| Dizzy Dean | |
|---|---|
 Dean on the cover ofTime magazine in 1935 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born:(1910-01-16)January 16, 1910 Lucas, Arkansas, U.S. | |
| Died: July 17, 1974(1974-07-17) (aged 64) Reno, Nevada, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 28, 1930, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 28, 1947, for the St. Louis Browns | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Win–loss record | 150–83 |
| Earned run average | 3.02 |
| Strikeouts | 1,163 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 1953 |
| Vote | 79.2% (ninth ballot) |
Jay Hanna "Dizzy"Dean (January 16, 1910 – July 17, 1974), also known asJerome Herman Dean (both the 1910 and the 1920 Censuses show his name as "Jay"), was an American professionalbaseballpitcher.[1][2][3][4][5] During hisMajor League Baseball (MLB) career, he played for theSt. Louis Cardinals,Chicago Cubs, andSt. Louis Browns.
A brash and colorful personality, Dean is the lastNational League (NL) pitcher to win 30 games in one season (1934).[6] After his playing career, Dean became a popular televisionsports commentator. Dean was elected to theBaseball Hall of Fame in1953.[7] When the Cardinals reopened the teamHall of Fame in2014, he was inducted in the inaugural class.
Dean was born on January 16, 1910, inLucas, Arkansas, and attended public school only through second grade. He earned his nickname in 1929 inSan Antonio,Texas, while in theU.S. Army and pitching for theFort Sam Houston baseball team. The 19-year-old Dean was on the mound as it took on the MLB'sChicago White Sox. As Dean worked his way through the Sox lineup, an exasperated Chicago manager reportedly yelled "Knock that dizzy kid out the box!" He proceeded to call him "dizzy kid" through the rest of the game, and the moniker stuck.[8]
Dean made his professional debut in 1930 and worked his way up to the major leagues that same year, throwing a complete game three-hitter for theCardinals.[9]
Dean made his major league debut on September 28, 1930, the final day of the 1930 regular season. The 20 year-old earned acomplete game win against thePittsburgh Pirates, allowing only three hits and one run. He did not pitch in the major leagues the following year. Dean pitched his first full season in 1932 and turned in a stellar rookie campaign, leading the major leagues with 191 strikeouts and four shutouts. He improved again the following year, when he pitched a 3.04 ERA and again led the league with 199 strikeouts. Perhaps his finest game of the 1933 season came on July 30, when he set a modern-era record by striking out 17 batters in the first game of a doubleheader against theChicago Cubs.[10]
Dean was best known for winning 30 games in1934 while leading the "Gashouse Gang"Cardinals to the National League pennant and theWorld Series win over theDetroit Tigers. He had a 30–7 record with a 2.66ERA during the regular season. His brother,Paul, was also on the team, with a record of 19–11, and was nicknamed "Daffy", although this was usually only done for press consumption. Though "Diz" sometimes called his brother "Daf", he typically referred to himself and his brother as "Me an' Paul." Continuing the theme, the team includedDazzy Vance andJoe "Ducky" Medwick.
St. Louis was the southernmost and westernmost city in the major leagues at the time, and the Gashouse Gang became a de facto "America's Team." Team members, particularly Southerners such as the Dean brothers andPepper Martin, became folk heroes in theDepression-ravaged United States. Americans saw in these players a spirit of hard work and perseverance, as opposed to the haughty, highly paidNew York Giants, whom the Cardinals chased for theNational League pennant.
Much like later sports legendsJoe Namath andMuhammad Ali, Dean liked to brag about his prowess and make public predictions. In 1934, Dean predicted, "Me an' Paul are gonna win 45 games."[6] On September 21, Dean pitched no-hit ball for eight innings against theBrooklyn Dodgers, finishing with a three-hit shutout in the first game of a doubleheader, his 27th win of the season. Paul then threw ano-hitter in the nightcap to win his 18th, matching the 45 that Dean had predicted. "Gee, Paul," Dean was heard to say in the locker room afterward, "if I'd a-known you was gonna throw a no-hitter, I'd a-throw'ed one too!" On May 5, 1937, he bet he could strike outVince DiMaggio four times in the game. He struck him out his first three at-bats, but when DiMaggio hit a popup behind the plate at his fourth, Dean screamed at his catcher,Bruce Ogrodowski, "Drop it!, Drop it!" Ogrodowski did and Dean fanned DiMaggio, winning the bet. Few in the press now doubted Dean's boast, as he was also fond of saying, "If ya done it, it ain't braggin'." Dean finished with 30 wins, the only NL pitcher to do so in the post-1920live-ball era, and Paul finished with 19, for a total of 49. The Cards needed them all to edge the Giants for the pennant, setting up a matchup with theAmerican League championDetroit Tigers. After the season, Dean was awarded theNational League'sMost Valuable Player Award.
