Hooray for Hollywood - Baseball Hall of Fame

Transcription

FROM THE PHOTO COLLECTION
Hooray for Hollywood
Following the 1924 baseball season, Babe Ruth headed west to grow
baseball’s popularity by barnstorming throughout California. At the time,
league rules prohibited exhibition play after October, so the tour’s final
contest was played on Halloween. The game was held in Brea, Calif.,
located just 20 miles southeast of Los Angeles, and featured Ruth on the
mound facing pitching great Walter Johnson, just three weeks removed
from his only World Championship with the Washington Senators. Ruth
thrilled the crowd with a pair of homers and earned the 11-1 victory.
The next day, Ruth and Johnson headed to Hollywood for a visit to the
Pickford-Fairbanks Studios. There, the famous players toured the partially
dismantled set of Douglas Fairbanks Sr.’s hit film The Thief of Bagdad
(pictured in the background) and posed for this photograph.
From left to right: Arthur Wenzel (advance agent for Ruth’s tour),
Jeff Lazarus (press representative for Paramount playhouses), Johnson,
unidentified (partially obscured), Christy Walsh (Ruth’s agent), Chuck
Lewis (Fairbanks’ trainer), Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Oscar Reichow (business
manager of the Pacific Coast League Los Angeles Angels), Ruth, Al
Kaufman (managing director of numerous movie theaters), unidentified.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum features a collection of more than 500,000 photographs with reproductions available for purchase. To purchase
a reprint of this photograph or others from the Library’s collections, please call (607) 547-0375. Hall of Fame members receive a 10-percent discount.
MEMORIES AND DREAMS / WINTER 2010
WINTER 2010 | VOLUME 32 | NUMBER 6
The Official Magazine of the Hall of Fame
–4–
Character lesson
Jack O’Connell
– 13 –
Hall of Fame Members
on the big screen
– 14 –
Field of scenes
Rob Edelman
– 20 –
Curator’s Corner
Naturally good
Bethany Girod
Showing America’s love for baseball and movies, the Hall of Fame’s collection illustrates the passion for both with a wide
variety of artifacts, including several recently donated treasures which fill a new exhibit celebrating the 10th anniversary of
the film 61*. The display is located adjacent to the Museum’s Baseball at the Movies exhibit.
– 24 –
His last game
Ken Meifert
– 28 –
7 Jewel of a film
BY BILL FRANCIS
10 Never-ending story
BY BILL FRANCIS
17 Baseball’s greatest skit
Perfect season
Charlie Vascellaro
– 31 –
PLAQUE CHECK
Johnny Mize
Marty Appel
– 32 –
World Series
BY TIM WILES
22 The first king
BY MARTY APPEL
25 There is crying in baseball
BY SAMANTHA CARR
Roy Halladay donated his
jersey from his Oct. 6 NLDS
no-hitter against the Reds
to the Hall of Fame.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
1
GETTY IMAGES/JIM MCISAAC
From the President
Jeff Idelson
Who would have ever believed that
Thomas Edison would lead off a column in
Memories and Dreams ?
The prolific inventor held 1,093 U.S.
patents, and among his greatest inventions
are the phonograph, the motion picture
camera and the light bulb. No, he did not
invent baseball (nor did Doubleday), but he
was the first to produce a baseball film.
The Ball Game debuted in 1898. The
short, silent black & white consists of 756
frames neatly packaged on to a 25-foot long
reel of 16 millimeter film. It took all of 27
seconds to show. Edison used one camera,
situated behind first base. Luckily all three
batters in the silent short are right-handed,
so you can see each batter running down the
line. That’s the extent of the film’s content.
Edison’s work may seem somewhat
insignificant, but the fact that one of
America’s great early icons chose baseball as a
way to introduce a new technology and
medium isn’t. It speaks volumes to the
romance baseball has with America, even
back to the 19th century.
Edison set the ground work for the film
industry to consider baseball a worthy topic.
Since his rudimentary work, there have more
than 150 films with baseball as a central
theme to grace the silver screen and
television.
Baseball’s integration into the movies
helped the Hall of Fame reach a new
audience of fans: Women.
2
As the Hall of Fame
prepared to open its first
women and baseball exhibit
in 1988, the Museum’s leadership invited the members
of the All-American Girls
Professional Baseball League
to the ribbon cutting that
November. The alumnae
traveled en masse – more
than 150 in total, many
with extended family.
Actor-turned-legendary director Penny
Marshall learned about the opening and
decided to attend. She left Cooperstown
realizing that there was more than an exhibit
opening attended by some former ballplayers: There was a great story about
perseverance, camaraderie and American
history to be recounted on the silver screen.
Marshall was so moved that she went on
to direct the timeless classic A League of
Their Own, which debuted in 1992. To show
her appreciation to the Hall of Fame for
developing the exhibit, she set scenes at the
beginning and the end of film at Doubleday
Field and the Hall of Fame. The result was
the best commercial one could imagine: A
full-out pilgrimage to Cooperstown by a new
audience of fans, ones interested in the
women’s movement.
With the new millennium, the Hall of
Fame had recently begun to implement an
aggressive calendar of programs and special
events to augment the Museum experience.
Honoring baseball and the movies was a part
of the equation.
I remember reaching out to Teresa Wright
and inviting her to be a part of our first
salute to the movies, as we decided to honor
The Pride of the Yankees. Wright, who starred
opposite Gary Cooper in a film nominated
for 11 Academy Awards, was a three-time
Teresa Wright, who portrayed
Lou Gehrig’s wife, Eleanor, in
The Pride of the Yankees, visited
the Hall of Fame in 2000 and
posed with the movie version of
Eleanor’s scrapbooks which
recount her legendary husband’s
career.
Oscar nominee, appeared
in more than 40 films and
won an Academy Award
for Best Supporting Actress
in Mrs. Miniver.
When I spoke with Wright at her
Connecticut home, she said, “Will you be
showing the original, or that colorized
version?” which had become a trend with
Turner Classic Movies – taking black and
white films and turning them into color.
“We’ll show the original, of course,” I
said, adding, “after all, authenticity is our
hallmark.” Teresa responded, “Correct
answer. I’ll come.”
That program in April 2000 also featured
Gehrig biographer Ray Robinson. It was so
well received that honoring baseball movies
became a staple of our programs calendar. A
League of Their Own, Field of Dreams, Bull
Durham, and most recently, 61*, followed.
“I always hoped I’d make it to the Hall as
a player, but this is just amazing to all of us
who loved making the movie,” 61* director
Billy Crystal wrote to me following our
October salute to his baseball film, clearly
showing that it’s as much fun and rewarding
for those involved in Tinsel Town as it is for
us in Cooperstown.
The next time you turn out the lights to
watch your favorite baseball film, be sure to
thank Thomas Edison for bringing our
National Pastime to the big screen.
On the Web
News & Notes
If you haven’t been following the action on the
Web, the Hall of Fame has been busy. Here’s a
few highlights that you might have missed:
• Former Pittsburgh Pirate Paul Pettit, the first
$100,000 bonus baby, stopped by the Hall
of Fame for a visit.
• The Hall’s Facebook page once again hosted
fan voting for the annual Ford C. Frick
Award ballot. Throughout September,
21,603 fans chose Tom Cheek (11,661
votes), Bill King (4,758 votes) and Jacques
Doucet (2,714 votes) to join Rene Cardenas,
Dizzy Dean, Ned Martin, Tim McCarver,
Graham McNamee, Eric Nadel and Dave Van
Horne on the final ballot.
Behind-the-Scenes with the
VIP Experience
Now through May, fans will have a special
chance to see the Hall of Fame through a
unique behind-the-scenes program.
The two-day VIP Experience includes a
Hall of Fame Sustaining Membership ($100
value), exclusive after-hours access to the
Museum on Thursday evening, a Library
tour and a Museum artifact presentation,
concluding with a private late-afternoon
reception on Friday. The VIP Experience is
available only as an accommodations package
Dugout Discount
A Special Offer for Members from
DYNASTY League Baseball Online
Go behind-the-scenes at the Hall with the VIP Experience.
with participating properties in the
Cooperstown area.
Packages can be purchased through select
Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce
accommodations. Dates include: Jan. 20-21,
Feb. 24-25, March 3-4, March 17-18, April
14-15, and May 19-20
For more information and to learn about
participating accommodations, please call
607-547-0397.
• Trevor Hoffman
donated artifacts,
including this cap,
to commemorate
his 600th
save.
• Billy Crystal’s press conference to announce
the donation of his 61* shooting script to
the Hall of Fame was live tweeted.
Catch exclusive behind-the-scenes coverage
and more at baseballhall.org and read the
official blog at hofclubhouse.com or baseballhall.mlblogs.com. And don’t forget to check
out the Hall of Fame on Facebook at
facebook.com/baseballhall or follow on Twitter
@BaseballHall and #halloffame.
FREE MONTH subscription to
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THE NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME
AND MUSEUM BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Bradford Horn
Craig Muder
EDITORS: Trevor Hayes, Samantha Carr
FEATURED WRITERS: Rob Edelman,
Jack O’Connell, Charlie Vascellaro
CONTRIBUTORS: Bill Francis, Jim Gates,
Kenneth Meifert, Jason Schiellack,
Tom Shieber, Erik Strohl, Tim Wiles,
Anna Wade
MAGAZINE HISTORIAN: Marty Appel
EDITORIAL CONSULTANTS: Freddy Berowski,
Claudette Burke, Pat Kelly
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: Milo Stewart Jr.
DESIGN: Gil Urick, gilurickdesign
PRINTING: Curtis1000
PHOTO CREDITS: All photography by
Milo Stewart Jr., National Baseball Hall
of Fame, unless otherwise indicated.
All historical images, National Baseball
Hall of Fame Library, unless otherwise
indicated.
EXECUTIVE EDITOR:
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
ON THE COVER The Hall of Fame’s Baseball
at the Movies exhibit celebrates the timeless
connection between motion pictures and the
National Pastime.
Jane Forbes Clark, chairman of the board
Joe L. Morgan, vice chairman
Kevin S. Moore, treasurer
Paul Beeston
William O. DeWitt Jr.
Robert A. DuPuy
William L. Gladstone
David D. Glass
Leland S. MacPhail
Phillip H. Niekro
Jerry Reinsdorf
Brooks C. Robinson
Frank Robinson
Dr. Harvey W. Schiller
G. Thomas Seaver
Allan H. Selig
Edward W. Stack
THE NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME
AND MUSEUM SENIOR STAFF:
®
Some photography contained
within this issue features the
work of Milo Stewart, Jr., who
uses a Nikon D3x D-SLR camera
provided courtesy of Nikon, Inc.
Jeffrey L. Idelson, president
William E. Haase, senior vice president
Sean J. Gahagan, vice president, retail
marketing and licensing
Bradford Horn, senior director,
communications and education
Kenneth Meifert, senior director, development
Erik Strohl, senior director, exhibitions and
collections
baseballhall.org
Continued on page 4
Memories and Dreams (ISSN 1937-1853) © 2010 National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
3
ELECTIONS
Character lesson
Sportsmanship clause in voting rules makes Hall of Fame elections unique
BY JACK O’CONNELL
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G
il Hodges holds the distinction of having
received the most votes of any candidate
not to have been elected to the National
Baseball Hall of Fame. The former All-Star
first baseman from the Brooklyn Dodgers’
“Boys of Summer” teams of the 1950s remained on the
Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot the full
15 years of eligibility but failed to garner the 75 percent
required for election.
Yet year after year from 1969 through 1983, Hodges
piled up large vote totals, being named on more than
half the ballots in 11 of those years and more than 60
percent three times to a high of 63.4 percent in his last
year. Only two other candidates have had higher
percentages and not been elected, Roberto Alomar and
Bert Blyleven, but they are still on the ballot and have
the chance to reach the ultimate reward, perhaps as
soon as the upcoming election.
