Dizzy Dean Biography - Born To Sharecroppers, Honed Pitching Skills In Army, Pitched Way To World Series, Chronology
fastball baseball served hardships
1910-1974
American baseball player
During the 1930s, baseball fans flocked to stadiums across the United States to get a peek of Dizzy Dean, the anchor of the St. Louis Cardinals' pitching staff. Dean was a dominant pitcher, to be sure—with his intimidating fastball, Dean hurled his way to four consecutive strikeout titles (1932-1935) and had four seasons with 20 or more wins. Over his career, Dean struck out 1,163 batters in 1,967 innings. Along with his fastball, Dean served up plenty of shenanigans, making him one of baseball's premier gate attractions. Once, he brought a black cat into the stadium and pretended to put a hex on the rival team. Other times, he joked around on the loudspeaker before the game. Dean was also a beloved braggart. Time and again, Dean predicted the impossible, then stepped to the mound and made it come true. To spectators suffering from the hardships of the Depression, the fun-loving, fastball-pitching Dean served as a beacon of hope. He was the uncultured country boy made good, a hero who had somehow escaped the hardships they could not.
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In 1926, the lean and lanky 16-year-old Dean was looking for a better life. He persuaded the U.S. Army that he was 18 and enlisted. For Dean, Army life was good. He got paid, he got food, and his first pair of new shoes. Dean, however, proved to be a dismal soldier at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. The only place he stood out was as a pitcher for the base's baseball team. It was during his Army y…
In 1934, Dean's kid brother, Paul, joined the Cardinals' pitching staff. Dean bragged about his little brother's talent and predicted that they would win 45 games between them. Dizzy Dean won 30 that season, while his little brother won 19, for a total of 49. The Cardinals also won the pennant and ended up in the World Series playing the Detroit Tigers. Once again, the immodes…
Dean soon took his act to the Cardinals' broadcast booth, where the ungrammatical, chatty farm boy was an instant success. For Dean, slide became "slid, slide, slud." Fielders "threwed" the ball, and runners returned to their "respectable" bases. English teachers cringed, but fans roared. Dean later did network telecasts and turned the CBS-TV Game o…
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