Nonconformist, visionary, and showman extraordinaire, he spent a lifetime challenging baseball’s staid establishment, cultivating powerful enemies the way others cultivate powerful friends. As a four-time major-league team owner, he was a transformational figure in the history of baseball. Former Chicago Tribune columnist David Israel called it Veeckstock others called it a disgrace.īut Bill Veeck was much, much more. Louis Browns in a 1951 game against the Detroit Tigers, or as the man responsible for one of baseball’s most ill-advised promotions, the infamous 1979 Disco Demolition Night, when a stoned mob wrought havoc on Comiskey Park. Many think of him simply as the eccentric baseball owner who sent a midget, a man named Eddie Gaedel, to the plate for the St. The tendency today is to remember Bill Veeck as the guy who would do anything for a laugh or publicity-an irascible showman. Louis BrownsĪppendix: Did Bill Veeck Lie About His Plan to Purchase the ’43 Phillies? Lawrence Doby and the Integration of the American LeagueĬhapter 12. DOUG MOE, CAPITAL TIMES AND WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL,Ĭhapter 8. Of my choosing, living or dead, and Veeck is at the table. Give me a last supper with half a dozen people Help as the go-to sports expert at the Library of Congress.īill Veeck … my choice for the most colorful baseball guy of all time. With an additional dedicatory nod to Dave Kelly for decades of ![]() It will take its place beside the recent bestselling biographies of Satchel Paige and Mickey Mantle, and will be the baseball book of the season in Spring 2012. Bill Veeck: Baseball's Greatest Maverick is a deeply insightful, powerful biography of a fascinating figure. (Veeck was the only owner to testify in support of Curt Flood during his landmark free agency case). Veeck's promotional spirit-the likes of clown prince Max Patkin and midget Eddie Gaedel are inextricably connected with him-and passion endeared him to fans, while his feel for the game led him to propose innovations way ahead of their time, and his deep sense of morality not only integrated the sport but helped usher in the free agency that broke the stranglehold owners had on players. Ill health led him to sell two years later, only to gain ownership again, 1975-1981. Louis Browns in 1951, sold it three years later, then returned in 1959 to buy the other Chicago team, the White Sox, winning the American League pennant his first year. ![]() ![]() Cleveland won the World Series in 1948, but Veeck sold the team for financial reasons the next year. After serving and losing a leg in WWII, he bought the Cleveland Indians in 1946, and a year later broke the color barrier in the American League by signing Larry Doby, a few months after Jackie Robinson-showing the deep commitment he held to integration and equal rights. In his late 20s, Veeck bought into his first team, the American Association Milwaukee Brewers. Paul Dickson has written the first full biography of this towering figure, in the process rewriting many aspects of his life and bringing alive the history of America's pastime. ![]() (1914-1986) is legendary in many ways-baseball impresario and innovator, independent spirit, champion of civil rights in a time of great change.
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