European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 13, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse Frank grahams Complete history of the bums from 1883 to Branch Rickey mixes plenty of anecdotes with its collection of important figures and by Joe Mccarthy yank staff writer Ater Frank Graham wrote the new York Yankees and Mcgraw of the two of the Best baseball books Ever published in this his friends naturally demanded a similar Job of research on the growth and development of the National pastime in the Borough of his command the Brooklyn dodgers an informal history Putnam sons is now disappearing from the Book stores under Peoples your reporter recommends this dodger Book because your reporter happens to be a sucker for the kind of baseball history Graham writes with plenty of dialogue and plenty of Small detail about who was on second and who was on third during this or that important but Gra hams treatise on the bums Hast As much excitement or drama As on the Yankees and John the dodgers through the years have perhaps played More colourful and amusing baseball than the Yankees and the Mcgraw giants but they have never produced really great teams like those at the stadium and the Polo a carefully exact and objective reporter like Graham cant very Well be expected to write a great Book unless he is writing about a great the Peculiar qualities of the dodgers would be better handled by somebody More concerned with comic effects rather than with batting averages and league it is a pity that ring Lardner int Here to take on the this informal history of the How could a history of the dodgers be anything but a lot of comedy in it begins with the beginning of professional baseball in Brooklyn in 1883 and continues through that strange period in the 1890s when the dodgers played their games in East new and the eras of Ned Willie Hughie Jennings and Nap Rucker when the club was known As the superba and Hung its hat at Washington those were the the people who lived in Ginney Flats across the Street from the Park rented seats on their fire escapes at a dime a growlers of Beer from the nearby saloons were hauled up to the fire escapes on Terry my the worked out with the team every morning and giant fans were afraid to follow their heroes from the Bronx to then Graham takes you on through the administrations at ebbets Field of Charley de and Steve Mckeever and Larry ending the Book with the coming of Branch the pages devoted to the Macphail years contain stuff that pretty fresh in our constant firing and rehiring of Leo Durocher Billy Hermans remark about Brooklyn baseball every Day its like a world series game around Mickey Owens famous Muff of Tommy Henrichs third strike in the 1941 world series the denunciation of Macphail by Bill you Are an Appl head i you Are an Appl head and a the Bea Ball wars of 1942 and Durochers statement after the cards beat him by two games for the Pennant that year we won 104 didst we what the hell do they want me to do win them All and of course Dan parkers memorable epic leave us go Root for the which became Brooklyn marching song o Many of Evelyn Ankers movie roles have been in thriller Illers Shes been dubbed the horror there is nothing horrible about the Young lady her As you can see by glancing to the Evelyn is a Blu eyed 5 feet 6 inches she weighs her new movie for Universal pictures is the Frozen Murgatroyd a Broad from Canarsie went round with a fellow named at dancing a Rumba or Jitterbug Numbat you beat his the pair danced together throughout the cold weather but when the Trees blossomed again miss Murgatroyd the Belle of Carnar to Rodgers would sing this refrain leave us go Root for the there playing Ball under the leave us Cut out All the Juke where weve been wasting our Dancin the shag or the Rumba is silly when we can be rooting for Adolf so leave us go Root for them dodgers is my Gallant but the Book also gives an equal share of Atten Tion to the Wilbert Robinson the Casey Stengel dodgers and the Burleigh Grimes Dodg ers although they were never As nationally famous As the Leo Durocher were often More these bums of the 1920s and 1930s included such characters As Jacques the Veteran first who with dizzy Jess Petty and Grimes during the Robinson regime gave the club its first real flavor of one Day a Young and nervous Pitcher called Fournier Over from first base and asked him How to pitch to Rogers Hornsby of the who at that moment was approaching the on the said the Rookie nodded gratefully but Hornsby knocked his first inside pitch Down the third base line for a the Pitcher looked Over at Fournier you said he hit a Ball on the i didst say Fournier i just said to pitch to him on the Ive got a wife and family to support and i dont want you pitch ing to him on the outside so hell be hitting those drives at then there was the notorious babe who hit to right Field in a game with the braves in 1926 and ended up on third base which was already occupied by two other one of the reporters wrote about the being tagged out was much too Good for a great was almost As bad As an outfielder As he was a base Tom then covering the dodgers for the new York frequently remarked in print that Herman was in constant danger of being hit on the head by a Fly Graham tells How the babe cornered Meany one Day and made a bet that if a Fly Ever struck him on the head he would walk off the Field and never come How about getting hit on the babe Meany said Herman on the Shoul Der dont another time Herman had a Long conversation with Joe Gordon of the new York also one of his outstanding the babe pleaded with Gordon to Stop treating him like a Clown on the sports finally impressed by Hermans agreed that his chances of making a living would be Hurt if he became too renowned As a joke Ball player and promised to let him alone in the said he reached in his pulled out a charred Cigar butt which he stuck in to his Mouth and fumbled for heres a said before he could strike the babe inhaled deeply a few times and the Cigar butt began to glow and never he its Gordon flew into a what i just said Doest he its All nobody who carries lighted cigars around in his pocket can Tell me he int a As Richard Maney remarked in his new York times review of the Graham omitted one of the most typical dodger it concerned Van Lingle now with the and the time that manager Grimes decided to forbid wives from travelling with the club on the ignoring the took Mungo to Boston with Grimes called him on the carpet to sex Mungo my wife can play right Field better than if he can make the so should a
