Vintage Baseball

[Espee]

My mother remembers when the barnstorming teams of The House of David (a religious community) would come to town. All the players had beards...

 

[Buggnkat]

Having grown up in St Louis, I was born into a Cardinals fan family. Pretty long tradition in STL of a team of guys that play hard and love their fans, who love them back even when they arent in the hunt. They may not have the wins of the Yanks, but we are up there for sure. I remembering listening to the Cards play away games on my transitor radio, half listening so my mom didnt catch me up past bedtime which was a regular occurrence when they were playing out west. I remember my dad stepping in and pleading my case to keep me from being grounded and missing my next home stand! In between home games not a soda bottle was safe or sacred...

I grew up next to a fellow who was an old time ballplayer from the early 20s. He talked of pitching a double header just to have the money to go on his honeymoon. He stated that you only got paid if you played. He was a pitcher and got $15 dollars per game and you had to pitch all the innings to get paid. Tough way to make a living. He had some really cool photos of people famous and not so famous he played against. I dont know what ever happened to his things, but my brother has his mitt.

I remember when bleacher seats were a dollar at the old Busch Stadium. I would collect 10 soda bottles, saddle up on my old Schwinn and pedal my happy bottom to watch the likes of Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ken Reitz, and my favorite 3rd baseman Joe Torre. To this day I havent seen many hurlers throw smoke like Gibson on a good day. Man you could hear that ball slap the catchers mitt all the way out in the cheap seats. Or the roar of the crowd when Lou would stretch a lead off from first and make the turn to go! That was excitment!

 

[Espee]

When my grandmother had to quit driving, she didn't know what to do about buying Christmas presents. So that first year, she gave me a gift certificate to the book department of the May Company. I used it for "The Baseball Encylopedia" latest edition updated through the 1969 season.
She probably wasn't thrilled with my choice! Then I found out my long-dead grandfather had been a Cardinals fan in the 1930s. I searched the player records for anyone who was with "STL N" in that period, asking my mom if she remembered the names from the radio. She did remember several, for instance "Sunny Jim" Bottomley.
I should have had a little ceremony with that book, the day Nolan Ryan (1969 World Champion Mets) announced his retirement. He was the last active player listed in it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My mother remembers when the barnstorming teams of The House of David (a religious community) would come to town. All the players had beards...

The Davids considered themselves members of the same religious order as Samson, so not only did they go in for beards but also for long hair -- many of the men had hair down to their waists, which must've been inconvenient on tbe ballfield.

When I wa a kid, the Red Sox had a coach named Eddie Popowski who had played for the House of David in the thirties when he was a young man -- so young in fact that he couldn't grow a proper beard and had to be fitted out with false whiskers. But he did master their comedy ball-handling routines -- the Davids were known for their elaborate pre-game pepper toss, where they'd twirl the ball around the infield in a Globetrotter-like manner. Every once in a while, when a foul ball would roll past the third base coaching box, Popowski would toss it back to the pitcher with a House of David flip thru his arm, behind his back, and over his head -- you have to have seen it to really be able visualize it -- and would invariably get a cheer from the crowd. That kind of showmanship you just don't see anymore, but I loved it -- so much so that I made a point of getting Eddie Popowski's autograph at Fenway when I was nine.

 

[Buggnkat]

1930s Cardinals!! Some of the most entertaining years (not the best but definitetly entertaining)!!

The rough housing Gas House Gang was the name of the team, with the likes of Dizzy and Paul Dean, Pepper Martin, and who could forget Medwick's play. We would make appearances in 30, 31 and 34, then go on to win in 31 and 34. It would be an exciting time to be a Cards fan for sure.

Cool book Espee!