Latest / Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History / 1952 • Baseball Clip • Leo Durocher interviews Duke Snider - Radio

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1952 • Baseball Clip • Leo Durocher interviews Duke Snider - Radio · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

• 0:00
  This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
• 0:08
  From day to de Rocher to Snider, it's double play with de Rocher and day.
• 0:16
  With our guest Duke Snider, here's another chapter of double play with de Rocher and day.
• 0:21
  Welcome to another visit with baseball's most exciting and controversial couple, Lorraine Day and Leo de Rocher, with their guest for today, Duke Snider.
• 0:33
  You know, you fans have heard a good deal about the signs that a manager gives to his players during a game.
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  Later on in today's show, Leo, Lorraine, and their famous guest Duke Snider are going to delve into these signs and are going to try and give you a little inside information about them.
• 0:50
  But first, here's a little inside information just for you.
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  And now back to double play with Leo de Rocher and Lorraine Day and their guest, Duke Snider.
• 1:03
  Hi there everyone. On this show you're going to meet that famous center fielder from the Brooklyn Dodgers, Mr. Duke Snider.
• 1:10
  And don't forget that I'm here to represent you fans.
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  And today I'm representing particularly Juanita White from Oklahoma City who would like to know why manager Dressen cleared the Brooklyn bench so much this last season.
• 1:22
  And Charlie Hatch from Ogden, Utah who would like to know why did Leo choose Sheldon Jones to pitch the second game of the playoff.
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  And Bonnie Young from Las Vegas who says that I'd like to know something about the signs that the manager gives to a pitcher and a hitter.
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  Never can spot them. So let's find out about them, shall we?
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  Leo. Leo.
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  Come on Duke, let's go over here and sit down.
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  Hi, Leo.
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  Hi, Ed, Duke.
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  Hello, Lorraine. How are you?
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  Duke, what's your real name?
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  Edwin.
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  Edwin, why did they call you Duke?
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  My father started that when I was very young and it stuck with me ever since.
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  It has nothing to do with baseball?
• 1:56
  No, I don't believe so.
• 1:57
  Well, Duke, I think you should answer this question since you were on the Brooklyn team.
• 2:02
  Why did manager Dressen clear the Brooklyn bench so often last season?
• 2:06
  Charlie cleared the bench mainly because he didn't want any more players thrown out.
• 2:11
  We were known to have quite a loud bench and abating the umpires quite a bit.
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  And Charlie thought it might be a good idea if they were all in the clubhouse so that if we needed someone in an important situation,
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  well, he could get them rather than have them out of the game in the showers.
• 2:24
  Well, couldn't you have just said be quiet?
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  That's pretty hard to do.
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  It is.
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  You know some of the umpires in our league.
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  Yes, I'm acquainted with some of them.
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  It seems to me, wasn't there a big rhubarb?
• 2:34
  That comes right here. She says there's a P.S. that says, who kicked the door down?
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  Why, I don't know. There might be termites in that door up there or something because all of us were in the shower.
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  Must have been very exciting though, just reading about it in the paper.
• 2:49
  It was. It made a good story even though it wasn't true.
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  Well, Leo, we have a question here for you from Charlie Hatch who wants to know,
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  why did you choose Sheldon Jones to pitch the second game of the playoff?
• 3:00
  Duke, weren't you tickled to death that I picked Jones?
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  I sure was. I didn't get any hits that day but I was tickled to death about it.
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  A lot of other people got a lot of hits.
• 3:08
  That's right.
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  Well, I'll tell you, I remember very well that I had pitched Maggley and Jantz in the last two days of the season
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  and that you had said to me, dear, who are you going to pitch today?
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  And I told you I didn't know.
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  And you told me that the good Lord hadn't taken us this far to cast us aside,
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  to get down on my knees and say a prayer.
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  And that he would tell us who, he would tell me who to pitch.
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  And you know, Duke, I was afraid to leave the bedroom without doing it.
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  So I did get down on my knees and I went to the ballpark and I pitched Sheldon Jones.
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  And you know what happened. You beat me ten to nothing.
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  And I remember coming out after the game and getting in the car and on the way home, Lorraine said,
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  well, that's the way the good Lord wanted it. He wants you to win it the hard way.
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  And of course my answer was, why couldn't he let us win today just so I could sleep tonight?
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  Make it easy for once.
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  Well, you know, Duke, that little story, when we were being beaten ten to nothing,
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  and all I could remember, all during the game was, and I told you to get down on these knees
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  and he would be told who to pitch. And so he pitches Jones.
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  And I said, I'm really going to get it out in the car tonight, you know, going home,
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  about the Lord told him to pitch Jones and he asked on my suggestion.
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  But Leo was wonderful because when he came out in the car he said, you know,
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  he wanted me to pitch Jones to save Magley for tomorrow because we couldn't get a hit off LeBine.
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  And if we had put Magley in, I'd have lost a great pitcher for tomorrow
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  because we just couldn't hit that wonderful pitcher.
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  Oh, LeBine was great that day, Duke. That was the best pitch ball game, I think one of the best,
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  that we had pitched against us all year. He had a great curve ball and I made the wrong guess.