Dean was known for antics which inspired his nickname. In time, perception became reality. InGame 4 of the1934 World Series against Detroit, Dean was sent to first base as apinch runner. The next batter hit a potentialdouble play ground ball. Intent on avoiding the double play, Dean threw himself in front of the throw to first. The ball struck him on the head, and Dean was knocked unconscious and taken to a hospital. Dean later told reporters, "They X-rayed my head and found nothing".[11] TheSt. Louis Post-Dispatch and theDetroit Free Press merely stated that the X-rays "revealed no lasting injury."
Although the Tigers went on to win the game 10–4, Dean recovered in time to pitch inGame 5, which he lost. After the Cardinals wonGame 6, Dean came back and pitched a complete-game shutout inGame 7 to win the game and the Series for the Cardinals. The Dean brothers accounted for all four wins, with two each.[12]
While pitching for the NL in the1937 All-Star Game, Dean facedEarl Averill of theAmerican LeagueCleveland Indians. Averill hit a line drive back at the mound, hitting Dean on the foot. Told that his big toe was fractured, Dean responded, "Fractured, hell, the damn thing's broken!" Coming back too soon from the injury, Dean changed his pitching motion to avoid landing as hard on his sore toe enough to affect his mechanics. As a result, he hurt his arm, losing his great fastball. At the time Dean was injured he sported a 12–7 record. He finished the season 13–10.[13]
By1938, Dean's arm had not recovered. Hopeful it would, Chicago Cubs ownerPhilip K. Wrigley ordered scoutClarence "Pants" Rowland to buy Dean's contract at any cost. On April 16, Rowland obtained Dean in a trade for three players (pitchersClyde Shoun andCurt Davis andoutfielderTuck Stainback) plus $185,000 in cash - an enormous sum then.[14] In limited use Dean proved exceptional - going 7-1 and posting a 1.81 ERA, by far the best of his career - helping theCubs win the 1938National League pennant. The Cubs had been in third place, six games behind the first placePittsburgh Pirates.[15] By September 27, with one week left in the season, the Cubs had battled back to within a game and a half of the Pirates in the National League standings as the two teams met for a crucial three-game series.[15]
Dean pitched the opening game of the series and with an ailing arm, relied more on his experience and grit to defeat the Pirates by a score of 2–1.[13] Dean would later call it the greatest outing of his career.[13] The victory cut the Pirates' lead to a half game and, set the stage for one of baseball's most memorable moments when in the next game of the series, Cubsplayer-manager,Gabby Hartnett, hit his famous "Homer in the Gloamin'" to put the Cubs into first place.[16] The Cubs clinched the pennant three days later.[15] Dean pitched gamely in Game 2 of the1938 World Series before losing to theNew York Yankees in what became known as "Ol' Diz's Last Stand".[17]
Returning to the Cubs in 1939, Dean made 19 appearances (13 starts) resulting in a 6–4 record with 7 complete games, 2 shutouts, and a still well above league average 3.36 ERA.[1] The team finished fourth in the NL.[18] Beginning to fail badly, he was limited to just 10 games (nine starts) in 1940 and posted a 3–3 record with a 5.17 ERA,[1] as the Cubs finished fifth in the league.[19] He appeared in a single game during the 1941 season, pitching just one inning while allowing three runs.[1] In mid-May, he announced his retirement as a player.[20]
In 1942, Dean appeared in one game for theSuperior Blues, aClass C team in theNorthern League; as the starting pitcher, he allowed three runs in two innings,[21] and then played in the outfield.[22]
In July 1943, Dean agreed to pitch in asemipro game between the Green Sox ofFremont, Ohio, and the Detroit Cubs.[23] His opponent was popular Negro Leagues pitcher and funnymanPeanuts Davis, who had been playing for theCincinnati Clowns previously. The game, played in Toledo, drew a large crowd that expected to see a pitching duel. However, Davis was driven from the mound after one inning. Dean pitched the first four innings, giving up four hits and one run, and then played in right field for the remainder of the game, which the Green Sox won, 14–5.[24]
