Welcome to the Gashouse Gang
The most colorful team of the thirties was the Gashouse Gang of the St Louis Cardinals. It became a well known moniker for a team that attached itself to the description of grungy, unkept, feisty, and outrageously humorous. Opposing teams would often add the adjective smelly to the team claiming that they did not believe in taking showers and other cruder reasons. They were fun, loud, fighters,and they were good. They were not afraid of anyone and often fought with the opposing teams as well as among themselves. This included a fight in a hotel lobby. Their manager Frankie Frisch often made decisions by rolling the dice during the game.
The original member of this outrageous team was Pepper Martin. Martin arrived at 1931 spring training as an unheralded 27 year old rookie arrived looking dirty and unshaven following a 2 day ride as a stowaway in a train freight car. His continuing sloppy appearance and style of play was copied by many teammates which gave birth to their nickname. By the end of the season, he was recognized as a good defensive centerfielder with speed and a decent bat. He became known as The Wild Horse of the Osage. The Cardinals would continue building the “gashouse” legend through the decade adding such characters as Leo” The Lip” Durocher and the Dean Brothers.
Durocher was their feisty shortstop who became known for his tough play on the field and his fun off the field. He is known as the author of the quote “nice guys finish last” He married a famous Hollywood actress, Lorraine Day, and appeared in countless television shows and movies following his playing career. After hanging up his glove “the Lip” had a very successful career as a manager for the NY Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers, Cubs and Houston and was elected to the Hall of Fame as a manager in 1994. He later became a well regarded national baseball broadcaster. Leo has been credited for his role as an inspiration for a young Willie Mays..
The Dean Boys Dizzy and Daffy
The Dean brothers were born in the backwoods town of Lucas, Arkansas. Neither were good at schoolwork, but both could throw a baseball. Older brother Dizzy joined the Gashouse Gang Cardinals in 1931. When his younger brother Paul (Daffy) was called up to play in 1934, Dizzy boldly acclaimed that he and his kid brother would combine to win 45 games. He was wrong. They won 49, and put the Cardinals into the World Series. Dizzy got his nickname when a frustrated minor league manager exclaimed “get that dizzy kid out of there”. Daffy’s nickname, was created by the St Louis Press as an attention-getter. Dizzy was the quirky boastful one, Daffy was much more reserved and hated his nickname. The brothers, particularly Dizzy, created countless headlines in the St Louis newspapers. One of Dizzy’s outrageous and humorous boasts came after he threw a three hit shutout in the first game of a doubleheader, Daffy threw a no hitter in the second game – “If I had known he was going to throw a no hitter, I would have thrown one too”. Dizzy’s antics were fun. Such as the time he threw a black cat into the Giant’s dugout. Other times, not so funny, such as his conflicts with the team management regarding contracts. This included tearing up the team locker room after one such disagreement followed by a both brothers going AWOL from the team for a week. Dizzy is still remembered by many as a baseball broadcaster on the televised Saturday Game of the Week during the fifties in which his hysterical country-boy stories entertained all viewers whether baseball fans or not.
The only thing not controversial about the Dean boys was that without them, there would not have been a pennant for the Redbirds in 1934. Adding Daffy to the roster filled a missing piece and allowed the Cards to squeeze by the 1933 World Champion Giants by one game on the last day of the season. They carried the momentum into a classic World Series which made Pepper Martin a legend following his remarkable series. In Game One, he was good for 3 hits and a stolen base. Game Two, he scored both the team’s runs - one by a single, stealing second, stealing 3rd and sliding home on a squeeze play. Game Three, 3 more hits. In Game Four, his 2 hits were the only hits the Cardinals made in the game. Game Five, he contributed 4 RBIs with a home run and two singles. In Game Seven, the World Series ended when Pepper made a bottom of the 9th inning game leaping catch in centerfield to halt an A’s rally and allow the Cards to secure the trophy..
The celebration went on for days.
I enjoyed listening to Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese as a kid on the Game of the Week. I especially looked forward to all of the school teachers that would write in about his country boy grammar.