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  But of course, you know.
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  No, but you didn't. That's the whole point. You didn't guess wrong.
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  It was the right guess because you couldn't win that game anyway. We couldn't hit LeBine.
• 4:55
  I would have rather had a good night's sleep if we'd have gotten a few runs, you know.
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  I will say if Magley came in or Jansen, just as you said, what good does it do to have them in?
• 5:03
  Not if Brooklyn gets ten runs. It doesn't make any difference who you pick.
• 5:06
  That's right. Thanks. So everything turned out right and I'm in the clear.
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  You see, Duke, I'm telling you, you don't have to worry about who manages the club.
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  You know who manages the club. Oh, yeah.
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  That's what he keeps saying. So after all, an important decision. I never get to open my mouth.
• 5:19
  Bonnie Young wants to know something about the signs that the manager gives to the pitchers and the hitters.
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  Well, first let's take the signs that a manager gives to the pitcher.
• 5:28
  He doesn't really give a sign to a pitcher, does he? Doesn't he give a catcher?
• 5:31
  No, the catcher controls the game. He gives all signs.
• 5:34
  Once in a while a manager may call for a certain pitch during a game.
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  Well, what does the catcher tell him to pitch to Muziel?
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  Well, whatever it is is wrong. We ought to pitch under the plate.
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  It's a better thing if you just forget Muziel and Duke and those kind of hitters.
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  And pitch underneath the plate or behind them a little bit.
• 5:50
  That's very dangerous. That's it. That's it.
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  That's it, yes. Oh, yeah.
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  That was a big blue barb about it as I remember.
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  Oh, Duke, it's just what Duke knows. It's one of those things.
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  You try to pitch a man high and tight and you just can't thread the eye of the needle all the time.
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  And you get it a little farther in than you really want it to be.
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  But now about this giving signs to the hitter.
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  I've been trying to find out these signs for three years.
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  Well, I'll tell you what we'll do. When I'm managing Brooklyn, Duke played for me.
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  I and Duke, how about this? I'll give you some signs that we had.
• 6:19
  You mean Duke played for me.
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  All right. Duke, I will give you some signs that we had in 1948.
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  All right.
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  And Duke will stand there and I'll give them. He'll take that bat right there, Duke,
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  and we'll go through the signs and we'll see if you can get them. Okay?
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  You've always wanted to know and we'll answer the question at the same time.
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  All right. And then if I get them, is it a promise that I'll give them to you next season from the box?
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  You've been doing it now for a couple of years. I don't see why you won't continue.
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  Before Leo, Lorraine, and Duke give you the lowdown on baseball signs,
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  here's the lowdown on something very special.
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  And now back to Leo, Lorraine, and Duke Snider of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
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  Leo is about to perform some of the signs which he gives his players on the playing field,
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  and we're going to try and catch some of these and describe them to you.
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  Okay. Now, you're going to give the signs to Duke. Duke is going to do what you call.
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  Then you'll give them again and see if I can get them. Okay?
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  All right. Are you ready?
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  Ready.
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  You're watching me? All right.
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  All right. Here's the first signal now. We'll try and follow it along.
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  Leo first touches his cap with his right hand. He brings the hand down to his chest.
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  Then he adjusts his belt. His right hand goes back to his cap.
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  Hit and run.
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  That's the hit and run. Okay.
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  All right.
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  Yeah. Give the next one.
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  This time Leo performs the signal with his left hand.
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  He starts it with the hand resting on the letters on his chest.
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  Now he goes down, adjusts his belt, brushes off his left knee, back to his belt again,
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  and the left hand finally comes to rest on the letters on his chest.
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  Fun.
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  Okay.
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  All right.
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  Here's the next signal. He hitches up his pants, claps his hand, goes back to the visor of his cap,
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  hitches up his pants again, and takes one step to the right.
• 7:52
  That's fake. Oh, I'm sorry.
• 7:54
  I do it.
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  No, you can't do it. Don't tip her off, Duke.
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  All right. Now we'll start again. I'll give you another one. Are you ready?
• 8:00
  I'm ready.
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  Leo takes his right hand and touches his cap. He brings the hand down to his chest,
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  Leo's left hand now adjusts his belt, claps his hands together, and takes one step to the left.
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  And finally the hand goes back to his cap.
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  Now that's the hit and run. Am I right or wrong?
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  How did you know it was the hit and run?
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  I'm guessing.
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  Oh, all right. You can't guess. You've got to know what you're doing.
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  You can't make a mistake at the play.
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  You do the same thing every time.
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  Oh, no I don't. All right. Here you are.
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  Go ahead.
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  Leo performs these signals very fast and it's rather difficult to catch them.
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  The hand goes back to his chest, where the letters would be, next to his belt,
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  and the hand comes back to his chest again.
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  Now that's the hit and run.
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  Duke will tell you what it is.
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  That's the bun.
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  That's the bun.
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  All right. You want to see one more?
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  Yes.
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  All right.
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  Yes, we have another one.
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  Okay.
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  All right.
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  He brushes his right knee, the hand goes back to his belt, touches his chest again.
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  What haven't we done? We've done the hit and run, we've done the bun. That must be the take.