Hodges received 3,010 votes over the time of his
candidacy, an average of 200 per year, despite the fact
that he did not have especially gaudy offensive statistics.
Mind you, a player with 370 career home runs and
1,274 runs batted in – plus three Gold Glove Awards at
first base – was a legitimate candidate but admittedly a
challenging choice when taken into consideration that
Gil Hodges is greeted at the plate by a Dodgers batboy (upper left),
Carl Furillo (partially hidden at bottom left) and Jackie Robinson after his
home run in Game Four of the 1955 World Series.
4
Rachel Robinson, who participated in the Hall of Fame’s
dedication of the Character
and Courage statues in 2008,
saw first hand Gil Hodges’
strong character when he
played with her husband Jackie.
2011 BBWAA
Hall of Fame Ballot
Election results announced Jan. 5
he fell short of 2,000 hits and never finished higher than seventh place
in Most Valuable Player Award voting.
What elevated Hodges’ status among many voters was his
reputation as a man of high character and a player who exuded sportsmanship. As teammate Pee Wee Reese once put it, “If you had a son,
it would be a great thing to have him grow up to be just like Gil
Hodges.”
In her 1997 book, Jackie Robinson: An Intimate Portrait, Rachel
Robinson wrote of her late husband’s teammate, “In his own quiet
way, Gil was a mainstay of the team; a slugger, an outstanding fielder,
a man of strong character. Jack counted on him.”
Another Dodgers teammate, Clem Labine, recalled how the
normally raucous Brooklyn crowds reacted to Hodges’ infamous 0-for21 slump in the 1952 World Series. “Not getting booed at Ebbets
Field was an amazing thing,” said Labine. “Those fans knew their
baseball, and Gil was the only player I can remember whom the fans
never – I mean never – booed.”
It may be argued that the man who inspired those opinions earned
the additional support on writers’ ballots even if that alone was not
sufficient to gain Hodges election. It may very well have been an
example of voters exercising their privilege to recognize as part of
career achievement human behavior
judged worthy of Hall of Fame
status.
No other Hall of Fame has such
a clause in its voting regulations.
Some baseball writers are of the
opinion that perhaps Cooperstown
shouldn’t, either. But it is there and
may be invoked at any time.
Voters are free to interpret the
clause as they see fit. Most of the
time that involves a personal
decision.
“It makes me queasy to think
about sportswriters [or anyone else]
trying to judge a man’s character,”
said voter Joe Posnanski, who writes
for SI.com. “I always come back to
what Buck O’Neil – the Negro
leagues player, manager, scout and
spokesman – said: ‘You can’t know
Roberto Alomar
Carlos Baerga*
Jeff Bagwell*
Harold Baines
Bert Blyleven
Bret Boone*
Kevin Brown*
John Franco*
Juan Gonzalez*
Marquis Grissom*
Lenny Harris*
Bobby Higginson*
Charles Johnson*
Barry Larkin
Al Leiter*
Edgar Martinez
Tino Martinez*
Don Mattingly
Fred McGriff
Mark McGwire
Raul Mondesi*
Jack Morris
Dale Murphy
John Olerud
Rafael Palmeiro*
Dave Parker
Tim Raines
Kirk Rueter*
Benito Santiago*
Lee Smith
B.J. Surhoff*
Alan Trammell
Larry Walker*
*First year on ballot
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
5
2010 BBWAA Voting
Buck O’Neil, who became
big league baseball’s first
African-American coach in
1962 with the Cubs, knew
what a player’s character
meant to his team’s
chances for success.
NAME
YEAR ON
BALLOT
VOTES
% OF VOTE
MLB
SEASONS
1
Andre Dawson
9th
420
77.90%
21
2
Bert Blyleven
13th
400
74.20%
22
3
Roberto Alomar
1st
397
73.70%
17
4
Jack Morris
11th
282
52.30%
18
5
Barry Larkin
1st
278
51.60%
19
6
Lee Smith
8th
255
47.30%
18
7
Edgar Martinez
1st
195
36.20%
18
8
Tim Raines
3rd
164
30.40%
23
9
Mark McGwire
4th
128
23.70%
16
10
Alan Trammell
9th
121
22.40%
20
11
Fred McGriff
1st
116
21.50%
19
12
Don Mattingly
10th
87
16.10%
14
13
Dave Parker
14th
82
15.20%
19
14
Dale Murphy
12th
63
11.70%
18
15
Harold Baines
4th
33
6.10%
22
16
X-Andres Galarraga
1st
22
4.10%
19
17
X-Robin Ventura
1st
7
1.30%
16
18
X-Ellis Burks
1st
2
0.40%
18
19
X-Eric Karros
1st
2
0.40%
14
20
X-Kevin Appier
1st
1
0.20%
16
21
X-Pat Hentgen
1st
1
0.20%
14
22
X-David Segui
1st
1
0.20%
15
23
X-Mike Jackson
1st
0
0.0%
17
24
X-Ray Lankford
1st
0
0.0%
14
25
X-Shane Reynolds
1st
0
0.0%
13
26
X-Todd Zeile
1st
0
0.0%
16
X- will not return to the ballot in 2011 after failing to receive required
five percent of the vote.
Gil Hodges has received
more BBWAA election
votes than any other
player who has not yet
been elected to the
Hall of Fame.
what’s in a man’s heart. Could he play or couldn’t he play? That’s what
matters.’ ”
But many voters believe the character clause is an important part of
the voting process.
Dates to Remember
Jan. 5 – BBWAA 2011 Election Announcement
July 22-25 – 2011 Hall of Fame Weekend
July 24 – 2011 Induction Ceremony
6
“One thing people should understand: This is a Hall of Fame vote,
not a court verdict,” wrote voter Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com.
“Voters don’t need evidence or proof to render their decisions. We are
instructed to consider character, integrity and sportsmanship, creating
wide latitude for subjectivity.
At the BBWAA’s 2009 All-Star Game meeting in St. Louis, Rick
Telander of the Chicago Sun Times initiated discussion about Hall of
Fame voting for consideration of players whose careers took place in a
period marked by revelations of anabolic steroids usage. Telander said
MLB allowed this issue “to trickle down to our shoulders” and that the
BBWAA should consider forming a committee to study the matter.
After lengthy debate, the proposal was voted down.
The reason was that it was persuasively argued that the sportsmanship clause is already in place as a guide for each voter to interpret
individually. It remains a moral compass.
Jack O’Connell, a columnist for Yankees Universe on Yankees.com, is
Secretary-Treasurer of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
ANNIVERSARIES
Jewel of a film
Crystal’s donation ensures legacy of 61*
will live on in Cooperstown
BY BILL FRANCIS
oger Maris and Mickey Mantle chased history in 1961 during
the New York Yankees’ championship season. Forty years later,
director and executive producer Billy Crystal immortalized that
season in his epic HBO film 61*.
On the opening day of the fifth annual Baseball Film
Festival, and exactly 49 years to the day in which Maris hit his 61st roundtripper of the 1961 season to eclipse Babe Ruth for the new record, Crystal
made history again when he donated several artifacts from the film to the
Hall of Fame.
In an event held outside the Museum’s Baseball at the Movies exhibit
and in front of the new exhibit dedicated to 61*, Crystal shared with the
overflow crowd what this honor meant to him.
Bob Costas (far right) moderated a roundtable event Oct. 1 at the
Hall of Fame featuring several principal figures from the film 61*. From left,
screenwriter Hank Steinberg, HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg, director
Billy Crystal and actor Thomas Jane share stories about the film.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
7
ABOVE: Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson
(left) accepts a signed copy of the script of
61* donated to the Museum by the film’s
director and executive producer Billy
Crystal, LEFT: Billy Crystal speaks to a full
house in the Hall of Fame’s Grandstand
Theater during the Salute to 61* Voices
of the Game event.
“I thought I was going to get
here as a player,” he joked, as
onlookers laughed along, “but to
get here as a director of this film, part of this team that made this film,
is really the greatest thrill of my performing career.”
Well known for his comedic work, Crystal got serious when reflecting on the making of 61*.
“When you are in this business, you get some fringe benefits. You
get to meet people and be with people that you normally would not
get a chance to. And in my life I grew up idolizing Mickey Mantle
Actor Thomas Jane, who
portrayed Mickey Mantle in
the movie 61*, and director
and executive producer Billy
Crystal stand in front of a
new Hall of Fame exhibit
located at the Museum’s
"Baseball at the Movies"
dedicated to 61*.
8
and then we became friends,” he said. “And when the chance to direct
the movie came my way it hit me in a place that very few things do…
I was 13 all over again. And now that ‘13 all over again’ is forever.”
According to Ross Greenburg, president of HBO Sports and
co-executive producer of 61*, none of it would have been possible
without the tender loving care of Crystal, “an American icon who also
has a magical feeling for this moment in time.”
Greenburg added, “I think in all my years, 33 at HBO, I don’t
think there has ever been a film or a project quite like this one.”
Actor Thomas Jane, who portrayed Mantle, called working on 61*,
“the best film experience I’ve ever had. I’m still waiting to top it.”
“I got to go play baseball every day from morning until the
afternoon for a good six hours every day, five days a week,” Jane said.
“It changed me. It changed me as a person. It changed me as an actor.
It made me a better human being. And it opened my eyes a little bit
to the beauty, majesty and the power of a simple game called baseball.
Phenomenal. For that I’ll be eternally grateful.”
Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson began the day’s proceedings
speaking glowingly of the 2001 release.
After a discussion of
the movie 61*, Billy
Crystal showed the
audience the bat
Roger Maris used to
hit home run No. 61
from the Hall of
Fame’s collection.
Captured on film
Hall of Fame’s Baseball Film Festival thrills both fans and filmmakers
BY BILL FRANCIS
David Ortiz jersey worn in the 2004 World Series.
The public’s love affair with both baseball and the movies
was on full display when the fifth annual Baseball Film
Festival took place Oct. 1-3 at the Hall of Fame.
In total, 11 movies, ranging in length from five minutes
to almost two hours and collectively totaling more than
nine hours, were shown throughout Saturday and Sunday
before full houses at the National Baseball
Hall of Fame and Museum’s Bullpen
Theater. And with subject matter that
included everything from Negro leagues
legend Josh Gibson, the Latin American
influence in today’s game and the demise
of a beloved ballpark, the varied stories
only mirror why the National Pastime
remains popular to such a wide and
broad audience.
“Being part of this festival is the
ultimate honor,” said Gary Waksman,
director of Four Days in October, an MLB
Productions feature about the comeback
Josh Gibson
by the Boston Red Sox against the rival
New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series.
“When you walk around the Baseball Hall of Fame and you see all the
people enshrined and you think of all the great stories that correspond
to those names, and you think about this story, a team story of such a
great comeback, it’s almost appropriate to have it shown here. That’s
how we feel.”
Dave Check, the executive producer of Four Days in October, called it
apropos that the film should be shown in Cooperstown.
“The greatest comeback of all time in baseball history should be
enshrined here,” Check said. “I almost look at the premiere of this film,
the first place it’s been shown publicly, as somewhat of a de facto type of
enshrinement. Just being a part of history and being able to tell these
“If films could be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, this
classic undoubtedly would be a first-ballot inductee,” he said. “Today
we’re here to celebrate its important place in culture.
“Baseball and film have been bedfellows since Thomas Edison got
into the act in 1898 with his film The Ball Game. In total, more than
150 films have used baseball as a subject or metaphor, which is why
this exhibit gallery right here, Baseball at the Movies, exists today.”
At the event Crystal donated a bound 61* shooting script, to which
Idelson followed up by presenting him with a lifetime pass to the Hall
of Fame. Crystal previously donated such 61*-related items as movie
story boards, a Yankees jersey and a certificate presented to him for a
Best Picture nomination.
Among the artifacts included in the new 61* exhibit, which will
remain on display throughout 2011, include a Yankees jersey with
incredible stories and being able to showcase it
here is thrilling.”
