Dark Bilious Vapors

But how could I deny that I possess these hands and this body, and withal escape being classed with persons in a state of insanity, whose brains are so disordered and clouded by dark bilious vapors....
--Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy: Meditation I

Home » Archives » August 2005 » Significant days in St. Louis baseball history...

[« Sad but significant days in entertainment history] [Old Man Al (at 3 Old Men) and I both think.... »]

08/19/2005: Significant days in St. Louis baseball history...


[NOTE: This is another rerun from last year. Edited only to move up the anniversary date, correct minor errors, and add a few more fun facts and a couple pictures.]



Good God! How could I forget this one?

Today is the 54th anniversary of what was perhaps the most outrageous promotional stunt in major league history. On August 19, 1951 Bill Veeck, owner of the St. Louis Browns, signed Eddie Gaedel to a contract to play for the Browns. Let's let Veeck tell part of the tale:
In 1951, in a moment of madness, I became owner and operator of a collection of old rags and tags known to baseball historians as the St. Louis Browns.

The Browns, according to reputable anthropologists, rank in the annals of baseball a step or two ahead of Cro-Magnon man. One thing should be made clear. A typical Brownie was more than four feet tall. Except, of course, for Eddie Gaedel, who was 3'7" and weighed 65 lbs. Eddie gave the Browns their only distinction. He was, by golly, the best darn midget who ever played big league ball. He was also the only one.
Veeck built up the stunt, letting it be known that he would be celebrating Browns' manager Zack Taylor's birthday by giving him a present between games of the scheduled doubleheader. Gaedel was put inside a cake, and of course did the traditional "out of the cake routine", wearing a tiny Browns uniform with the number 1/8, as Veeck told the crowd that he was giving Taylor "his very own little Brownie". [Some of you may, like me, still be old enough to remember the "Brownie" line of cameras manufactured by Eastman Kodak at that time...] The representatives of the Griesedieck Brewing Company, brewers of Falstaff beer (and sponsors of the Browns' radio broadcasts), were, according to Veeck's memoir, Veeck as in Wreck, less than pleased.

Until the bottom half of the first inning of the second game. Frank Saucier, playing in his only major league season as a Browns outfielder, had been named in the line-up card as the Browns' leadoff batter, and he played the first half inning of the game in the outfield. Alas, before he could even step up to the plate the announcer in Sportsman's Park told the fans: "Now pinch-hitting for Saucier, number 1/8, Eddie Gaedel!" And with those words, the 3'7" Gaedel became the first (and only) midget to play major league ball. Needless to say, the opposing team's (Detroit Tigers) manager, Red Rolfe, objected, but Zack Taylor was prepared, and had Gaedel's signed contract in hand. After showing the umpire the contract, the ump ruled that Gaedel was, indeed, a legally signed player, and he was told to take his position in the batter's box. Gaedel walked on four straight pitches (Detroit pitcher Bob Cain was a good sport about the situation, though he could barely stop laughing while pitching to Gaedel), and was then lifted for pinch-runner Jim Delsing.

The Baseball Sachems were not amused however. Veeck, again:
Dan Daniel, a well known high priest from New York, wondered what "Ban Johnson and John J. McGraw are saying about it up in Baseball's Valhalla," a good example of Dan's lean and graceful style. Non-baseball fans should understand that baseball men do not go to heaven or hell when they die; they go to Valhalla where they sit around a hot stove and talk over the good old days with Odin, Thor and the rest of that crowd. (I am assuming that the baseball people haven't driven the old Norse gods out to the suburbs. You know what guys like Johnson and McGraw do to real-estate values.)
Two days later, Major League Baseball invalidated Gaedel's contract, barring him from future appearances as a player, and amended its player personnel rules to prevent Veeck from pulling such a stunt again. But Veeck got the last laugh:
It's fine to be appreciated for a day; I recommend it highly for the soul. It's better for the box office, however, to be attacked for a full week.
Veeck also got the last word in:
My epitaph is inescapable. It will read: "He sent a midget up to bat."
RIP, Bill Veeck. Alas, we'll never see another one like you again.

Actually, the scion of the Veeck family, Mike Veeck (Bill's son) is continuing the family business as a minor league owner and executive, associated with several minor league teams including the independent St. Paul Saints of the Northern League and the Hudson Valley Renegades of the New York-Penn League (one of the Class A affiliates of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays). In case you think that Mike isn't a chip off the old Veeck block, keep in mind that one of his partners in crime in his baseball ventures is none other than actor-comedian Bill Murray, who is actually listed on the St. Paul Saints website as "Owner/Team Psychologist", and who I've heard (through the Billy Ball email newsletter) is carried on the Hudson Valley Renegades table of organization as "Vice President of Fun".

