Meet the Dean brothers: Dizzy and Daffy
Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/wrvn/News/4107/
Last week we followed one of the best baseball pitchers in history from his birth in Arkansas to the St. Louis Cardinal Spring Training Camp.
Dizzy Dean was a rebel to say the least. He pretty much did as he pleased, even though he often upset his managers and coaches. Dizzy still did such things as signing a check in general manager Branch Rickey’s name. That got Dizzy a two week suspension from the team.
Dizzy simply went on a fishing trip, even intentionally staying past his two week suspension. He irritated his coaches by volunteering to wrestle at local matches and even tried to hire out in a sky diving exhibition, but was refused.
Mr. Rickey ordered Dizzy back to Houston to “ grow up. ” There he met a girl and they were married within days of knowing one another. They stayed married nearly a half a century. She settled him down a lot, possibly becoming the mother figure in his life, since his mother died when he was only seven years-old.
Dizzy settled down some, but was still like a loaded, cocked pistol. He, for the rest of his life was unpredictable, doing things seemingly to irritate others.
He was called back up to the Cardinals and became the ace of their pitching staff. He won 18 games that year and led the league in strike-outs with 191, topping the great Carl Hubbell, who in second with 137.
His second year with the Cardinals, he improved to winning 20 games and set a league record by striking out 17 batters in a game against the Cubs. He earned a reputation of being completely unpredictable. For instance, once before a game with the Dodgers, Dizzy strolled into t heir dug out while the coach was instructing each player how to bat against him. He listened, then took the mound and shut them out.
When Dizzy learned his brother Paul was joining the team, he called a reporter at the St. Louis Star -Times and told him the Cardinals were a cinch to win the pennant. Diz asked, “ How can they stop us ? Paul’s gonna win 18 or 20, and I’ll win 25 or so myself. ”
Once he appeared as a guest on a cooking school sponsored by the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. The instructor asked Dizzy to break a couple of eggs into a bowl. He did so, then suddenly went into a windup like he was on the pitching mound and began lobbing eggs into the audience. Everyone ducked and screamed. The eggs were made of rubber, and ol’ Diz had sneaked them in for just that purpose.
Although he had a good deal of money in his pocket, Dizzy still ordered beans and cornbread instead of steak when he went out to eat. He did however, discover Lea & Perrins steak sauce and smothered his breakfast of scrambled eggs in it.
Now that Paul had become his teammate, Dizzy always mentioned him to reporters saying, “ Me and Paul... ” till they expected to hear him say it.
Paul was in some ways different than Dizzy. “ I ain’t no Dizzy, but no one else is either, ” he once said.
“ Yeah, but you ain’t far behind me as them other fellars, ” Dizzy replied.
Paul didn’t care much for nicknames, but nearly everyone on the team had one such as Pepper, the Fordham Flash, the Lip, Dazzy, and of course, Dizzy. Whether on not he wanted it, he was given one, “ Daffy. ”
Once while in New York to play the Giants, the brothers were sightseeing. Daffy asked, “ What’s that big ol’ building ?”
“ That’s the Em-parr building, ” Dizzy answered. “ You know they call New York the Em-parr State don’t you ?”
“ Why ? ” Daffy asked.
“ ’Cause the Em-parrs give the Giants all the close calls, ” Dizzy said.
“ Gee, Diz, you now everything, don’t you, ” Daffy said.
Dizzy only nodded and answered, “ Practically. ”
Dizzy always blamed a poor outing on a sore arm. He once told a radio announcer his arm had been “ real sore” for two months. The announcer reminded him he had won 20 games the past two months.
“ Iffen it hadn’t been sore, I’d probably have done real good, ” Dizzy replied.
The Cardinals were in Detroit to play the Tigers in the World Series. The Tigers star pitcher was also an Arkansas boy named Schoolboy Rowe, who record that season was 24-8.
Dizzy told reporters before the best of seven series the Cardinals would win four games in a row if they would let him pitch all four of them.
At breakfast their first morning in Detroit, Dizzy invited himself to the table of Will Rogers and Damon Runyon. Both men were dieting with only one poached egg and orange juice. Diz ordered three eggs, an order of bacon with gravy and biskits. He laughed at the look on their face as he enjoyed a “ light breakfast. ”
Henry Ford sent a chauffeured limo to pick up Dizzy and Daffy for lunch with the family.
The Cardinals won the series, but it took them all seven games to do it.
When his playing days were over, Dizzy became a radio play-by-play announcer for the Cardinals. A movie was made of his life called, “ The Pride of St. Louis, ” starring Dan Daley as Dizzy and Richard Crenna as Daffy.
Dizzy became the voice of a fledging TV show, “ The Game of the Week, ” with Pee Wee Reese. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and became a successful oil man. He died a millionaire in 1974.
See you folks next week, Lord willin’ and I’m back form my Hall of Fame celebration in beautiful Hog Eye, Arkansas.