For director Mike Diedrich, bringing his film
Ballhawks, which concerns the men who chase
balls hit outside Chicago’s famed Wrigley Field,
to the Baseball Hall of Fame was somewhat overwhelming.
“I don’t know if I can put it into words. It’s
indescribable,” he said. “I’m a huge baseball fanatic
and this, I think, is as good as it gets. And three of the
Ballhawks made the drive out here, driving all night,
so it makes it even more exciting.”
Peter Miller, the director of Jews and Baseball: An
American Love Story, was familiar with the Baseball Hall
of Fame, having conducted research in the Library’s
Giamatti Research Center.
“This is a very special festival because it’s the Hall of Fame, it’s a place
where the history of baseball is taken more seriously than anywhere on
earth,” Miller said, “and it’s a huge honor to be part of this film festival.”
Jews and Baseball will be released theatrically this fall, with a showing
on PBS in the spring.
“This film would have been impossible without the resources of the
Hall of Fame, the photographs, especially. We used hundreds of pictures
from the Hall of Fame’s collection. And we used a good deal of footage
from the Hall of Fame as well,” Miller said. “Everybody at the Hall of
Fame, when I came up here to do research, was incredibly helpful. We
are hugely indebted to the Hall of Fame for this film.”
As for why baseball remains such a significant subject for filmmakers,
Waksman, the director of Four Days in October, shared his thoughts:
“You have heroes, villains and goats, people you cheer for and don’t
cheer for. I think just the nature of the sport itself is just very conducive
to great storytelling.”
reverse lettering and numbering worn by actor Anthony Michael Hall
(a right-hander who was portraying Yankees’ left-handed pitcher
Whitey Ford); a Yankees jersey and batting helmet worn by Jane;
and newspapers, baseball cards and press credentials used in the film
that were copied from 1961 originals.
Crystal, a lifelong baseball fan, ended the festivities by telling those
in attendance, “Thank you so much for making us a part of forever.”
Later that night, with famed broadcaster Bob Costas serving as
moderator, Crystal joined Greenburg, Jane and Hank Steinberg, the
writer of the 61* screenplay, for a sold-out roundtable discussion of
61* and a screening of the film in the Hall of Fame’s Grandstand
Theater.
Bill Francis is a library associate at the National Baseball Hall of Fame
and Museum.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
9
P O P C U LT U R E
Never-ending story
Baseball-themed movies have become part of American experience
BY BILL FRANCIS
C
“
andlesticks always make a nice gift,” “There’s no
crying in baseball” and “If you build it, he will come”
represent just a few of the most recognizable lines
from the history of baseball movies, a popular genre
that traces its history back almost 100 years.
Of course, Bull Durham (1988), A League of Their
Own (1992) and Field of Dreams (1989) – the source
of the respective quotes above – are considered by
many the most successful of this marriage of
baseball and film, whose enduring popularity as
a coupling of national pastimes has produced
more than 150 results.
“Baseball emerges in America as the
central cultural iconic institution that unites
us all, then film comes along a little bit later
and does the same thing,” said Peter Miller,
the director of the documentary Jews and
Baseball: An American Love Story, which was
shown as part of the fifth annual Baseball
Film Festival held at the National Baseball
Hall of Fame and Museum in October.
“Baseball and film are married in ways that I
think reflect so much about the American
character and about American culture.”
In fact, the fledgling movie business in the early 20th
century, at least according to New York Giants scout Dick Kinsella,
began to take a bite out of baseball attendance.
“It’s got so bad that I gave a quarter to a friend of mine last
summer to take in a ball game,” said Kinsella in 1916. “I kept my eyes
peeled for him that afternoon, but couldn’t locate him. That night I
asked him how he liked the game. He seemed to act secretive and
10
The Hall of Fame collection
includes the Durham Bulls
uniform worn by actor Tim
Robbins while playing Ebby
Calvin ‘Nuke’ LaLoosh in
1988’s Bull Durham and
Robert Redford’s New York
Knights warm-up jacket
from The Natural.
finally admitted he had
spent the two bits for five
moving picture shows.”
While baseball has been represented on film dating back to the late
19th century, starting with the Thomas
Edison-produced The Ball Game in 1898, Right Off the Bat, a five-reel
comedy drama released in 1915, is generally regarded as the first
feature length baseball movie. A biopic on the life of former outfielder
Mike Donlin, who left the game in 1914 after 12 big league seasons, it
not only featured Donlin playing himself but Hall of Fame manager
John McGraw also made an appearance.
After Right Off the Bat was released, The New York Times wrote,
“For the first time baseball has been put on the screen in such a
fashion that even an Englishman can understand it – and that is
accomplishing the impossible.”
The appeal of baseball movies in foreign countries has been one of
the common questions raised by Hollywood over the years. Since 50
percent of a film’s gross in those days was picked up abroad, this
potential handicap was considerable.
“First, there are the women. I don’t think women are too responsive
to movies about baseball. You have to give them a great personal
story,” said Samuel J. Briskin, Columbia’s vice president in charge of
west coast studio operations, in 1959. “Second, baseball is more
expensive to make than boxing, for instance. You have to have two
teams and you have to shoot outdoors. In itself this is not too serious,
but when you consider the foreign market and the women it adds up.”
Acting icon Henry Fonda once said he had always been told there
are two kinds of movies that were sure boxoffice poison: Revolutionary War pictures
and baseball pictures. But despite the
potential profit hardships faced by studios,
baseball movies have continued to be
produced.
A short and certainly not complete list of
some the more popular or critically
acclaimed baseball movie titles over the
years, which count farce, dramas, romantic
comedies, biographies and even musicals
among them, include: The Pride
of the Yankees (1942), The Babe
Ruth Story (1948), The Stratton
Story (1949), The Jackie Robinson
Story (1950), Angels in the Outfield
(1951), Fear Strikes Out (1957),
Damn Yankees (1958), Bang the
Drum Slowly (1973), The Bad News
Bears (1976), The Bingo Long
Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings
(1976), The Natural (1984), Bull
Durham (1988), Eight Men Out
(1988), Field of Dreams (1989),
Major League (1989), A League of
Their Own (1992), The Sandlot
(1993), Cobb (1994), For Love of the
Game (1999), 61* (2001), The Rookie
(2002) and Sugar (2009).
While it has had its lulls – when it was Westerns or musicals or war
films that caught the public’s fancy – Hollywood has never really
forgotten about baseball. And interest in the sport still carries over
from the diamond into the movie theater.
But what makes a good baseball movie? The consensus seems to be
that the criteria includes a good story, a realistic representation of the
game, and the believability of the action scenes.
“I think what makes a good baseball movie, speaking in very
general terms, is the ability to capture the drama of the game, which
can be universal,” said nationally known film critic and lifelong
Boston Red Sox fan Jeffrey Lyons. “I’ll look at a movie about soccer or
even rugby, like the recent Invictus, and I don’t know anything about
rugby and I don’t know the rules, but I was moved by it because it has
a larger perspective around it.
“Then it’s as if the actors look like ball players. The Natural was so
good because it had the element of mysticism about it and it also had
a former college baseball player, namely Robert Redford, in the title
role.”
Actors, directors, producers and
writers have visited the Hall of
Fame. Robert Wuhl, Tim Robbins,
Susan Sarandon and writer/
director Ron Shelton from Bull
Durham (above), Billy Crystal,
director and executive producer
of 61* (far left), and James Earl
Jones, from Field of Dreams, all
have been to Cooperstown in
recent years.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
11
A League of Their Own, released in 1992, vividly captured the story of the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. These uniforms above were
featured in the movie and also reside in the Hall of Fame’s collection. A
James Earl Jones signed baseball is also a part of the Museum’s archive.
According to Kevin Costner, who starred in a trio of baseball
movies - Bull Durham, Field of Dreams and For Love of the Game – you
can’t make a baseball movie about baseball.
“I think it always has to be about people,” Costner said. “And what
you need to do is honor the athleticism it requires to make such a
movie, because even non-athletes can tell what an unathletic
movement looks like.”
In some sense, the baseball movie has defined the way Americans
view the game and their own relationship to it.
Actor James Earl Jones has appeared in Field of Dreams, The Bingo
Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings and The Sandlot. But during
an appearance at the Hall of Fame for a 15th anniversary celebration
of Field of Dreams in 2004, he was asked why he thinks Field of
Dreams remains as popular as when it was first released.
“Because it’s not really about baseball. It’s really about other
things,” Jones said. “It’s about fathers and sons. The mom is the first
companion, the second companion is pop. Pop doesn’t become
important until one day he says: ‘Let’s got out in the backyard and
play catch.’ That’s when the bonding starts in most families; at least it’s
a poetic way of looking at it. That’s kind of America.”
Ron Shelton, a former minor league baseball player who spent five
years with the Baltimore Orioles organization, wrote and directed Bull
Durham. “Sports movies are today’s Westerns,” he said. “Our contem12
porary mythology is built around the athletic field and sports heroes.
We have our white hats and our black hats, just as my generation had
its Western heroes.”
As a former professional athlete, Shelton’s view of
sports is from the perspective of the field of play.
“I think that it (Bull Durham) might be the first
sports film ever made by a guy who actually played as
opposed to (someone who) sat in the stands. I think
as a player you see the game differently,” Shelton said.
“As a kid I grew up hating sport movies, and I
thought if I ever get to make one, I’ll at least make
one that I like. What I tried to do was concentrate on
the moments between the big plays and leave the big
plays for television. I think that’s why perhaps people
responded to that movie – they get to see the drama that they can
never see on television.”
During a recent trip to Cooperstown to honor 61*, which he
directed, Billy Crystal called making a baseball movie very tough to get
right.
“The actors have to look like players and the story has to be right,”
Crystal said. “In our movie (61*) they not only looked right but they
also played well, they were believable.
“But this was a great story that somehow didn’t have anything to
do with baseball. It had to do with friendship and respect. And I think
that’s why this movie is enduring to people.”
During the 2004 Induction Weekend, the Hall of Fame played
host to a special private screening of the film Mr. 3000. The film’s
director, Charles Stone III, called it “a redemption story.”
“I always wanted to create a great American baseball movie, and
also with a person of color, which you don’t see very much in the
pantheon of sports films,” Stone said. “Sports movies are the perfect
medium to show one’s struggles in life. It’s like Greek mythology. You
get so invested emotionally and physically that you get sucked into it.”
When Penny Marshall visited the Hall of Fame to commemorate
the 10th anniversary A League of Their Own in 2002, the director
shared her initial hardships getting the film made.
“They (studio) said, ‘Nobody wants to do a baseball movie.
Nobody wants to do an all-women movie. Nobody wants to do a
period all-women baseball movie,’” Marshall said. “But they wanted
me to sign with them, so they said I could do the movie.”
The Hall of Fame honors A League of Their Own and other films in
the Museum’s Baseball at the Movies exhibit, and has accepted over the
years such artifacts as a Durham Bulls jersey and pants worn by Tim
Robbins in Bull Durham, the “Wonder Boy” bat and trombone case
from The Natural, and a prop Lou Gehrig scrapbook from The Pride
of the Yankees.
Bill Francis is a library associate at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and
Museum.
BY THE NUMBERS
Hall of Fame Members on the big screen
Since the appearance of Mike “King” Kelly on the vaudeville stage in the late 1800’s, many players
have crossed over from the field to the world of stage and screen. While the stage may have hosted
the initial thespian performances by baseball players, the big screen would soon dominate the theatrical market. In many ways baseball and the cinema grew up together, with baseball being a favorite
topic and star players quickly becoming involved as actors. Sometimes they played themselves in
cameo appearances, while others would make more aggressive attempts to showcase their acting
talents. All told, 65 Hall of Fame inductees have appeared on the big screen in feature films or
cinematic shorts, accumulating 124 screen credits in 87 different films.
Counting only feature films and shorts created for the big screen (television productions, video-only
releases, and documentaries are not included), this list represents film appearances for Hall of Fame
inductees. This list includes both credited and uncredited appearances, cameos, speaking roles, voiceovers, and one film currently in post-production for release later this year.
