?
• 12:28
  You're in a tough spot, Mr. Lewis, or in other words, you're behind the eight ball.
• 12:33
  And that sends fifty dollars to you, Mr. Lewis, with the congratulations of chimney sweep.
• 12:37
  Yep. And the next time you get yourself behind the eight ball, Mr. Lewis, just give it a good busting the nose for me.
• 12:43
  Why, with all your practice, Leo, I should think you could do your own busting in the nose.
• 12:47
  Frank, I'm behind the eight ball so much that my hand is getting sore from hitting it.
• 12:51
  And now, sports fans, we'd like to tell you how to make a five dollar hit or a fifty dollar hit on this program of yours.
• 12:56
  Just send in the questions, any question on any sport or any card game.
• 13:00
  For every question used on any program, we'll mail the sender five dollars, but that's not all.
• 13:05
  If your question is judged most interesting of the week, we'll mail you a check for fifty dollars.
• 13:09
  Just write your question on a plain piece of paper and be sure to include your name and address.
• 13:13
  Mail to Leo DeRosier, American Broadcasting Company, New York City, 20, New York.
• 13:18
  This is Leo DeRosier saying, see you next week, same time, same station, when I'll be back for chimney sweep with more answers to your Sports Question Box.
• 13:26
  Meantime, remember in golf, it's heads down. In life, it's heads up.
• 13:30
  Friends, don't let soot in your heating plant start a chimney fire.
• 13:34
  Don't let soot clog your furnace flues and perhaps cause a dangerous coal gas explosion.
• 13:38
  Don't let soot steal heat, too, and dirty up your home.
• 13:42
  Get Chimney Sweep Soot Destroyer tomorrow from any hardware department or chain store and start using it right away.
• 13:48
  If your dealer happens to be out of Chimney Sweep, just mail one dollar along with your name and address to Chimney Sweep Orange, New Jersey.
• 13:56
  That's Chimney Sweep Orange, New Jersey.
• 13:58
  And we'll see that you receive your Chimney Sweep Soot Destroyer promptly and post-paid.
• 14:03
  Your Sports Question Box is the original production of Frank Chase.
• 14:06
  This is Ken Roberts speaking.