A Hack History: July 4, 1939
Posted: September 18th, 2008 | Filed under: Baseball | 40 Comments »
Someone mentioned something somewhere about them closing down Yankee Stadium sometimes soon. Really? Is this true? I cannot find anything about it anywhere. I keep hearing about all this “media” in America today, but you know, Yankee Stadium is pretty famous, you would think someone would write a retrospective or offer some memories of the place or something.
Well, in honor of the old barn — though I am of the belief that this is not really Yankee Stadium and has not been since the facelift in the mid 1970s — I thought it might be fun to go back to a famed moment in history and revisit it … through the eyes of a hack sportswriter. I feel uniquely qualified to play the role.
* * *
Dutch Leonard Throws Doozy
61,000 Watch Yank Killer Kill Yanks in Lidlifter
Yankees Romp in 2nd Game; Sundra Tosses 6-Hitter!
Whiz Bang of a Show Lights Up Independence Day
NEW YORK (July 4th) — The big question today was whether the Yenkees finally would pull out some brass knuckles against Emil “Dutch” Leonard, the Senior Senator from the great state of Illinois or if they would “knuckle under” the old man’s fluttery flings. It turned out that it was the latter on this Independence Day, as the famed Yankee Killer tamed the champs with a six-hit spectacle in front of a surprisingly large crowd of 61,808 paying customers.
Perhaps the crowd came out in numbers to see if the hometowners could finally unravel the mystery of Dutch, who had already beaten them two times, more than any other hurler in the Junior Circuit. Now it’s three victories for the man with the knuckleball, and you shouldn’t be surprised if bird dogs from Beantown and Cleveland are at this very moment scouring the streets of Auburn, Illinois so see if they can find an knuckleballer of their very own!
Unfortunately for the Washingtons, they do not have double Dutch Leonards, and poor Bucky Harris had no choice in the second game but to rely on the pitching power of Alex “Chico” Carrasquel. The boys from the Bronx gave him a pasting he won’t soon forget and gave the fans the firecracker display they had come to see on this Independence Day, thanks in no small part to George Selkirk’s 14th wallop and three bingles from Joe DiMaggio, and they beat the Nats 11-1.
But the talk of the day was Dutch, who made the Yanks jump through hoops again. The Nats’ prestigious pitching personage perplexed the Pinstripers in front of the populous congregation. The only fly in the ointment was Selkirk, who walloped a titanic round-tripper — his 13th of the season — but it was not enough to bring joy to the excessively large crowd, who watched Leonard lick the local lions for the third straight time.
Notes: Before the first game, the Yankees held a small tribute for their first baseman Lou Gehrig. He received numerous gifts, including a fishing rod and tackle. “I’m a lucky man,” he told the crowd … Dutch Leonard has now held the Yankees to four runs in 30 innings pitched this year.
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This is 1939, who are the “Nats”? Also, I remember Gehrig saying “I am the luckiest man on the face of the earth”, perhaps a single quote around “I’m a lucky man” would be better. And no mention of the Sultan of Swat being there for the little tribute either?
The very last paragraph (Old man Dutch Leonard has learned a trick or two…) seems out of place after the Notes section.
Overall, nice idea, somewhat poor execution.
I hope Fire Joe Morgan rips this to shreds.
I agree with you about it not being the same stadium since the mid-70’s. Every Yankee game I watch they talk about Jeter’s record for most hits at Yankee Stadium and they say that it is a record that will never be broken because the stadium is gonna be torn down.
Do people (outside of NY) really care about stadium specific records? Is there a site that will tell me who had the most bunt singles at Three Rivers Stadium? What Jeter has done has been fantastic, but its getting a bit old. Let’s give him the record for Yankee Stadium B, while Gehrig gets to keep it for Yankee Stadium A. Someone can start working on Yankee Stadium C next year.
Yeah, I was at the last game in 1973, and I’ll never forget the battle over second base after it ended. There were at least three separate tackles and fumbles – seemed more like a football game had broken out. Nuts bringing toolboxes in, pulling out seats, digging up chunks of sod, and getting bags full of dirt. Then came the bullies trying to take that stuff away, amidst the other idiots scampering around. I only managed to see the second and third games in the new Yankee Stadium, I still have a program/scorecard from the second game someplace.
Really, since they had to play at Shea for two seasons, it should be considered a “new” ballpark from 1976-2008, I think.
Ankit,
The Senators were often called the Nats.
“The Senators were officialy the Washington Nationals from 1905-1955, but the fans never recognized them as such.”
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/
Often called the nats in this book 2
http://www.amazon.com/Baseballs-Greatest-Season-1924-Browning/dp/1558494065
nice work Scribbly
I liked this. Maybe there’s a book in it, Joe.
Charles, thanks for that little tidbit.
Ankit: The “I’m a lucky man” quote is, as they say in journalism school, “humor.” Remember when Joe said he was writing as a hack sportswriter? It’s funny, because the lasting image from that day, and that game, is the heart-wrenching Gehrig tribute, but this sportswriter makes much of Dutch Leonard, missing the whole point.
It ceases to be funny when you have to explain it. I thought it was FANTASTIC, Joe.
Joe, you blew it, buddy. You used “congregation” instead of “panoply.”
What was the score of the first game? Did the old Dutch boy apply the calcimine brush to the Pinstripers?