HANK AARON
Summer Catch (2001)
SAM CRAWFORD
College (1927)
HANK GREENBERG
The Kid From Cleveland (1949)
WALTER ALSTON
Carnival Circus (1978)
The Geisha Boy (1958)
DIZZY DEAN
Dizzy and Daffy (1934)
BUCKY HARRIS
The Babe Ruth Story (1948)
BILL DICKEY
Pride of the Yankees (1942)
The Stratton Story (1949)
BILLY HERMAN
Whistling in Brooklyn (1943)
FRANK BAKER
The Short-Stop’s Double (1913)
Home Run Baker’s Double (1914)
ERNIE BANKS
Blackjack (1978)
Diminished Capacity (2008)
Pastime (1990)
Promised Land (2004)
Reversal of Misfortune (2005)
Roman (2006)
The Shooting of Dan McGrew (1965)
AL BARLICK
The Odd Couple (1968)
JOHNNY BENCH
Easy Rider: The Ride Back (2010)
CHIEF BENDER
The Baseball Bug (1911)
YOGI BERRA
Damn Yankees (1958)
Henry and Me (2010)
That Touch of Mink (1962)
WADE BOGGS
Carnival Knowledge (2002)
LOU BOUDREAU
ROY CAMPANELLA
Roogie’s Bump (1954)
GARY CARTER
The Last Home Run (1996)
FRANK CHANCE
Baseball’s Peerless Leader (1913)
ROBERTO CLEMENTE
TY COBB
Angels in the Outfield (1951)
Somewhere in Georgia (1917)
JOE DIMAGGIO
Manhattan Merry-Go-Round (1937)
Pride of the Yankees (1942)
The First of May (1999)
LARRY DOBY
It’s My Turn (1980)
DON DRYSDALE
Experiment in Terror (1962)
Gypsy Angels (1980)
The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961)
LEO DUROCHER
Main Street to Broadway (1953)
The Errand Boy (1961)
DENNIS ECKERSLEY
Fever Pitch (2005)
BOB FELLER
Pastime (1990)
WHITEY FORD
County Fair (1941)
Safe At Home (1962)
The Boys Behind the Desk (2000)
LOU GEHRIG
Rawhide (1938)
Speedy (1928)
JOE GORDON
GOOSE GOSSAGE
Henry and Me (2010)
CARL HUBBELL
Big Leaguer (1953)
MONTE IRVIN
REGGIE JACKSON
Bad Day on the Block (1997)
BASEketball (1998)
Henry and Me (2010)
Richie Rich (1994)
Summer of Sam (1999)
The Benchwarmers (2006)
The Naked Gun (1988)
WALTER JOHNSON
The Top of the World (1925)
HARMON KILLEBREW
Pastime (1990)
RALPH KINER
TOM LASORDA
Americathon (1979)
Ed (1996)
Homeward Bound II (1996)
Ladybugs (1992)
Ya Gotta Believe (1982)
TONY LAZZERI
Slide, Kelly, Slide (1927)
BOB LEMON
The Winning Team (1952)
MICKEY MANTLE
Damn Yankees (1958)
Safe At Home (1962)
That Touch of Mink (1962)
CHRISTY MATHEWSON
Breaking Into The Big League (1913)
Love and Baseball (1914)
Matty’s Decision (1915)
WILLIE MAYS
When Nature Calls (1985)
BILL MAZEROSKI
JOHN MCGRAW
Breaking Into The Big League (1913)
Detective Swift (1914)
Fighting Mad (1919)
One Touch of Nature (1917)
Right Off the Bat (1915)
The Universal Boy (1914)
BILL MCKECHNIE
JOE MEDWICK
SATCHEL PAIGE
The Wonderful Country (1959)
JIM PALMER
The Naked Gun (1988)
PEE WEE REESE
Clockwise from top:
Reggie Jackson,
Babe Ruth,
Chief Bender
BABE RUTH
Fancy Curves (1932)
Headin’ Home (1920)
Home Run on the Keys (1937)
Just Pals (1932)
Little Miss Bluebonnet (1922)
Over the Fence (1932)
Perfect Control (1932)
Slide, Babe, Slide (1932)
Speedy (1928)
The Babe Comes Home (1927)
The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
NOLAN RYAN
Jimmy Nolan (2011)
OZZIE SMITH
The Scout (1994)
DUKE SNIDER
Pastime (1990)
The Trouble With Girls (1969)
TRIS SPEAKER
ARKY VAUGHAN
BILL VEECK
JIM RICE
Fever Pitch (2005)
HONUS WAGNER
In The Name Of The Law (1922)
Spring Fever (1919)
PHIL RIZZUTO
Summer of Sam (1999)
DICK WILLIAMS
The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)
FRANK ROBINSON
Tiger Claws (1992)
DAVE WINFIELD
The Last Home Run (1996)
JACKIE ROBINSON
The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)
EARLY WYNN
Research assistance provided by film historians Jeffrey
Lyons, Rob Edelman, Stephen Wood and David Pincus.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
13
AMERICAN LIFE
Field of scenes
Baseball often used by non-sports filmmakers to represent values
BY ROB EDELMAN
R
on Shelton, the director of the classic baseball movie
Bull Durham (1988), put his challenge in the simplest
terms.
“I was told not to make a movie about baseball,
because it would never sell,” Shelton said. “They said
not enough people would understand it.”
After a more than five-fold return on their original investment,
Orion Pictures learned differently. But it came as no surprise to film
historians, who have seen baseball used as a metaphor since the earliest
days of the American motion picture industry.
Baseball is so embedded in American culture that it frequently has
been employed as a reference point in non-sports films. The mere
mention of bats and balls mirrors historical events and eras or signifies
hometown pride and mom’s apple-pie patriotism.
Two such references are found in Woman of the Year (1942), a
romantic comedy released just after U.S. entry into World War II. In
the first, a sportswriter (Spencer Tracy) bristles at the thought of prohibiting pennant races for the duration. “Say, look, we’re concerned
with a threat to what we call our American way of life,” he declares.
“Baseball and the things it represents are a part of that way of life.
What’s the sense of abolishing the thing you’re trying to protect?”
Next, Tracy invites his ideological counterpart, a newspaper
columnist portrayed by Katharine Hepburn, to her first game at
Yankee Stadium. Hepburn’s character first believes that a ballplayer
speeding on the basepaths “seems like a frightful waste of energy.” But
before long, she ascertains the place of baseball in the tapestry of
America – and roots as passionately as the most avid fan.
Coming at the end of the war is The Best Years of Our Lives (1946),
in which three veterans return to their Midwestern hometown. Upon
their arrival the GIs share a cab, which passes a ballyard. The men ask
the cabbie about the plight of the local nine, and collectively groan
when told that the club sits in sixth place. This sequence lasts but
14
As a central part of American culture, it’s no coincidence that baseball appears even in
non-sports movies from Gary Cooper’s Meet John Doe (top left) to Billy Crystal’s City
Slickers (two at top right) and many more like On Moonlight Bay (middle left), Whistling
in Brooklyn (two at bottom left) and Three Stripes in the Sun (two at bottom right).
seconds, but its message is straightforward and eloquent: In wartime,
Americans rooted for the Allies against the Axis. Now, it is OK to
return to cheering for the home team.
In World War II combat films, the typical Hollywood platoon
mirrors the American melting pot. There is the Kansas farmer and
Oregon lumberjack, the college graduate and grade school dropout –
and the working (or “woiking”) class Dodgers-obsessed Brooklynite.
One such film, Guadalcanal Diary (1943), features William Bendix as
a Brooklyn taxi driver-turned U.S. Marine. As noted in the film’s
advertising, “All he wanted was to be back in Brooklyn watching them
beautiful Bums!” Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), a farce, is set in the
Borough of Churches – and what would a Brooklyn-based 1940s
movie be without acknowledging the Dodgers? The film opens with a
sequence that has nothing to do with what follows, but which
introduces Brooklyn via a mélange of loudmouthed fans and brawling
players at Ebbets Field. Similarly, a film titled Whistling in Brooklyn
(1943) would be incomplete without citing the Dodgers. Whistling in
Brooklyn includes an Ebbets Field-set sequence which finds Red
Skelton garbed in a fake beard and representing the Battling Beavers in
an exhibition game against Dem Bums.
Baseball references are found in Battleground (1949), set during the
Battle of the Bulge. Here, small groups of GIs wander through the
woods near Bastogne. If they bump into each other, how can they
identify themselves as comrades-in-arms? Any true American will
know baseball, so they are given a password (“Texas”) and counterpassword (“leaguer”). Later on, a GI named Roderigues (Ricardo
Montalban) practices pitching by throwing snowballs. The message
here is that baseball is for all Americans.
Indeed, in war films from Lafayette Escadrille (1958), set during
World War I, through the Vietnam-era We Were Soldiers (2002), GIs
play ball. How else would true-blue Americans who are fighting for
their country pass their spare hours? (In Lafayette Escadrille, viewers
even get to see young Clint Eastwood swinging the lumber.)
Hitler’s Children (1943), set in pre-World War II Berlin, features
German boys who are members of the Hitler Youth. Meanwhile, their
American counterparts play baseball. In A Foreign Affair (1948), set
amid the rubble of post-war American-occupied Berlin, the Germans
now play ball. The Chosen (1981), set during the war, depicts two
groups of Jewish teens, one Americanized and the other Hasidic. What
they share, beyond their religious faith, is their ballplaying – which
serves as a declaration of their physical prowess at a time when
European Jews were seen as weak-kneed victims of Nazi tyranny.
A decade after the end of the war, the United States and Japan had
become allies – and Three Stripes in the Sun (1955) employs the sport
to echo the time. Its central character (Aldo Ray) is a career GI and
Japan-hating Pearl Harbor survivor who, much to his chagrin, comes
to Japan as a member of the occupying American army. He is
humanized by his experiences in what once was an enemy nation and,
to raise money to build an orphanage, stages a ballgame between
Japanese and American teams. Culturally-speaking, the two nations are
a study in contrast. But they share a common language: A language of
strike-three and ball-four.
Another film that reflects 1950s American culture is On Moonlight
Bay (1951), in which a baseball-loving tomboy (Doris Day) willingly
trades her bat and glove for a pink party dress after being asked out on
her first date. In this pre-feminist era, a girl’s obsession with baseball is
but a passing phase of her soon-to-be concluding youth. The idea that
a female can simultaneously swing a bat and date a guy is not yet culturally plausible.
Almost four decades before Bull Durham’s Annie Savoy expressed
her belief in the “church of baseball,” Kirk Douglas starred in Ace in
the Hole (1951) as a disgraced Big City journalist exiled to a small
Southwestern newspaper. Early on, he complains that he is stuck in a
“sun-baked Siberia” where there is “no Yogi Berra.” “What do you
know about Yogi Berra...?” he asks a female coworker. “Yogi. Why, it’s
a sort of religion, isn’t it?” she cluelessly responds. “You bet it is,” he
retorts. “A belief in the New York Yankees.” (Almost six decades later,
Berra was referenced in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), starring
Kirk’s son, Michael Douglas: A citation that mirrors Yogi’s longevity
and status as an American icon.)
Baseball does not always symbolize commonality and family values.
In War of the Worlds (2005), a New York-area dockworker (Tom
Cruise) parades around in a Yankees cap. He is divorced, and his
adolescent son visits him. In order to connect with the boy, the dad
suggests they partake in a sacred American father-and-son ritual:
Tossing around a baseball. The boy unenthusiastically agrees. To
emphasize his less-than-tender feelings for his father, he promptly,
almost spitefully, dons a Boston Red Sox cap.