Dean made a one-game major-league comeback on September 28, 1947.[25] After retiring as a player, the still-popular Dean was hired as a broadcaster by the perennially cash-poorSt. Louis Browns to drum up some badly needed publicity. After broadcasting several poor pitching performances in a row, he grew frustrated, saying on the air, "Doggone it, I can pitch better than nine out of the ten guys on this staff!" The wives of the Browns pitchers complained, and management, needing to sell tickets somehow, took him up on his offer and had him pitch the last game of the season versus the Chicago White Sox. At age 37, Dean pitched four innings, allowing no runs, and rapped a single in his only at-bat. Rounding first base, he pulled his hamstring. Returning to the broadcast booth at the end of the game, he said, "I said I can pitch better than nine of the ten guys on the staff, and I can. But I'm done. Talking's my game now, and I'm just glad that muscle I pulled wasn't in my throat."
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Following his playing career, Dean became a well-known radio and televisionsportscaster, calling baseball for the Cardinals (1941–1946), Browns (1941–1948), Yankees (1950–1951), andAtlanta Braves (1966–1968) and nationally withMutual (1952),ABC (1953–1954), andCBS (1955–1965), where he teamed first withBuddy Blattner then withPee Wee Reese. As a broadcaster, Dean was famous for his wit and his often-colorful butchering of the English language. Much like football star-turned-sportscasterTerry Bradshaw years later, he chose to build on, rather than counter, his image as a not-too-bright country boy, as a way of entertaining fans: "The Good Lord was good to me. He gave me a strong right arm, a good body, and a weak mind." He once saw Browns outfielderAl Zarilla slide into a base, and said, "Zarilla slud into third!" "Slud" instead of "slid" became a frequently-used Dean expression. Thanks to baseball fanCharles Schulz, another Dean expression found its way into aPeanuts strip, as Lucy commented on a batter who swung at a pitch outside the strike zone: "He shouldn't hadn't ought-a swang!"
While doing a game on CBS, Dean once said, over the open mic, "I don't know why they're calling this theGame of the Week. There's a much better game, Dodgers and Giants, over onNBC." Every so often, he would sign off by saying, "Don't fail to miss tomorrow's game!" During rain delays, he was famous for off-key renditions of the "Wabash Cannonball". These manglings of the language only endeared Dean to fans, being a precursor of such beloved tongue-tangled ballplayers-turned-broadcasters asRalph Kiner,Herb Score, andJerry Coleman.
An English teacher once wrote to him, complaining that he shouldn't use the word "ain't" on the air, as it was a bad example to children. On the air, Dean said, "A lot of folks who ain't sayin' 'ain't,' ain't eatin'. So, Teach, you learn 'em English, and I'll learn 'em baseball."
In the 1950s, Dean appeared in guest roles onFaye Emerson's Wonderful Town onCBS and onThe Guy Mitchell Show onABC.
In October 1961, Dean announced that a company with which he was associated as vice-president, Dizzy Dean Enterprises, would construct a $350,000charcoal briquette plant inPachuta, Mississippi shortly after the beginning of 1962.[30] The plant was anticipated to use $200,000 worth of low-quality hardwood scraps each year in the production of 10,000 tons of briquets annually when fully on line.[30]
After leaving sportscasting in the late 1960s, Dean retired with his wife, Patricia, to her hometown ofBond, Mississippi.[31]
After retiring to Mississippi, Dean was investigated for his role in an interstate gambling ring but was ultimately not charged. The indictments handed down in theUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in 1970 named him and his nephew, Paul, as co-conspirators but not defendants. He denied any wrongdoing and cooperated as a witness.[32]
Dean died July 17, 1974, at age 64 inReno, Nevada, of aheart attack, and was buried in the Bond Cemetery.[33] Dean's home in Bond was namedDeanash, a combination of his name and his wife's maiden name (Nash); it was willed by Dean's wife to the Mississippi Baptist Convention, which operates foster homes for children in a rural setting.[34]
The Pride of St. Louis, a motion picture loosely based on Dean's career, was released in1952.Dan Dailey portrayed Dean.Chet Huntley, who would later gain fame as anNBC News anchorman, played an uncredited role in the movie as Dean's radio announcing sidekick.