A fishing rod? Who did they think he was, Ted Williams?
Well I learned something from this “hack”. I never knew there was a second Chico Carrasquel. A quick jog over to b-r.com shows me he was the uncle of the more accomplished Chico, who, incidentally, was my dad’s idol growing up.
Andy: I got the point of his post and the fact that the tribute was “small” but when I read it, I got too hung up on him using double quotes instead of single quotes. Regardless, this is not of Joe’s better posts.
“…prestigious pitching personage perplexed the Pinstripers in front of the populous…
and the…
“…large crowd, who watched Leonard lick the local lions…”
That’s the problem with sportswriting these days: not enough alliteration!
But wow.
How poignant is the “note?”
And the guy was surprised there was an unexpected huge crowd, for a double-header, on the friggin’ 4th of July, the day they honored Gehrig?
I assume there wasn’t a byline so we’ll never know the reporter’s name.
Somewhere in storage I have a copy of the Fireside collection of baseball writing. I can’t remember the exact title, but it’s a wonderful collection of spot reporting, columns, fiction, non-fiction writing (It’s where I first discovered Updike’s piece on Ted Williams’ last at-bat…juxtaposed with the Boston Globe guy who ranted about Teddy Ballgame not taking a bow. It’s evidence that Roshomon was a documentary and eye-witness accounts are unreliable.)
It also included a transcript of the last half inning of Koufax’s perfect game. It’s amazing. It’s obviously a guy doing play-by-play…. asides to tell us that the count is 1 and 2 and it was a curve ball… but that’s wrapped up in a Vin Scully at his Shakespearean best.
I spent about a decade in Los Angeles and Vin was the guy on the radio telling me about a nothing game in September when the Dodgers (“Godgers?”) were out of it…. and listening to him was like watching Picasso paint. It wasn’t just about what was happening, it was about how it felt.
The poor hack who wrote the story of July 4, 1939 at Yankee Stadium really didn’t get it, did he? “…a fishing rod and tackle.”
Yeah, THAT’S what people gave Lou Gehrig that day.
Notes: Before the first game, the Yankees held a small tribute for their first baseman Lou Gehrig. He received numerous gifts, including a fishing rod and tackle. “I’m a lucky man,†he told the crowd
Great job, Joe. Very funny.
Ankit: I don’t think the double quotes was an accident.
Lazy/inaccurate quotes : hack sportswriting : : Iambic pentameter : sonnets.
Good Lord, people. Try to keep up.
Classic sportswriting at it’s very worst, and that’s meant as a compliment. Well worth the money I’m earning by reading it at work.
That definitely would NOT have been your story for that day had you been around, I’m sure.
My day is now brighter for witnessing someone offer up seemingly serious advice on how to improve the grammar in a piece that spoofs hack sportswriters.
Man do I love it when someone misses the point.
Maybe the advice-giver was himself being sarcastic. Maybe you’ve missed the point of the one who supposedly missed the point.
Or maybe not. It’s hard to tell in print.
Happy to give him the benefit of the doubt, PER14, if only to let him know that deadpan doesn’t work in print.
I thought the speech was between the two games, no?
Who’s Lou Gehrig?
He’s a guy that Curt Schilling named a disease after. The reasons are unclear.
A moose once bit my sister.
I also might have changed “round-tripper” to “circuit clout” or “four-ply swat” …
Priceless. This brings to mind the MASH episode wherein Radar took correspondence lessons in ‘creative’ writing.
The Iron Horse with the rusted insides…
This is off topic, but I just saw a link to a Joe bloc column on SI.com from Neyer today, and it is an entry that doesn’t seem to be here, about Manny. so I compared the two, and tehre seem to be discrepancies both ways — that is, some entries here that are not at SI, and some tehre that are not here. Joe, can you shed some light on this?
I count three articles on SI.com that aren’t here on JoeBlog: concerning Manny, Favre, and Rays.
So now I have to check three different places (JoeBlog, SI.com, KansasCity.com) for Posnanski articles? Yeesh.
Perhaps it’s time to use a feeder service.
Joe,
When are you going to write about the red-hot Royals?
You’ve officially spent too much time in the library archives. Please finish mowing the lawn.
I found this line to give it away:
“they do not have double Dutch Leonards”
Are there REALLY that many people out there this stupid?!?!?!?
For those of you on the SLOW BUS – Joe was having some fun! He did NOT find this article in the archives from some long forgotten HACK. He is making a joke here folks. He wrote it as a HACK – get the joke?? The “note” about Gehrig and the misquote? The 60 plus thousand people there for a game – NOT the Iron Horse? It is a JOKE people. Honestly – please just move to Idaho so the rest of the human race can move on and move forward with their lives! (Sorry Idaho).
Another FJM mention in the comments. We get it. You love “FJM”.
“Leonard lick the local lions?” WOW – Thanks for that Joe.
Sarcasm, LOGS. Sarcasm.
Joe’s most creative effort yet. This could end up in school of journalism textbook as the ultimate example of burying the lead.
And eat your tomatoes, people — there seems to be an irony deficiency among posters.
it’s all the people who came over from Metsblog that don’t get it. I know this for certain. sigh.
How did I reach this age without knowing the word “bingle”? It’s application to Joe D. is great, Joe P.! More proof of the spoof. Did everyone else know that word?
Special guest writer Robert Weintraub?