But such portrayals are the exception, and not the rule. In Dave
(1993), how do we know that an average American (Kevin Kline) who
is a double for the U.S. president is capable of impersonating the chief
executive when he is felled by a stroke? Because Dave keeps a baseball
and glove in the drawer of his office desk. In Remember the Day
(1941), why does a 12-year-old boy grow up to become a suitable
nominee for the U.S. presidency? Because he is the star pitcher for his
school nine, and he is a Christy Mathewson devotee. In The Talk of
the Town (1942), how do we know that a surefire Supreme Court
nominee (Ronald Colman) is fit for such a lofty position? Because he
attends a baseball game and declares, “A great thing, this baseball. It
gets the legal cobwebs out of the brain.”
In Cass Timberlane (1947), how do we know that a young woman
of the working classes (Lana Turner) is fit to be romanced by a smalltown judge (Spencer Tracy)? Because she plays softball. In Meet John
Doe (1941), why is a vagrant (Gary Cooper) deemed suitable to
impersonate a jobless everyman and “disgusted American citizen”?
Because he is an ex-bush leaguer. In City Slickers (1991), why do we
connect with the characters played by Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern and
Bruno Kirby? Not because their professions are radio ad salesman,
grocery store manager, and sporting goods store owner. We love them
because they are statistics-spewing baseball nuts, right down to Crystal
wearing a Mets cap.
It is the power of the game, the image of the National Pastime, that
filmmakers time-and-time again turn to when it is appropriate to
subtly remind us that, after all... Baseball is America.
Rob Edelman is the author of Great Baseball Films, a frequent contributor to
Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game, and a contributing editor of Leonard
Maltin’s Movie Guide. He teaches film history at the University at Albany.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
15
FLASHBACK
Baseball’s greatest skit
Abbott and Costello’s classic routine has become film royalty
BY TIM WILES
“
T
his is better than getting an Oscar,” quipped Lou Costello
in 1956, when he and his comedy partner Bud Abbott
donated a gold record for “Who’s On First?” to the Hall
of Fame.
The presentation was made by Abbott and Costello to
then-Hall of Fame Director Sid Keener and Vice President Paul Kerr,
live on the Steve Allen Show, Oct 7, 1956. Abbott and Costello
performed the classic routine on Allen’s show that night, in what at
least one source reports was their swan song – the final performance of
the classic skit they claimed to have done 15,000 times. Other guests
on the special “Salute to Baseball” included Mrs. Babe Ruth, Mickey
Mantle and Sal Maglie.
The following day, the Dodgers’ Maglie would pitch well against
the Yankees in the World Series, allowing two runs on five hits – one
of them a Mantle homer – but history was on Don Larsen’s side that
day during his meeting with destiny.
The perfect game followed the perfect skit.
Abbott and Costello became a comedy team in 1936, and quickly
had success with the “Who’s On First?” routine, which they debuted
on the Kate Smith radio show in 1938. At first, the show’s producer
was reluctant to let them do the baseball routine, but he gave in and
the routine went over so well that the duo ended up with their own
radio show shortly thereafter – leading to a reported contract stipulation that the duo must perform the skit at least once a month on the
Abbott and Costello’s
gold record for “Who’s On First?” is among
the many artifacts related to the skit in the Hall
of Fame collection. The 1945 film The Naughty
Nineties, starring Bud Abbott (left) and Lou
Costello, contains the version of “Who’s On
First?” routine which many fans have come
to adore.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
17
The St. Louis Wolves Lineup
First Base: Who
Second Base: What
Third Base: I Don’t Know
Left field: Why
Center field: Because
Pitcher: Tomorrow
Catcher: Today
Shortstop: I Don’t Care
*The right fielder is never identified,
though a board game based on the
skit identifies him as Nobody.
“Who’s On First?” is a staple of American culture and one of the most frequent
references in baseball, including this sign in the Hall of Fame collection from the late
Freddy “Sez” Shuman, a legendary Yankees fan.
air. Soon the comedians were cast in Hollywood films, and debuted
a shortened version of “Who’s On First?” on the big screen in
1940’s One Night in the Tropics. Another shortened version appears
in 1942’s Who Done It?
Soon after, they did what many consider the definitive filmed
The exact origins of the “Who’s On First?” skit are hard to pin
version of the skit in The Naughty Nineties. This is the familiar version
down, as similar wit, wisecracking, wordplay and precision timing
where Sebastian Dinwiddie (Costello) strolls onstage selling popcorn
were hallmarks of the vaudeville stage. The routine is thought to have
and peanuts, interrupting the baseball talk being given by Abbott’s
been partially inspired by an old routine having to do with directions
Dexter Broadhurst in his “St. Louis Wolves” jersey. Aficionados will
to Watt Street. “What street? Watt Street.”
notice the painted banner behind the duo
A similar British skit has to do with a
which advertises the Paterson Silk Sox, a
student
named “Howe,” who came from
famed industrial league team from Costello’s
“Ware,” and who now lives in “Wye.” These
New Jersey hometown. Costello would
and other vaudeville routines are thought to
always find a way to work a Paterson
have inspired the creation of “Who’s On
reference into his work. Abbott, on the other
First,” though others have staked their claims
hand, hailed from Asbury Park, N.J., though
on having written the piece, notably
he was really a child of the circus and
songwriter Irving Gordon, who is best
carnival vaudeville circuit.
known for “Unforgettable.”
Both men were baseball fans, and
SABR researcher Ray Zardetto gave a
Costello in particular developed a friendship
presentation on the skit at the organization’s
with Joe DiMaggio, who some sources
annual convention in Atlanta earlier this
contend inspired and encouraged the young
year, for which he interviewed Lou’s
comedians to develop a baseball skit.
daughter, Chris Costello.
DiMaggio even appeared in the skit with
Joe DiMaggio joined his friend Lou Costello to perform
“So many people have tried to take credit
Abbott and Costello on the Colgate Comedy
“Who’s On First?” on NBC’s popular Colgate Comedy
for
writing ‘Who’s On First,’ but the fact of
Hour.
Hour in the 1950s.
18
the matter is this: My dad wrote it with Bud (Abbott) and John
Grant,” Chris Costello said.
Grant was a longtime screenwriter for Abbott and Costello. “Dad
and Bud and Grant put the routine together based on a series of old
vaudeville sketches they knew and their own abilities to play around
with words.”
The immortal skit has been performed at the White House, and
was named the best comedy routine of the 20th century by Time
magazine in 1999. In 2003, The Library of Congress chose the first
radio version of the sketch from 1938 for inclusion in the National
Recording Registry, an effort to digitize and preserve the recordings
most central to American culture. DeWolf Hopper’s 1915 recording of
“Casey at the Bat” was the only other baseball or sports related piece
on the initial selection of 50 recordings. In 2005, the line “Who’s on
A poster featuring the script of “Who’s On First?” resides in the Hall of Fame collection.
First?” was included on the
American Film Institute’s list
• Taiwanese middle infielder Chinof the 100 most memorable
lung Hu has appeared 96 games
movie quotes.
for the Los Angeles Dodgers since
In addition to the
his debut in 2007. Since then, of
aforementioned
gold record,
his 33 career hits, 24 singles have
the
Hall
of
Fame
also holds a
put “Hu on first.”
copy
of
the
Abbott
and
• In 1920 Allie Watt played one
Costello “Who’s On First?”
game at second base for the
Washington Senators.
board game from the 1970s, a
• Other Watts to play in the Majors:
library clippings file on the
Eddie Watt and Frank Watt, who
routine and its famous
were both pitchers. Eddie played
performers and numerous
10 seasons, mostly for the Orioles,
recordings of the skit. “Who’s
and recorded just one double. In
On First?” has been a fanFrank’s one season for the 1921
Phillies, he hit two doubles.
favorite in the Museum for
decades.
Perhaps as a result of the
honored place the routine has held for many years, a popular misconception exists about Abbott and Costello. Visitors and callers often
pose the trvia question: “Who are the only two people in the Hall
of Fame who had nothing to do with baseball?” The question is
frequently repeated by radio disc jockeys as trivia, but the question is
flawed in two ways.
Abbott and Costello are not “in the Hall of Fame,” as inductees,
but rather their work is featured in the Museum and the Library.
It is far from the truth that they “had nothing to do with baseball,”
as this comedy routine is among the most popular and beloved
segments of American popular culture.
“Who’s On First?” has made many appearances in pop culture,
from The Simpsons to Seinfeld to the movie Rain Man, where Dustin
Hoffman’s autistic character Raymond Babbitt recites the routine to
himself when he feels that he is under great stress. A classic movie clip
appears in Pete ‘n’ Tillie, a 1972 film starring Walter Matthau and
Carol Burnett. In the film, Burnett catches Matthau teaching the
routine to his son and asks him why he would spend time on such
silliness.
“Abbott and Costello are not silly,” he responds, “This is art!”
Sometimes life imitates art, as it did in 2007 when the Dodgers
promoted Chin-Lung Hu to the big club. His first big league hit was a
home run, and it took until his sixth game for him to stop at first base
after a single.
By then, fans were familiar with legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin
Scully rooting on the young player: “Let’s hope Hu gets a base hit,
folks. I can’t wait to say Hu’s on first.”
In the Majors
Tim Wiles is the director of research at the National Baseball Hall of Fame
and Museum.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
19
Curator’s Corner
Naturally good
Hall of Fame preserves artifacts from Redford’s
classic 1984 film
BY BETHANY GIROD
“Welcome to the majors.”
These are the words that every baseball
player wants to hear. In the 1984 film The
Natural, Roy Hobbs – played by Robert
Redford – gets the good news from the
clubhouse manager, who hands Hobbs a
New York Knights baseball cap. Hobbs
carefully tries it on for size and, in a moment
of reflection, smiles slightly.
The Natural, an adaptation of Bernard
Malamud’s 1952 novel, follows baseball
prodigy Roy Hobbs, whose career is
sidetracked by a life-changing incident.
Directed by Barry Levinson and starring
Redford, the story surrounds Hobbs’ efforts
to resume his interrupted career many years
later, carrying his homemade bat along the
way. Much of the film’s appeal comes from
its mix of nostalgia, mythology and history.
Including such familiar American baseball
experiences such as streaks and slumps,
defeats and victories, scandals, greed, and
love for the game, the film continues to be a
fan favorite.
Beyond these themes, The Natural was a
well-made film that was nominated for four
Academy Awards. The star, Redford,
portrays Hobbs, and was a natural for the
role since in real life Redford was good
enough to earn to earn a baseball scholarship
to the University of Colorado.
“At one time, I wanted to be a pro ball
player,” Redford told USA Today in 2010.
“So it was very much in my DNA, and I
always wanted to make a film about
baseball.” Prior to filming The Natural,
Redford even reviewed the hitting
20
techniques of his favorite player,
Ted Williams, and ensured that
Hobbs wore Williams’ number 9.
After the release of the film in
1984, producer Mark Johnson
donated several props to the Hall
of Fame, including two bats and a
trombone case. The better-known
bat, evoking King Arthur’s
Excalibur, is Wonderboy, handfashioned by Hobbs out of a tree
that had been struck by lightning.
Throughout the film, Hobbs carries
the bat in a trombone case. At the
film’s climax, Hobbs hits his
mammoth, light-smashing home
run with the third Johnson
donation, another homemade
bat, the Savoy Special.
Shortly after those
donations to Cooperstown,
Hollywood’s Western
Costume Company offered the
complete Roy Hobbs uniform to
the National Baseball Hall of Fame
and Museum, including the Knights
jersey, pants, warm-up jacket, cap,
shoes and even the undershirt, all
worn by Redford in the film. The
95-year-old company is one of
the original motion picture firms
in Hollywood, and has outfitted
such classic films as Gone With
the Wind, The Sound of Music, and
West Side Story. By the end of 1984,
the combined generosity of Johnson
and the Western Costume Co. created an
The Wonderboy bat,
which was carried in this
trombone case, was almost
as big of a star in The
Natural as the lead actor
Robert Redford. The bat
and case are featured in the
Hall of Fame’s collection.