One can only fervently hope that Mike will come to run a major league ballclub. Soon.

TRIVIA FACTOID OF THE DAY: The uniform worn by Eddie Gaedel in his sole appearance in a major league baseball game was, in fact, the uniform of Browns bat-boy Bill DeWitt, Jr.. Young DeWitt was the son of Bill DeWitt, Sr., who was part of the Browns ownership group prior to Veeck's acquisition of the club, and he continues his participation in Major League Baseball as Chairman of the Board and General Partner of the St. Louis National Baseball Club, Inc. (d/b/a the St. Louis Cardinals).



Len on 08.19.05 @ 06:16 AM CST



[ | ]

August 2005
SMTWTFS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031   



Home
Archives
Archives of Blogger site
Archives: May '04-Feb '05
Archives: Feb-March '05



RSS 1.0 FEED
Powered by gm-rss

Len's sidebar:
About Len (The uncondensed version)
Memorial to a dear friend
Frederick W. Benteen
The Web of Leonards
The St. Louis Cardinals
The Memphis Redbirds
The St. Louis Browns
The Birdwatch
Hey! Spring of Trivia Blog
BlogMemphis (The Commercial Appeal's listing of Memphis blogs)
The Guide to Life, the Universe, and Everything
George Dubya Bush Blows
asshat.org (be sure to refresh your window for more "wit and wisdom" from Our Beloved Leader)
Taking the Fight to Karl
Kraftwerk: Chicago, 6/4/2005
My Chicago: Part One
My Chicago, Part Two
Millennium Park
Miscellaneous Chicago
Busch Stadium Tour and BoSox/Cards Game: 6/6/2005
St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum
Len's All-Busch Stadium Team
BP's Postseason Odds (Monte Carlo Simulations)

Len's extended blogroll:

Brock's Sidebar:
About Brock
The Agitator
Agoraphilia
apostropher
Armchair Capitalists
Battlepanda
Boing Boing
Brad DeLong
Crooked Timber
The Decembrist
Dispatches from the Culture Wars
Fafblog
Flypaper Theory
Heretical Ideas
John and Belle Have a Blog
Jon Rowe
Literal Minded
Majikthise
Marginal Revolution
Matthew Yglesias
Oliver Willis
Orin Kerr
Pandagon
Pharyngula
Political Animal
Signifying Nothing
Unfogged
Unqualified Offerings

Moonbat Icon

Karen's Sidebar
About Karen
The Ig-Nobel Prizes
The Annals of Improbable Research
The Darwin Awards
EBaums World
Real Clear Politics
U.S. News Wire
Foreign Affairs
The Capitol Steps
Overlawyered
Engrish
Legal Affairs
Nobel Laureates for Change
Program On International Policy
Law of War
Sunday Times
Media Matters
Fafblog
Is That Legal?
Discourse
Andrew Sullivan
Evolutionblog
Literal Minded
Jon Rowe
Dysblog
Freespace Blog
Thought Not
Publius Pundit
Maddox
Blog Maverick
Rosenberg Blog
Crooked Timber
GreeneSpace
EdCone.com
Conglomerate
McSweeney's

The Rocky Top Brigade:



A New Memphis Mafia


The Old Memphis Mafia

The liberal alternative to Drudge.

Get Firefox!




Take the MIT Weblog Survey

Len supports:
Operation Yellow Elephant:


"Because ranting is safer than enlisting"
Operation Yellow Elephant Blog

The Rebel Alliance of Yankee Haters
Blue Squadron (NL)
Babalu (Marlins)
Leaning Toward the Dark Side (Mets)
Ramblings' Journal (Cubs)
Mediocre Fred (Brewers)
Len Cleavelin (Cardinals)
Red Squadron (AL)
Obscurorama (Red Sox)
Frinklin Speaks (Mariners)
Steve Silver (Twins)
Steve the Llama Butcher (Red Sox)
Rob the Llama Butcher (Rangers)
MoatesArt (Red Sox)
Rammer (Tigers)
JawsBlog (Indians)
Ubi Libertas (Blue Jays)
Oldsmoblogger (Indians)
Mass Backwards (Red Sox)
Unassigned
Industrial Blog
Cry Freedom



How many visitors are here:


Blogrings/Blog indexes/Blog search:
« ? Verbosity # »


Listed on Blogwise
Blogarama - The Blog Directory
Popdex
Popdex Citations
Technorati
Blog Search Engine



Greymatter Forums Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com
template by linear