• 8:53
  That's right. That is the take. What made you get the take?
• 8:56
  You know, honestly, I couldn't tell the difference. Now show me, actually, what you do for a hit and run.
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  Well, for a hit and run, our hit and run sign happens to be, if I had a cap on, I was using my forehead for a cap.
• 9:05
  Yes.
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  And say that I start and stop in the same position. Anything I do in between means nothing.
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  In other words, I touch him with a cap. Boom, boom, boom, boom.
• 9:15
  Now you didn't give a sign.
• 9:16
  Yes, I did.
• 9:17
  Well, you said it meant nothing.
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  I started and stopped on my cap, which is hit and run.
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  But you said, whatever I do between the time I touch my cap and stop.
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  Nothing.
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  Why? Well, then when did you get the hit and run?
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  I started and stopped on my cap, that's hit and run.
• 9:30
  I see.
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  Now this is nothing. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
• 9:34
  I started on my cap, but I never went back to my cap.
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  So that means there's no sign. He's on his own. Duke could do anything he wanted.
• 9:40
  So that is called what we call a block sign. In other words, it's take, put it on, take it off.
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  If I start, I must come back to that same place.
• 9:47
  All right, now I understand. If you wanted him to hit and run, you'd start with your cap,
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  and whatever you did doesn't mean a thing, but coming back to your cap means that Duke must hit and run.
• 9:54
  On that ball, he must swing at it and try to protect the runner.
• 9:57
  Then I'm sending the runner and I want him to hit.
• 10:00
  No matter where the ball is, he must swing at it.
• 10:03
  All right, but if you didn't come back to your hat, he's on his own.
• 10:05
  He's on his own, doesn't he? Please, the player.
• 10:07
  You did that merely to confuse the manager or the pitcher or the other player.
• 10:09
  I may give the sign. That is what's called coming back, starting and coming back to it.
• 10:13
  I can confuse the opposing player or the coaches or the manager who may be watching.
• 10:17
  And the manager's wife.
• 10:19
  Oh, of course. Actually, the manager's wife, you can't run the game.
• 10:21
  It's always confusing.
• 10:22
  What does he mean to me like this, always on?
• 10:24
  You could also have a call-off sign. You could give the sign all the way through maybe and then clap.
• 10:28
  That's right.
• 10:29
  And that would call it off even though he gives the whole sign.
• 10:31
  Well, what was Dresden doing all the time he was whistling?
• 10:34
  Well, that is more or less a decoy, Lorraine. He doesn't give any signs when he does that.
• 10:39
  Well, you know, I was always under the impression that when he whistled,
• 10:42
  it meant that perhaps he'd caught a signal from the pitcher, you know, and was saying,
• 10:46
  here comes the fast one.
• 10:48
  I really shouldn't say anything about that, but he does give it.
• 10:50
  Yes, and how. I was going to cut right in there. He does catch him once in a while.
• 10:54
  He's the greatest in the business. He's the greatest third base coach I've ever seen.
• 10:58
  Well, tell me, what about a bunt? Now show me the bunt sign.
• 11:01
  Well, look, dear, I showed you the way the manager gives them.
• 11:05
  And let's do, why don't you show her the way when you played for me and I was to give you the bunt sign.
• 11:10
  Go ahead and show her exactly what the bunt sign is.
• 11:13
  Well, the bunt sign was the letters. We don't have any letters here, but you know,
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  The giants and the dodges that crossed here.
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  The bunt was with the letters, you had to start and stop there.
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  You can do anything else you want, but you've got to go back to the letters and stop there.
• 11:29
  And that is the bunt sign.
• 11:30
  Well, now tell me, couldn't say, an opposing player, couldn't he just watch where you ended
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  and know what the sign was the next time you did it?
• 11:38
  He'd see the sign and then he'd see the hitter bump. He saw that you ended with the letter.
• 11:43
  Well, wouldn't he say, well, the next time they end there, that's the bunt?
• 11:46
  Well, it could be changed, though. I mean, that's just one group of signs.
• 11:50
  I could do this and fool around with any part of my body and go back here
• 11:56
  and maybe then I'd take a step to the right or a step forward or clap my hands
• 12:01
  and holler, come on, or something. That could be a call-off sign.
• 12:04
  And then he would be hitting.
• 12:06
  Well, there is one sign that I want to know about particularly.
• 12:11
  Just what is the sign that means hit a home run?
• 12:14
  Why you?
• 12:15
  Oh, this is the sign.
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  Listen, I'll see you next session, same time, same station, I hope.
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  Now, let's honor it in the time we have.
• 12:24
  Why you knucklehead hop.
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  What are you going to do?
• 12:31
  [♪upbeat music playing.
• 12:34
  You're listening to another chapter of Double Play with baseball's most exciting couple,
• 12:38
  Lorraine Day and Leo DeRoscher.
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  Today, Lorraine and Leo had as their guest Duke Snider.
• 12:43
  Join us when again it's time for Double Play with Leo DeRoscher and Lorraine Day
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  plus another big-time guest star.
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  Double Play is produced by Marty Martin, directed by Ted Nealon,
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  and is a MarTed production.