Nominated for an Oscar for his work on The Natural,
composer Randy Newman visited the Hall of Fame in
2007 and is seen here in the Museum. INSET: Wonderboy
and a New York Knights jersey were included as a part of
the Hall of Fame’s traveling exhibit, Baseball as America.
impressive combination of movie props for
the Hall’s collection.
A decade after those contributions, the
Museum opened Baseball at the Movies, an
exhibit that now features movie props from
such films as Damn Yankees, Bull Durham,
Field of Dreams, A League of Their Own, 61*
and The Natural. The artifacts on display
from The Natural change from time to time
because of the variety of artifacts available,
and might include Hobbs’ uniform, socks
and shoes, warm-up jacket, and the
Wonderboy or Savoy Special bat. When the
Hall of Fame’s traveling exhibition Baseball
As America toured throughout the United
States from 2002 through 2008, the
Wonderboy bat and Hobbs’ jersey were
included as part of the exhibition. The items
were chosen for their ability to illustrate the
importance of America’s pastime in popular
culture, including the movies.
Part of the authentic feel of The Natural
came from the research that went into the
creation of the baseball uniforms. Prior to
filming, costume designer Bernie Pollack
thoroughly investigated baseball uniforms
from the 1930s. To supplement the blackand-white photographs of the era, Pollack
sent researchers to Cooperstown to take their
own photographs of the uniforms in the collection. Ted Spencer, then Chief Curator of
the Museum, remembered that when
Pollack’s people visited, they only had a few
days to do research and “information was
not as readily available as it is today.”
Pollack agreed.
“I talked to every baseball buff I could
find and contacted all the National League
teams for details about the old uniforms,”
Pollack noted. “It was like putting together a
jigsaw puzzle.” The end result for the New
York Knights uniforms included a modification of the old New York Giants logo and
the familiar pinstripes of the New York
Yankees.
Many of The Natural’s scenes have
become classics, particularly those that tap
into baseball’s rich vein of myth and legend;
the props that figure prominently in these
scenes are among those offered to and
accepted by the Museum. These scenes
included Hobbs’ first batting practice with
the Knights, where he adjusts his cap, swipes
dirt away with his spikes, grips his
Wonderboy bat, and clobbers the ball each
time for towering home runs. In another
scene, Hobbs gets his first appearance at the
plate, clicks Wonderboy’s trombone case
open, takes out his bat, and literally “knocks
the cover off the ball.” A final dramatic scene
remains one of the most memorable in all of
baseball movie history. There, an ailing
Hobbs swings the Savoy Special bat with all
his might, smashing the ball into the
outfield lights for a magnificent, slowmotion, game-ending home run to win the
pennant.
Countless visitors, young and old, walk
through the Baseball at the Movies exhibit
each day, recalling the films they have seen
and love as they gaze at the props displayed.
The Natural’s exhibit case provides visitors
with a unique and treasured experience.
Bethany Girod is a history graduate student at
California State University, Fullerton and was a
curatorial intern in the Baseball Hall of Fame’s
2010 Frank and Peggy Steele Internship
Program.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
21
H A L L O F FA M E R
The first king
Mike Kelly created the role of the acting athlete
BY MARTY APPEL
B
efore there was YouTube, before there was MySpace,
before there was television, before there was radio, and
before there were movies, entertainers had the vaudeville
stage and local saloons to present their acts. And vaudeville was where you wanted to be if you really thought
you had some talent.
Talent – or at least celebrity. Mike “King” Kelly of Boston was the
biggest sports celebrity in the
land in the 1880s (well, perhaps
along with John L. Sullivan and
Cap Anson). And being an
extrovert who thought he had a
lot of talent, he was happy to
accept an offer to develop an act
and make some extra money on
the stage.
Kelly was not only a fine
player – a two-time batting
champ and a “creative”
catcher/outfielder (let’s just say
he could take advantage of only
one umpire on the field, and
perhaps skip third base while
heading for home) – but he was a showman on the diamond as well.
He loved to banter with the fans, talk to them between pitches,
keep them engaged in the game, while winning their devotion with
his appealing personality. So well did he wear the mantle of celebrity,
that he became the first American – not just in sports – to be pursued
for autographs. Yes, the custom of seeking a celebrity autograph began
with King Kelly.
Prior to his arrival in Boston, he had been a great player in
Chicago, and his sale to Boston for the unheard of $10,000 price
made him more of a celebrity than he had ever been. And while
people knew that it was nice to own a George Washington or an
Abraham Lincoln signature, the practice of pursuing someone in the
22
ABOVE: King Kelly played Major League
Baseball for 16 years, 15 in the National
League, while playing all nine positions on
the diamond. LEFT: The song “Slide, Kelly,
Slide” which was inspired by King Kelly’s
base running, in turn inspired the 1927
comedy Slide, Kelly, Slide starring William
Haines and Harry Carey.
street to obtain an autograph
didn’t begin until Kelly, when
fans knew his route to “work”
each day at Boston’s South End
Grounds.
With this fan adulation in place, producers of vaudeville shows
approached the King and asked him to consider stage appearances.
One such encounter took place when Kelly was stranded in Boston
during the famed Blizzard of 1888, where drifts reached as high as 15
feet. There he met a booking agent named Charles W. Thomas. Kelly
regaled him with stories of his early dreams to be on the stage, and
even of a childhood melodrama he’d participated in, during which he
and Jimmy McCormick (a future big leaguer as well), performed in
Jimmy’s basement.
So Kelly took the role of “Dusty Bob” in a play called “A Rag
Baby” at the Park Theater.
He slept through the first rehearsal, but on opening night, when he
spoke his first line, “Where is this ‘Old
Sport,’” the audience, packed with his fans,
applauded and cheered for nearly a minute.
Unfortunately, not all the critics were
baseball fans. “There was a lot less applause
when he finished than when he started,”
wrote one.
But vaudeville was in his blood. He
continued to appear on stage whenever he
could, changing “Casey at the Bat” to “Kelly
at the Bat” and treating his audience to a
dramatic recital.
Kelly was now a man for all seasons. He’d
been the first ballplayer to write an autobiography, the first to be immortalized in song
(“Slide, Kelly, Slide” was the nation’s first
pop hit recording), and a painting of him
sliding into second hung in almost every
Irish saloon in town. He was the king of all
media.
His baseball skills waning as his waistline
grew, he decided during the winter of 189293 to leave the game and devote his life to
the stage. And so he signed onto appear in
“O’Dowd’s Neighbors,” but soon had a
change of heart and joined the New York
Giants on May 25 for one last big league
season. The fans loved having him in New York, particularly since he
“wintered” in Paterson and in Hyde Park.
And the fans knew his act!
As he stood in the outfield, according to reports of the day, fans
yelled, “Say Kel, just one moment…give us a verse of ‘Casey at
the Bat!’”
And requests came in for others hits of the day – “Let’s have
‘Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me a
Bow Wow’……‘The Day I
Slide, Kelly, Slide
Played Baseball’……‘Slide,
The hit song inspired Mike “King”
Kelly, Slide!’” (His signature
Kelly’s base running.
tune!).
When he finally retired for
“Slide, Kelly, Slide!
good after the 1894 season, he
Your running’s a disgrace!
accepted an engagement to
Slide, Kelly, Slide!
rejoin the company of
Stay there, hold your base!
“O’Dowd’s Neighbors” at the
If someone doesn’t steal you,
Palace in Boston. He would be
And your batting doesn’t fail you,
performing with the London
They’ll take you to Australia!
Gaiety Girls, reciting poetry,
Slide, Kelly, Slide!”
TOP: King Kelly’s transfer to the Boston Beaneaters
following a stellar stint with the Chicago White Stockings
brought fame and celebrity while making him the first
American to be sought after for autographs. LEFT: Mike
“King” Kelly’s 1887 trading card from a pack of Allen &
Ginter cigarettes.
singing and dancing a little bit, and mostly
just giving the fans the treat of greeting their
old hero.
The schedule called for him to appear on
Monday afternoon, Nov. 5, and he took a
boat from New York to Boston the night
before.
The boat, however, ran into an autumn
snowstorm, and Kelly wound up contracting a bad cold. His resistance
was down (he was not famous for taking good care of himself), and
when the boat arrived on Sunday night, he was taken to a friend’s
house and then to Emergency Hospital.
The seats were filled at the Palace on Monday, but Kel wasn’t there;
he was in a hospital bed, being administered oxygen. An
announcement was made, and the Wednesday newspaper said, “Mike
Kelly, the well-known ball player, who is at the Emergency Hospital,
suffering from pneumonia, was reported as being a little better at an
early hour this morning.”
The report was overly optimistic. On Thursday night, Nov. 8, he
died. He was only 37.
His funeral was an enormous public event in Boston, with even the
London Gaiety Girls attending, all wearing mourning badges for 30
days.
It marked the end of the career of the man who brought entertainment to baseball.
Kelly was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1945.
Marty Appel is the magazine historian for Memories and Dreams. Appel’s
biography, “Slide, Kelly, Slide,” won the Casey Award from Spitball Magazine
as best baseball book of 1996.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
23
FROM THE FILES
His last game
Incredible story of Walla Tonehka inspired one of earliest films about baseball
BY KEN MEIFERT
B
aseball history has many colorful stories,
but few are as shocking as the story of a
Choctaw Indian named Walla Tonehka.
His incredible journey became one of the
first examples of how the film industry has
been captivated by the National Pastime.
Also known by his English name, William Going,
Tonehka was a talented ballplayer and the star of the
Choctaw tribal team. In the spring of 1897, Tonehka,
an otherwise upstanding citizen, allegedly murdered two
of his uncles during a fight fueled by alcohol. The
Choctaw Tribal Council moved swiftly, charging him
with the murders. The Tribal Court convicted him after
WALLA
a short trial in July, and he was condemned to death. In
a time of swift justice, the sentence was scheduled to be
carried out in early August.
What happened next brought the story national attention and was
covered by papers across the nation including the New York Times, the
Chicago Daily Tribune, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.
Ultimately Walla Tonehka filed an appeal for a stay of execution,
not for legal reasons or questions of his guilt, but to allow him finish
the 1897 baseball season with his Choctaw team, an event that
brought national attention and news coverage.
The Chicago Daily Tribune explained the situation in an Aug. 22
article: “But the ball playing season was at its height, and he could not
be spared from the Choctaw team.” The paper went on to explain that
“the court granted the appeal, simply that the young Indian might
play ball to the glory of the nation.”
Tonehka was released from custody and the star player immediately
rejoined his team. He was free to play baseball and had no restrictions
on his activity. It was assumed that when the day of his execution
came, he would return and face his fate.
This turn of events was interesting enough, but the story grew even
more intriguing when the final game of the season was postponed
because of rain. The contest was rescheduled for the day Walla Tonehka
was destined to meet his final fate. It appeared that Tonehka would
miss the final game because of his appointment with the executioner.
With the passionate support of his teammates and fans, he was
24
given another stay of execution, so that he could participate in the last game of the season.
The story continued to receive national attention,
and William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, already famous for his
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West traveling show, said: “I have not
the least doubt in the world that, when the day
appointed for Walla Tonehka to die arrives, he will be
on hand (and) ready to meet his fate like a man.”
When the final game of the 1897 season took place,
the Choctaw team ended up losing by a score of 12-8.
The New York Times reported that the result “would
have been worse had it not been for Tonehka’s activity
and judgment.”
TONEHKA
The 1898 baseball season came and went and
Tonehka’s sentence was commuted several more times.
Finally in July of 1899, with a writ of habeas corpus which would have
freed Tonehka on the way from a federal judge, the Choctaw deputies
carried out the sentence.
While the story ended tragically for Walla Tonehka, the drama was
not lost on America’s growing movie industry. Independent Moving
Pictures Company of America released a 12-minute, black and white
silent film loosely based on the story in 1909.
His Last Game portrayed the men Tonehka killed as gamblers who
were attempting to bribe him to throw the big game, with Tonehka
fighting and accidentally killing the men. After his trial and stay of
execution, he is able to pitch in the championship game which –
contrary to the historical facts – the Choctaw team wins. In the end,
Tonehka bravely meets his fate and is shot falling into his grave as a rider
crests the hill with a stay of execution in hand from the Federal court.