A Dizzy Dean Museum was established at 1152 Lakeland Drive in Jackson, Mississippi. The Dean exhibit is now part of theMississippi Sports Hall of Fame & Museum, located adjacent to Smith-Wills Stadium, a former minor-league baseball park.[35]
In the 1971sci-fi movieThe Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler,Leslie Nielsen answers incorrectly "Dizzy Dean, 1935" when asked in which season did a pitcher win 30 games before Denny McLain.
Dean was mentioned in the 1949 poem "Line-Up for Yesterday" byOgden Nash:
D is for Dean,
The grammatical Diz,
When they asked, Who's the tops?
Said correctly, I is.
Dean was referenced in the classic TV sitcomThe Honeymooners by the character Ed Norton, who justified mooching a second dinner off ofRalph Kramden by saying, "Look, let's face it, Ralph. Dizzy Dean warms up in the bullpen before the game, but he still pitches." Later in the scene, when tensions rise, Kramden quips "Shut up, Dizzy Dean, and eat your spaghetti!"[citation needed]
Dean was parodied in the 1936Merrie Melodies cartoonBoulevardier from the Bronx with a character named Dizzy Dan.
Dean was also referenced in the 1939Laurel and Hardy filmA Chump at Oxford, whenOliver Hardy unknowingly called the character of the actual dean at the famous Oxford University a "dizzy dean".
Dean is also featured prominently in some versions ofAbbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" comedy sketch. In the sketch, Abbott is explaining to Costello that many ballplayers have unusual nicknames including Dizzy Dean, his brotherDaffy Dean, and their "French cousin Goofé Dean" ("goofy" pronounced with a French accent).
ActorBen Jones wrote and performed a one-man play about Dean, entitledOl' Diz.
The United States Congress designated the U.S. Post Office inWiggins, Mississippi as the "Jay Hanna 'Dizzy' Dean Post Office" in 2000 by Public Law 106–236.[37] On October 22, 2007, a rest area onU.S. Route 49 inWiggins, Mississippi, 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Dean's home inBond, was named "Dizzy Dean Rest Area" after Dean.[38]
InMorrison Bluff, Arkansas, about 2 miles (3.2 km) south ofClarksville, there is a restaurant, Porky's, with Dizzy Dean memorabilia.[citation needed]
In 2015, author Carolyn E. Mueller and illustrator Ed Koehler published an animated book titledDizzy Dean and the Gashouse Gang (ISBN 978-1-68106-002-6). The book showcases the antics of Dizzy and his brotherPaul Dean,Joe Medwick,Pepper Martin, player/managerFrankie Frisch, and the1934 St. Louis Cardinals season in their quest to win their third World Series.
Dizzy Dean in one of the characters ofMr. Vértigo, the novel written by the American authorPaul Auster in 1994.
Branch Rickey, who was the Cardinals' general manager during Dean's time with the club, had a high regard for both Dean's talent and his character, while remaining bemused by Dean's casual interpersonal skills. After one of their talks, the well-educated Rickey said, "Tell me why I spent four mortal hours today conversing with a person named Dizzy Dean."[1]
| W | L | ERA | G | GS | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | ER | HR | BB | SO | Win Pct. | ERA+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150 | 83 | 3.02 | 317 | 230 | 154 | 26 | 30 | 1,967 | 1,919 | 661 | 95 | 453 | 1,163 | .644 | 130 |
Dean was an effective hitting pitcher. He posted a .225batting average (161-for-717) with 76runs, 8home runs, 76RBI and 5stolen bases. In five World Series pitching appearances (he was also used in one game as a pinch runner), he hit .333 (5-for-15) with 3 runs, 2 doubles and 1 RBI. Defensively, he was about average, recording a .960fielding percentage which was one point higher than the league average at his position.[1]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
