Latest / Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History / 1949 • Baseball Clip • Hal Newhouser & Harry Heilmann- Radio Interview

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1949 • Baseball Clip • Hal Newhouser & Harry Heilmann- Radio Interview · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

• 0:00
  This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
• 0:07
  Hello baseball fans. This is Harry Heilman speaking for American Legion Junior Baseball.
• 0:13
  Today we're all set to bring you a clubhouse interview with a former Legion player who is now one of the brightest stars in the major leagues.
• 0:21
  We're talking today from the clubhouse of the Detroit Tigers at Briggs Stadium.
• 0:25
  And right now we have a tall, sinewy left-hander who will pitch today's game.
• 0:31
  He looks unusually fit, and I wonder the batters in the American League like to be somewhere else when this boy is fogging them in.
• 0:38
  Fans, we're talking about Hal Neuhauser, whom baseball experts consider the best south port chucker in the league.
• 0:45
  We've got a little talk scheduled with him, and here he is right now. How's the old wing feel today, Hal?
• 0:51
  Never better, Harry. This is one of those days when the ball feels light as a feather, and that's one of the signs a pitcher likes best.
• 0:58
  It usually means he'll have his good stuff working good.
• 1:01
  Well, after glancing over your playing record, I would say that there aren't many days that you don't have plenty of stuff on the old ball.
• 1:08
  You've won 118 games in the last five years, and that gives you an average of almost 24 victories per season.
• 1:15
  No other pitcher in the majors can boast such a record.
• 1:19
  Thanks, Harry, but speaking of records, I happen to know that you are quite a ball player yourself.
• 1:24
  American League batting champion four times, a lifetime batting average of 342. That's exactly the same as Roos' lifetime record.
• 1:32
  Yeah, now, Hal, no comparing me with the babe. He stood alone.
• 1:37
  And anyway, we didn't have to bat against anybody named Neuhauser in those days, thank goodness.
• 1:42
  But tell us, Hal, do you have any special goal or personal objective as a hurler?
• 1:47
  Well, of course, my prime aim each season is to help the Tigers win the pennant.
• 1:51
  And by the way, Hal, you must have started playing baseball at a pretty early age.
• 1:56
  Yes, Harry, I started early thanks to American junior baseball.
• 2:00
  When I was 15 years old, I started playing junior baseball, and it really got me going.
• 2:05
  In 1938, I played for Roos Vancker Post 286 here in Detroit, and we really had a crackerjack team.
• 2:11
  As I remembered, Hal, that club went a long way in the Legion National Tournament, didn't it?
• 2:16
  That's right, Harry. We went to the semifinals in the national tournament at Charlotte, North Carolina.
• 2:22
  San Diego, which eventually won the championship, stopped us, and I was defeated by pitcher Chuck Keane 2-1.
• 2:28
  Keane later went up with the Dodgers for a time.
• 2:31
  And I have a few statistics on your performance in Legion ball that year.
• 2:35
  Prior to the defeat by San Diego, you had pitched 65 consecutive scoreless innings,
• 2:40
  had 119 straight games, and had three no-hit games to your credit.
• 2:45
  I'd say that was great throwing in any league.
• 2:48
  Would you say that your Legion junior baseball experience has been of value to you as a professional ball player?
• 2:55
  Harry, American Legion junior baseball is just about the finest sandlot baseball organization in the world.
• 3:01
  I got my first taste of tough competition while playing in that league,
• 3:05
  and the many little things I learned while playing junior baseball helped me to get to the majors more quickly.
• 3:11
  I spent only one season in the minors before coming up to the Tigers,
• 3:15
  while most of the fellows require four or five years of seasoning in the lower leagues.
• 3:20
  Yes, sir, I'm a real booster for American Legion junior baseball.
• 3:23
  Well, thank you, Harold Neuhauser, and may you keep firing that wicked curve through there for many more years.
• 3:30
  This is Harry Heilman reminding you we'll be back from time to time with more diamond interviews
• 3:35
  with baseball's brightest stars presented in the interest of the 22nd consecutive season of American Legion junior baseball.