While His Last Game is mostly forgotten, it marks the beginning of
America’s growing passion for both film and baseball. The relationship
between Hollywood and our National Pastime continues to this day
and is celebrated in the Hall of Fame’s Baseball at the Movies exhibit.
His Last Game and a collection of other early silent baseball movies,
including Babe Ruth in Headin’ for Home, can be found on a two disc
DVD collection entitled Reel Baseball produced by Kino video.
Ken Meifert is the senior director of development at the National Baseball Hall
of Fame and Museum.
FLASHBACK
There is crying in baseball
Emotional opening of Women in Baseball exhibit generates hit film
BY SAMANTHA CARR
I
t all began on a lark. It ended with the creation of one
of the most beloved baseball films in history: A League
of Their Own.
In between, the National Baseball Hall of Fame
brought to life the story of women in baseball – and their
passion for the National Pastime.
The Museum’s recently retired Vice President and Chief
Curator Ted Spencer began working at the Museum in 1982.
He was given a pamphlet and some baseball cards about the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League by a
researcher shortly thereafter, and it sparked his curiosity.
“I remembered that my grammar school gym teacher in
Quincy, Mass., Miss Pratt, had played baseball, so I called
back home to find out,” said Spencer. “Sure
enough, she had played for the AAGPBL with
the Rockford Peaches as a pitcher.”
Mary Pratt’s five-year career piqued his
interest in the subject. On many occasions
Spencer and Bill Guilfoile, then Associate
Director of the Museum, had thrown the idea
around of including an exhibit on women and
their effect on the game.
“To be honest, it didn’t seem possible. We had
talked about it, but we just threw an idea out
there,” said Spencer.
One day, Guilfoile received a call from a
woman named Janice Mall, who was writing an
article about the AAGPBL for the Sunday Los
Angeles Times. She wanted to know if the Hall of
Fame had ever considered an exhibit on the subject.
Guilfoile put her on hold and called Spencer for
advice on how to answer.
TOP: A former player for the Rockford Peaches helped
spark the interest of former Hall of Fame Chief Curator
Ted Spencer in the history of women in baseball.
ABOVE: The Philadelphia Bobbies were a barnstorming
Bloomer Girl team in the 1920s, who went to Japan in
1925. LEFT: The Official Program of the All-American
Girls Professional Baseball League Rockford Peaches.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
25
“I said to tell her that we would love to – but we don’t have much
for artifacts in the collection and we need artifacts to create an
exhibit,” said Spencer.
The Museum really didn’t have much in the collection and would
need artifacts to develop an exhibit – but the exhibit wasn’t exactly in
the works at the time, either.
The article ran with this response in it, and three weeks later
Spencer received a letter from Dottie Collins – who he knew to be a
former player from the League, who was serving as an official in the
Alumni Association with the AAGPBL.
From that day forward, Collins and Spencer became very good
friends, and with her help, the Museum’s collection of AAGPBL
artifacts vastly increased and plans to open an exhibit about women in
baseball were put into motion.
Dottie Collins’ letter to
the Hall of Fame in the
mid-1980s began a rich
relationship between the
Alumni Association of
the All-American Girls
Professional League
and the Museum, helping create the Hall of
Fame’s Diamond
Dreams exhibit.
“We knew the league would be the focal point of the exhibit, but
we wanted to deal with the umpires and college girls too,” said
Spencer. “We wanted to go where the story takes us – like the
Philadelphia Bobbies in the 1920s.”
The Museum was set to open the Women in Baseball exhibit on
Nov. 5, 1988.
“Bill and I were excited about the exhibit,” Spencer said. “We
saw a specialness about it – not having a clue of course about what
would happen.”
On an average November day, the Baseball Hall of
Fame welcomes 200 to 300 visitors. The
day the exhibit opened, over 1,100
entered the front doors.
The Hall of Fame has numerous artifacts from the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League,
including a rich variety of scorecards and programs
from various teams and years.
26
Guilfoile received a call from film magnate Penny Marshall, who
wanted to attend. She was a diehard sports fan and interested in the
exhibit and the women it represented.
“About 150 ladies from the League were in Cooperstown for the
weekend and Marshall was able to interview them and spend a lot of
time with them,” said Spencer.
“All the right things had to happen for the exhibit to open and
have such a large effect on baseball and American culture,” said Tim
Wiles, director of research for the Hall of Fame.
On Saturday morning, everyone gathered in front of the exhibit for
the curtain to be drawn and the opening to become official.
“The place was packed and the women were singing the League
song all weekend,” said Spencer. “When the exhibit opened, the ladies
were crying and flash bulbs were popping. It was an outpouring of
emotion that was never seen before and not since at the Hall of
Fame.”
After attending the opening, Marshall told Guilfoile she was going
to make a movie. She took some time to find the right studio and
gather a team. The team then traveled back to Cooperstown to
interview staff about the event and learn about the AAGPBL. In
1992, A League of Their Own was released in theaters, directed by
Penny Marshall.
“These women were largely passed by in baseball history until this
point,” said Wiles. “They could have been angry that it took so long
for them to be honored and remembered, but the veteran players
brought enthusiasm to Cooperstown and responded with nothing but
class. They are wonderful ambassadors for the game and care so much
The original Women in Baseball exhibit opened in 1988 and went through several
changes before its current form took shape. After Museum renovations in 2005,
a new – more spacious – Women in Baseball exhibit, Diamond Dreams, opened on
the second floor.
about kids and education. They continue to be an inspiration to girls
and women in softball and baseball.”
It recreated shots from the opening of the exhibit inside the
Museum as well as a baseball game played at Doubleday Field by the
former AAGPBL players. The movie was No. 1 by its second weekend
and a commercial success. It grossed over $107 million and became a
cultural phenomenon, viewed by millions of young females who
wanted to play sports.
“The exhibit had a huge influence on women in sports and the
exposure of society to women’s sports through the movie,” said
Spencer. “I believe the exhibit finally gave women a piece of the
ownership of the game.”
Samantha Carr is the manager of web and digital media for the National
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
27
THE YEAR IN BASEBALL
Perfect season
Two perfectos – and one near miss – made 2010 a year to remember
GETTY IMAGES
MICHAEL ZAGARIS/OAKLAND A’S
BY CHARLIE VASCELLARO
I
t is a pitcher’s Holy Grail –
the ultimate demonstration of
dominance.
Twenty-seven up, twentyseven down. The 2010 Major
League Baseball season featured two perfect
games, plus another that featured 28 “outs.”
In what was a history-making year for
pitchers, the 2010 season was captured by
the Hall of Fame, which recorded and
preserved every milestone.
Coming just three weeks apart, the
perfect games pitched this year by Oakland
A’s lefty Dallas Braden on May 9 and
Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Roy
Halladay on May 29 marked the first time in
modern baseball history (post 19th Century)
that two hurlers have turned the trick in the
same season. If not for a controversial
umpire’s call with two outs in the ninth
inning on June 2, Armando Galarraga of the
Detroit Tigers would have made it three, all
before the All-Star break.
This season’s perfect game authors were
representative of the group at large: Wildly
different styles and results, but all
unblemished on a given day.
In his fourth year in the big leagues and
first as a regular starter, Braden entered the
season with a career record of 14-21 and a
4.68 ERA in 46 starts. Braden’s perfect game
victory over the Tampa Bay Rays was in
front of a fortunate few, an announced
crowd of 12,288 on Mother’s Day at
Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, and
made him an instant celebrity. After
recording the game’s final out, Braden
28
R O Y
H A L L A D AY
pointed to the sky in recognition of his late
mother, Jodie, who died when he was a high
school senior. He was immediately mobbed
by his teammates and then shared a long,
tearful embrace with his grandmother Peggy
Lindsey, who raised him after his mother’s
passing.
Halladay, meanwhile, was already one of
the reasons baseball experts were deeming
2010 the “Year of the Pitcher.” He was 6-2
with a 2.22 ERA, and four complete games
in nine starts by the time he threw his
perfect game against the Florida Marlins at
Sun Life Stadium. Halladay, of course, added
to his resume by no-hitting the Cincinnati
Reds Oct. 6 in Game 1 of their National
League Division Series with the Phillies –
just the second no-hitter in postseason
history. Halladay’s second no-no was the
sixth of the MLB season, with others being
thrown by:
D A L L A S
B R A D E N
• Ubaldo Jimenez for Colorado April 17
against Atlanta
• Edwin Jackson for Arizona June 25 against
Tampa Bay
• Matt Garza for Tampa Bay July 26 against
Detroit.
The Hall of Fame received game balls
from all six no-hitters this year, including the
two perfect games. Halladay, Jimenez,
Jackson and Garza each donated their cap
from their regular-season gems, while
Braden donated his spikes. Halladay’s commemorated his postseason no-hitter –
making him just the fifth big league pitcher
to hurl two no-hit games in a single season –
by donating his jersey.
The Museum received the first base bag
and the spikes worn by Galarraga on June 2
to commemorate an event that transcended
the game with the sportsmanship displayed
by Galarraga and Joyce.
Almost The Year of the No-hitter
The modern Major League record for no-hitters in a single season is seven, set in 1990 and
1991. With Roy Halladay’s gem in the postseason versus the Reds, this season featured six
official no-hitters.
Among the rarest of baseball’s supreme
accomplishments, Braden and Halladay’s
perfect games are just the 19th and 20th in
major league history. Galarraga’s ridiculously
close call marked the 10th time that a perfect
game was broken up with two out in the
ninth inning. Think about it: There have
only been 20 perfect games in all of major
league history (more than 140 years) but half
as many times a pitcher was just one out
away, which shows just how hard it is to get
that 27th out.
The Baseball Experience, the Hall of
Fame’s short introductory film shown in the
Grandstand Theater, features a quote from
writer Roger Angell: “Since baseball time is
measured only in outs, all you have to do is
succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally
alive, and you have defeated time. You
remain forever young.”
A perfect game is the pitcher’s equivalent
to the batter’s defeating time. And while a
perfect game is among the most improbable
occurrences in baseball, it has been
accomplished by some of the most unlikely
pitchers.
Chicago White Sox hurler Charlie
Robertson compiled a 49-80 won-lost record
in eight seasons from 1919-1928, never
posting a winning single-season record.
Robertson won a career-high 14 games
against 15 losses in 1922, one of his victories
being a perfect game against the Tigers at
Detroit’s Navin Field on April 30. It was the
first perfect game recorded in the majors
since Addie Joss in 1908, and the last until
Don Larsen’s World Series gem in 1956.
Another improbable candidate for perfection, Len Barker compiled an unremarkable
74-76 record pitching for four teams in 11
seasons, but etched his name into immortality when he threw his perfect game for the
Cleveland Indians over the Toronto Blue Jays
on May 15, 1981.
The perfect game may be a statistical
anomaly that lends support to the old
baseball adage, “I’d rather be lucky than
good.” But there is definitely some talent
1990
Cap and ball from Roy Halladay’s
2010 perfect game.
