Lost his leg in World War II when an artillery piece crushed it.The fans finally get a say.
Bill Veeck was one of the most imaginative men in baseball, and his ideas brought people to the ballpark. His love of baseball came from his father, who was President of the Cubs when the young Veeck was growing up, and he probably learned some business from his old man as well. Veeck once argued, "All I ever said is that you can draw more people with a losing team, plus bread and circuses, than with a losing team and a long, still silence," and you know what, he was right.
Veeck became the owner of the Cleveland Indians in 1946. As his first enterprise, he immediately put team games on the radio to draw interest to the team. A year later, he signed Larry Doby to be the first African-American player in the American League, and he signed Satchel Paige as well. But Veeck also had a zany side. He hired Max Patkin, a clown, to coach third. The American League, as always, was furious that Veeck would even think of trying something so out of the ordinary, but Veeck only cared about what the fans thought (they paid the bills). And the fans loved it.
Veeck, however, was not one to really settle down. A divorce forced him to sell the Indians, and after remarrying, he bought the broken-down St. Louis Browns. The worse of the two St. Louis teams, Veeck knew that the city wasn't big enough for both the Browns and the Cardinals, and consequently, he began trying to drive the Cardinals out of town. He hired Rogers Hornsby to be the manager and Dizzy Dean to be the announcer to bring more Cardinals fans to the Browns. When the Cardinals owner was convicted of tax evasion, he thought he had won, but when Anheiser-Busch bought the team, he was up a creek. He immediately began looking to move the Browns to Baltimore, but the league voted against him. Veeck ultimately realized that the owners simply didn't like him, and therefore, he sold the team, which eventually did move to Baltimore to become the Orioles.
But before he left, he created his legacy. The most famous stunt was hiring Eddie Gaedel to bat. But on August 24, 1952, he, several front office personnel, and a thousand fans sat behind home plate with signs saying "yes" or "no". They used those signs to determine managerial decisions, and whaddayaknow, the Browns won 5-3 to snap a 3-game losing streak. Do you think Royals fans would like this idea for managerial and general managerial (?) decisions?
Trivia Time
When Bill Veeck became the owner of the Chicago White Sox, he started something now standard for 25 of 30 teams. What was he the first to do?
Yesterday's Answer --> With 3 40+-homer seasons in his first 4 years, Mathews propelled himself over Elliot during the 1956 season.
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2 comments:
As a lover of Bill Veeck, I like this post a lot, Mark. Bill was an innovator and great promoter of the game, and he was progressive when it came to integrating his teams (it certainly helped that he had a sizable African-American population in St. Louis to appeal to as well). It's incredibly sad to me that an owner like Veeck not only wouldn't be welcome in the majors today, but that the other owners could essentially block him from buying a team. It makes the game a little poorer in my mind.
Glad you liked it. I've found him to be an interesting man, and I've always had a hard time accepting the negative stuff written about him. Granted, the Gaedel thing may have been a bit much, but hey, this game's for the fan's entertainment. Kind of reminds me of the Mark Cuban situation with the Cubs. Just because it's different doesn't mean it's bad.
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