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1955 • Baseball Clip • Joe Garagiola interviews August Busch Jr - Radio Broadcast · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

• 0:00
  This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
• 0:06
  Hello again everybody. This is Harry Carrey with Joe Garagiola from Allang Field here in sunny St. Petersburg, Florida,
• 0:12
  the training base of the St. Louis Cardinals, where our guest today is the president of Anheuser-Busch and of the St. Louis Cardinals,
• 0:18
  Mr. August A. Bush Jr.
• 0:20
  Mr. Bush, a beautiful camp, beautiful weather, everything now we need is a pennant, huh?
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  You bet your sweet life, Harry, and we're going to try like the devil to get it this year.
• 0:30
  Joe, you notice that Mr. Bush is getting in shape just like the players.
• 0:33
  Yeah, I see him, Mr. Buford, playing a little pepper down there.
• 0:36
  Of course, I don't think they're working quite as hard as the athletes that Eddie's got.
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  You know, we have a challenge out for you and Mr. Buford. You know that Joe and I are going to take you on in a pepper game.
• 0:45
  All right, we're ready for you any time you want to come.
• 0:47
  Mr. Bush, I know that everybody is optimistic looking ahead to the 1955 season.
• 0:53
  Things went a little bit wrong last year and yet it wouldn't have taken too many games,
• 0:56
  a few breaks here and there to make the Cardinals perhaps a pennant winner even a year ago.
• 1:00
  And looking ahead to 1955 with some of these youngsters, why there's good reason to be optimistic, don't you think?
• 1:06
  I certainly do, Harry, and I'd like to say this.
• 1:10
  I think I know a little bit more about baseball and I'm happier this year with our Cardinals than I've been since we've owned them.
• 1:18
  Did you have any idea, Mr. Bush, that a ball club would involve such time as it does?
• 1:25
  Well, frankly, Harry, it does involve a lot of time and it is not only the greatest sport in the world,
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  but it's a pretty big business to be frank with you.
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  You know, I've had the privilege of knowing other businessmen who've got connected with baseball that were relative strangers to it before.
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  It seems like there's something contagious about that baseball bug, isn't there?
• 1:44
  It certainly is. It really is the most fascinating game in the United States and I'd put it in the world.
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  Do you find it difficult to distinguish between being a fan and the owner of the club?
• 1:56
  No, I think bygones that every fan has got to be a manager and part owner of the club to be a real, honest-to-goodness fan,
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  and I don't think there's such a great deal of difference.
• 2:08
  Mr. Bush, with all the change in the young fellows that you've had,
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  now Mr. Rickey had a youth movement over at Pittsburgh, yet I think ours with the Cardinals is greater.
• 2:17
  Would you say it's ahead of schedule or right on schedule?
• 2:21
  I would say it's right on schedule and we made the policy when we took over the Cardinals and things are coming just up to my liking.
• 2:29
  I believe in the next few years, maybe this year, that we're going to be one of the toughest teams to beat in either league.
• 2:37
  Mr. Bush, your purpose as announced then was to build a young ball team, a team that would win not only one season but for perhaps a decade,
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  and it certainly looks like things are coming out that way with boys like Moon and Boyer and Verdon and young fellows like that, Jones and Lawrence,
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  who not only are showing their ability now but being so young, they should be around here for a long time to come.
• 2:59
  There's no question in my mind about that.
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  I think our fine fans in St. Louis will see a lot of these youngsters for a great many years.
• 3:07
  Mr. Bush, just to get away from the youth movement a minute, now you signed Mewsville and Shandings.
• 3:12
  Tell me something, is that a tougher job than, say, building a brewery in Newark to sign Mewsville and Shandings?
• 3:19
  Well, both of them are such grand sports.
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  As a matter of fact, it didn't take very long for us to get all signed up with them again this year and both of them are wonderful players
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  and we're delighted to have them on our club, I'll tell you that.
• 3:29
  Same investment though, huh?
• 3:31
  That's not right.
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  Mr. Bush, would you say the vicissitudes of baseball as compared to other business are just about the same?
• 3:40
  No, I think our friend Eddie Stanky tells the greatest story about baseball.
• 3:46
  We fellows in business can make a mistake in our own offices and our secretaries might know about it and we might feel bad about it,
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  but if a ballplayer or manager makes a mistake before 30,000 people, it's a different story.
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  Mr. Bush, I think that the one thing we should touch on, we only have a few seconds left,
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  I think it was wonderful the response and the reaction of the fans last year even though the ball club was down in the second division
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  and I believe that's a real tribute to you and your efforts and your associates.
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  The fans, I think, realize that you're trying to give them the very best possible
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  and trying to make the ballpark and everything else about it just as comfortable as it is possible to make it.
• 4:22
  Well, that's awfully nice, Harry, and my goodness gracious, nobody in the world appreciates the fan support that we got last year,
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  even finishing sixth more than I do and I want to salute all of our fine fans again and thank them a million for their support
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  and I hope 1955 will bring us way up on top.
• 4:41
  We all hope so, sir, and thank you so much for taking time to be with us.
• 4:44
  Okay, Harry and Joe, grand seeing you.
• 4:46
  Thank you, sir.
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  That was August A. Bush, Jr., president of the St. Louis Cardinals and of Anheuser-Busch.
• 4:51
  Now, this is Harry Carrey with Joe Garagiola saying so long from St. Petersburg, Florida.