DATE
PITCHER(S)
TEAM
AGAINST
1
April 11
CAL
SEA
2
3
4
5
6
7
June 2
June 11
June 29
June 29
Aug. 15
Sept. 2
Mark Langston (7 IP)
Mike Witt (2 IP)
Randy Johnson
Nolan Ryan
Dave Stewart
Fernando Valenzuela
Terry Mulholland
Dave Stieb
SEA
TEX
OAK
LAD
PHI
TOR
DET
OAK
TOR
STL
SFG
CLE
DATE
PITCHER(S)
TEAM
AGAINST
1
2
3
May 1
May 23
July 13
TEX
PHI
BAL
TOR
MON
OAK
5
6
7
8
July 28
Aug. 11
Aug. 26
Sept. 11
Nolan Ryan
Tommy Greene
Bob Milacki (6 IP)
Mike Flanagan (1 IP)
Mark Williamson (1 IP)
Gregg Olson (1 IP)
Dennis Martínez
Wilson Alvarez
Bret Saberhagen
Kent Mercker (6 IP)
Mark Wohlers (2 IP)
Alejandro Pena (1 IP)
MON
CWS
KCR
ATL
LAD
BAL
CWS
SDP
1991
2010 Ubaldo Jiménez cap and ball
2010 Edwin Jackson cap and ball
2010
1
2
3
4
5
6
DATE
PITCHER(S)
TEAM
AGAINST
April 17
May 9
May 29
June 25
July 26
Oct. 6
Ubaldo Jiménez
Dallas Braden
Roy Halladay (1)
Edwin Jackson
Matt Garza
Roy Halladay (2)
COL
OAK
PHI
ARI
TBR
PHI
ATL
TBR
FLA
TBR
DET
CIN
2010 Matt Garza cap and ball
figured into the equation. Lucky, perhaps,
but a pitcher also has to be good. He’s
got to be really good for a significantly
sustained stretch, good enough to get each
member of the opposing nine out three
times in a row.
Most of baseball’s coveted milestones are
feats accomplished over longer periods of
time – the course of an entire season (Joe
DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak) or the
span of a career (Nolan Ryan’s 5,714 strikeouts) – and were achieved by the game’s
greatest players. The coveted .400 batting
average plateau has only been reached in 12
seasons by eight different major league
hitters in the modern era; all are members of
the Hall of Fame. Likewise, there have been
12 Triple Crowns (league leaders in batting
average, home runs and runs batted in,
during the same season) won by 11 players,
all Hall of Famers.
Of the 20 perfect games pitched, only six
have been thrown by Hall of Famers.
The first two perfect games in recorded
major league history were thrown by Lee
Richmond of the Worcester Ruby Legs and
John Montgomery Ward of the Providence
Grays, just five days apart on June 12 and
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
29
MICHAEL ZAGARIS/OAKLAND A’S
17, 1880 during professional baseball’s
formative years.
It seems appropriate that the first perfect
game in baseball’s modern era was pitched by
Cy Young, the major league’s all-time leader
with 511 victories, and namesake of the
award given annually to the best pitcher in
the American and National Leagues. Young
threw his perfect game for the Boston
Americans against the Philadelphia A’s on
May 5, 1904. The game’s one hour and 25
minute duration makes it the quickest
perfect game.
Four years later it took Joss just 74
pitches to perfectly dispose of the Chicago
Sox in 1-0 pitchers duel with fellow future
Hall of Famer Big Ed Walsh.
The most celebrated of all perfect games
was not thrown by a Hall of Famer, but by a
veteran right-hander who spent half of his
More than Perfect
Armando Galarraga spent time in both the majors and
the minors in 2010 and has a 23-26 record in 87
career big league starts. But on June 2, he was more
than perfect. Galarraga’s spikes and the first base bag
from that game are now part of the Hall of Fame's
collection.
30
14-year career as a middle-innings relief
pitcher. Larsen’s perfect game against the
Brooklyn Dodgers in the
1956 World Series is on the
short list of major league
baseball’s greatest games.
The Dodgers lineup Larsen
faced in Game Five of the
Series on Oct. 8 was
perhaps the best big league
batting order to be set
down in perfect fashion:
Three future Hall of
Famers, Duke Snider,
Jackie Robinson and Roy
Campanella, as well as
slugging first baseman Gil
Hodges.
It would be eight years before another
perfect game was thrown, this coming from
Jim Bunning for the Philadelphia Phillies
against the New York Mets lineup on
Father’s Day at Shea Stadium on June 21,
1964.
Author of four other no-hitters, Koufax –
a three-time Cy Young Award winner –
pitched his perfect game for the Los Angeles
Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs – a 14strikeout performance, on Sept., 9 1965.
Young Jim “Catfish” Hunter was only
22 years old but already in his fourth full
big league season when he pitched a perfect
game for the Athletics against the Minnesota
Twins at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium
on May 8, 1968. The 6,298 in attendance
that day still remains the smallest crowd to
witness a perfect game in baseball’s modern
era. Hunter remains the last Hall of Famer
to pitch a perfect game.
After the 12-year gap between Hunter
and Barker’s perfect games, the California
Angels Mike Witt (1984) and Cincinnati
Reds Tom Browning (1988) were the only
After his Mother’s Day perfect game,
Dallas Braden embraces his grandmother, Peggy Lindsey, who raised
him after his mother passed away.
Dallas Braden’s spikes and a ball from
his perfect game on May 9 (left)
are now part of the Hall of Fame’s
collection.
other pitchers to throw perfect games in the
1980s.
“El Presidente,” Denny Martinez, (1991)
of the Montreal Expos, Southpaw Kenny
Rogers (1994) and Yankees David Wells
(1998) and David Cone (1999) threw
perfect games in the 1990s.
Arizona Diamondbacks Randy “The Big
Unit” Johnson (2004) and Mark Buehrle
(2009) of the White Sox pitched the only
perfect games of the previous decade.
It seems like all of the planets and stars
need to be in alignment for a perfect game
to occur. Divine interventions aside, most
pitchers receive assistance from their
teammates by way of at least one stellar
defensive play during their perfect efforts.
While the 2010 season may indeed prove to
be the “Year of the Pitcher,” the perfect
game remains baseball’s most elusive individual achievement: The sweet spot at the intersection of lucky and good.
Charlie Vascellaro is a freelance writer from
Baltimore.
PLAQUE CHECK
A second look at Hall of Famers
Johnny Mize
BY MARTY APPEL
Y
oung St. Louis Cardinals fans
in the 1930s loved their
Gashouse Gang, but oh, did
they wish they had their very
own version of Babe Ruth.
And then, in 1936, they got him.
He was big and strong and, my goodness,
he was even related by marriage to the Babe,
being the second cousin of the Babe’s wife
Claire.
There was much unique about Johnny
Mize’s career, certainly more than enough to
fill out his Hall of Fame plaque when he was
elected in 1981. For one, he held the singleseason home runs records for both the
Cardinals (43 in 1940) and the Giants (51 in
1947) and was sixth on the all-time home
run list with 359 when he retired in 1953.
But as Casey Stengel said, “He’s more like
a leadoff hitter than a home run hitter.”
It was true; he was in fact the only 50home run man to strikeout fewer than 50
times in a season – that same 1947 campaign
produced only 42 strikeouts. He hit .320 in
his 11 National League seasons and wound
up at .312 for his career. And although he
never won an MVP award, he received MVP
votes in 11 of his 15 seasons and had a
lifetime on-base percentage of .397.
Johnny Mize
“Big Jawn” Mize was a product of
Demorest, Ga., and he hit .329 as a rookie.
He played six years for the Cardinals, won
four home run titles, drove in 100 or more
runs five times, and left behind a legion of
unhappy fans when he was traded to the
New York Giants for three players and
$50,000 cash four days after Pearl Harbor.
Mize was true to form in ’42 (.305-26110), adjusting his swing from Sportsman’s
Park to the more foul-line friendly Polo
Grounds, but then it was off to war for him.
He didn’t return to the Giants until 1946,
when he was 33. In ’47 and again in ’48, he
tied Ralph Kiner for the NL home run title.
By the time he was sold to the Yankees in
August 1949, he was sixth all-time on the
home run list, just ahead of Joe DiMaggio,
and trailing only Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Mel
Ott, Lou Gehrig and Hank Greenberg.
With the Yankees,
he would win his first
World Series ring –
and then four more.
Yes, he would play for
five Yankee World
Champions,
contributing strongly
to each with pinch
hits, lots of RBI and
solid fill-in work at
first base. In 1950,
when he spent a
month in the minors
recovering from an
injury, he still hit 25
homers and drove in
72 runs on 76 hits. He became the shining
example of late-season pennant race acquisitions by the Yanks.
It would be 28 years after his retirement
before his Hall of Fame election by the
Veterans Committee. Some felt he became
overlooked when his home run ranking
started to slip with the generation of sluggers
who came along in the ’50s. But Mize was
an impact player on three franchises and left
his mark for each.
Marty Appel is the magazine historian for
Memories and Dreams.
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
31
WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
A Giant Leap to Cooperstown
San Francisco Giants fans waited
52 years for their first World Series
championship, but fans won’t
have to wait another day to see
artifacts from the 2010 Fall
Classic in Cooperstown. The
2010 World Series champion
Giants will be celebrated
throughout 2011 in the
Museum’s Autumn Glory
Exhibit.
32
Artifacts donated to the Hall of Fame by the
World Champion San Francisco Giants
include (clockwise from top): Game-worn
jersey from Tim Lincecum from Game 5;
catcher’s mask worn by Buster Posey
in the World Series; game-worn cap
from Madison Bumgarner from
Game 4; game-worn left spike
from Aubrey Huff from the
World Series; game-worn
spikes from Buster Posey from
the World Series; bat used
by World Series MVP Edgar
Renteria to hit his gamewinning home run in
Game 5; game-worn
cap from Matt Cain from
Game 2; and the batting
helmet worn by Cody Ross
throughout the World Series.
FA N C O N N E C T I O N S
Mystery History
Who am I?
So you think you know baseball?
The Hall of Fame Gallery contains 292 bronze plaques
honoring the game’s legends. Etched in time are the faces
who made baseball what it is today, giving fans a glimpse
of the stars of the past.
Born in 1948, Billy Crystal grew up in New York and is a Yankees fan. But in the 1991
comedy City Slickers, he wore which baseball team’s cap?
A. Boston Red Sox
C. New York Giants
B. Brooklyn Dodgers
D. New York Mets
Mystery Hall of Famer Fast Facts
• Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and studied architecture at the
University of Cincinnati
• A six-time All-Star, three-time NL Pitching Triple Crown
winner, three-time NL Cy Young Award winner and the
1963 NL MVP
• Led the league in ERA in each of his last five seasons,
broke the record for strikeouts in a season in 1965 and
accumulated 300 strikeouts in three seasons
• Earned four World Series rings with two Series MVP
awards
Aside from this past major league season, what is the only other season to feature two
perfect games?
A. 1880
C. 1990
B. 1981
D. 1991
What is the name of the bat that Robert Redford uses to hit the climactic home run in
The Natural?
A. Excalibur
C. The Whammer
B. Savoy Special
D. Wonderboy
Which modern franchise did Mike “King” Kelly play for before he was sold to the
Boston Beaneaters, today’s Atlanta Braves?
A. Chicago Cubs
C. Oakland Athletics
B. Chicago White Sox
D. Philadelphia Phillies
Quotes of Fame | Class of 2010
“Be on time. Bust your butt.
Play smart. And have some
laughs while you’re at it.”
– Whitey Herzog’s four baseball rules
I want all the kids to do what
I do, to look up to me. I want
all the kids to emulate me.”
“That’s what it means
to be an umpire. You
have to be honest, even
when it hurts.”
– Doug Harvey after a member of
his crew admitted an error
– Andre Dawson on being a role model
For the answers to the above and more, please visit the Memories and Dreams page on the Hall of Fame
Web site. Visit baseballhall.org/memoriesanddreams or go to the Connections and follow the link.
baseballhall.org
Here are the answers from last issue’s trivia questions: 1.) C. Joe Louis 2.) D. Shortstop 3.) B. Orlando Cepeda 4.) A. Indestructible; and the Mystery Hall of Famer: Fergie Jenkins
BASEBALLHALL.ORG
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
25 Main Street
Cooperstown, NY 13326
NONPROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE
PAID
NATIONAL BASEBALL
HALL OF FAME
Around Cooperstown
MILO STEWART JR./NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM
Each season in Central New
York brings its own pleasures. Fall in Cooperstown
illustrates the picturesque
beauty of the region. With
reds, yellows, oranges and
greens mixed together, a
brilliant palette of color
greets visitors each October
as the leaves change.

Hooray for Hollywood - Baseball Hall of Fame

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