Dizzy Dean and the Goose-Eggs

Tape Transcripts

On Christmas Day, 1961, my parents gave me a tape recorder. Among the things that I taped in the first two years were a telephone conversation by my mother (her side only — all I had was a microphone), a comedy sketch from a TV variety show (audio only — this was almost two decades before home VCRs), a local radio show featuring my father, and the narration of a televised baseball game. I no longer have those four recordings, but I did write down transcripts at the time. Here's one of them. Click on the links above to find the others.

CBS Television Baseball Game of the Week

On summer afternoons in the Fifties, my grandfather in Livermore, Kentucky, was a faithful viewer of major league baseball with Dizzy Dean. After we got a TV set, my father and I also started watching in 1957, and I learned about the sport. We were in the Columbus, Ohio, TV market, so this was the only baseball we could see on television besides an occasional Cincinnati Reds game and, of course, the World Series.

Ol' Diz had been a pitcher with the Cardinals "Gas House Gang" in the 1930s, and he had always been a character. My father remembered him being interviewed during his playing days, referring to himself and his brother (also a pitcher) as "me 'n Paul."

Some of that down-home quality is apparent in the following half-inning, but you can also tell he followed the conventional formulas that had evolved for describing baseball on the radio.

GENE KIRBY. Fans, we're moving into the top of the eighth inning here at Yankee Stadium in a scoreless ball game, a real pitcher's battle between Ron Kline and Bill Stafford. Detroit has no runs on five hits, the Yankees no runs on six hits.

Billy Bruton will lead things off for the Tigers, and coming back in once again for the play-by-play, the old Hall of Famer himself, Dizzy Dean.

DEAN. Thank you, Gene Kirby. Yes sir, we start the top of the eighth inning, no score in the ball game, and quite a pitching duel between these two right-handers, Ron Kline and Bill Stafford.

Gene told ya Bill Bruton leads things off; the first pitch is in there for strike one called, as we start the top half of the eighth inning. The Yankees have outhit the . . . Detroit Tigers, 6 to 5, but they's been no score. A real fine pitching battle.

Here's the next pitch to Bruton; he bunts the ball down to the second baseman who comes in, he grabs it, throws to first . . . he's out at first base on a nice play by the little second sacker, Bobby Richardson! He pulled that ball right by the pitcher, but the little second sacker, very alert out there, came charging in when he seen what's gonna happen, grabbed that ball, made his throw to . . . Mister . . . Skowron at first base, and Bruton is out.

One away, this brings up Al Kaline. Right-hard hitter, has no hits so far in the ball game; very dangerous guy up there, though. Bill Stafford winds, and here's the pitch to Kaline: a curve, low outside for ball one.

We'll give ya the other other scores just as soon as we can. Gene told ya, L.A. . . . Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants just getting under way.

Here's the next pitch. Swung on, there is a . . . line ball to the shortstop, he grabs it, the throw to first . . . he's out at first base on a nice play by the shortstop, Tom Tresh!

Fans, we've seen some great plays here in this ball game today! There's Tom Tresh, number 15, at shortstop; went to his left there . . . looked like a sure base hit . . . picked that ball up nicely and made his throw to first base and got the runner, and they's two men gone.

Here's Rocky Colavito. Both these clubs loaded with long-ball hitters, and one swing could win the ball game in this kind of pitching duel today.

I believe that so far it's been the best pitching duel we've had this year, Gene.

DEAN. Yes sir. In other words, it's 14 goose-eggs on the board. We used to set a big old goose with 15 eggs, and if we get a goose-egg out of this Tigers in the top of the eighth inning, why, we'll have 15 goose-eggs on the board.

TIGERS

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

X

X

X

YANKEES

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

X

X

X

DEAN (laughing). That's a curve that's in there for strike two called; breaking curve ball hit that outside corner, and it's one ball and two strikes.

DEAN. No, a chicken house, podner, is where they roost and lay their eggs, and a chicken coop is what they put them in to take them to market.

DEAN. Rocky Colavito. Starts to swing; he holds up just in time, and it's outside for ball two. That evens the count up at two and two with two men out here in the top of the eighth inning.

Rocky Colavito steps out of that batter's box, loosens himself up a little bit, steps back in there. This guy's got power to burn. You make one mistake in a pitching duel like this, brother, and it can cost ya the ball game. I know, because I've done it. Throwed a lot of baseballs up there I wished I had back.

Here's the two-and-two pitch. Swung on, there's a high fly going into left field; it's WAY back there! That ball is . . . foul ball! Way up in the stands, but foul, just by inches!

Boy, no more do we get through talkin' about a long-ball hitter here, and there was a slow, high curve ball. And there's the flag pole. Fans, that ball didn't miss that flag pole much. There was a slow curve ball — high curve ball, hung inside. And immediately there's Howard, the catcher, out to talk to Bill Stafford. And you can tell ya right — I can tell ya right now what he's tellin' him: don't never throw that kind of a pitch up here to this guy again! He was layin' for that pitch; and brother, he made a mistake in throwin' a high curve ball to a guy like this with two strikes on him! Boy, oh, boy! And immediately Howard charged out there. And Stafford knows that.

Here's the two-and-two pitch. It's high, a fast ball, for ball three; and it's a full count of three and two now.

Yes sir, no more than we got it outta our mouth, talkin' about the power of these two clubs, boom! This guy let one go. One bad mistake can cost ya a ball game.

In the top of the eighth inning, here's the three-and-two pitch to Colavito. It's strike three, a curve ball! He got him! He got him! And Colavito stands there, he stands there! Now he turns and walks nonchalantly — says somethin' to the umpire! He's walkin' back to him!

That retires the Tigers here in the top of the eighth inning, with no runs on no hits, no errors, and they had no one left on base. The score after seven and one-half innings of play: it's the Tigers nothing and the Yankees nothing.

In Case You Care

The Yankees scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth on a walk, a bunt, and two singles. They then retired the Tigers in order on eight pitches in the top of the ninth to win the game 2-0.