Presented by HARMON TRAVEL.
This Day In Sports…August 19, 1951:
One of the most famous promotional stunts in major league history (though it was just another day at the office for Bill Veeck). The St. Louis Browns owner, who would later mastermind several infamous stunts with the Chicago White Sox, was looking for ways to boost sagging attendance at Sportsman’s Park. So Veeck sent 3-foot-7-inch, 65-pound Eddie Gaedel to the plate in a home game against the Detroit Tigers.
According to the Society for Professional Baseball Research, Veeck selected Gaedel for the stunt after a painstaking search. Veeck’s traveling secretary drove to Chicago to pick up Gaedel, and once they got near the hotel, he had Gaedel hide under blankets to preserve the secret appearance. He was given a Browns uniform that had belonged to the nine-year-old son of the team’s vice president, and they had the number 1/8 sewn on the back. Gaedel was told to squat low in order to draw a walk—no swinging allowed.
The two teams played a doubleheader that day, and between games Gaedel popped out of a seven-foot cake as the Browns celebrated the American League’s 50th birthday. Then in the bottom of the first inning of the nightcap, St. Louis manager Zack Taylor summoned Gaedel to hit for outfielder Frank Saucier. Home plate umpire Ed Hurley demanded to know what was up, and Taylor showed him Gaedel’s contract. Hurley signaled to Detroit pitcher Bob Cain to play on, and Gaedel crouched, creating a strike zone of 1 1/2 inches.
Cain subsequently had trouble finding the strike zone and walked Gaedel on four pitches. He jogged to first base and was immediately replaced by a pinch-runner. Gaedel ran back to the dugout to a thunderous ovation. Had Veeck made entertainment in baseball a farce, or did he enhance the fun aspect of the national pastime? By the way, the one-time attendance bump from Gaedel’s plate appearance was not sustainable. In 1954, the Browns moved to Baltimore and were renamed the Orioles, becoming the first American League club ever to relocate.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
