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From day to de Rocher to Snider, it's double play with de Rocher and day.
With our guest Duke Snider, here's another chapter of double play with de Rocher and day.
Welcome to another visit with baseball's most exciting and controversial couple, Lorraine Day and Leo de Rocher, with their guest for today, Duke Snider.
You know, you fans have heard a good deal about the signs that a manager gives to his players during a game.
Later on in today's show, Leo, Lorraine, and their famous guest Duke Snider are going to delve into these signs and are going to try and give you a little inside information about them.
But first, here's a little inside information just for you.
And now back to double play with Leo de Rocher and Lorraine Day and their guest, Duke Snider.
Hi there everyone. On this show you're going to meet that famous center fielder from the Brooklyn Dodgers, Mr. Duke Snider.
And don't forget that I'm here to represent you fans.
And today I'm representing particularly Juanita White from Oklahoma City who would like to know why manager Dressen cleared the Brooklyn bench so much this last season.
And Charlie Hatch from Ogden, Utah who would like to know why did Leo choose Sheldon Jones to pitch the second game of the playoff.
And Bonnie Young from Las Vegas who says that I'd like to know something about the signs that the manager gives to a pitcher and a hitter.
Never can spot them. So let's find out about them, shall we?
Leo. Leo.
Come on Duke, let's go over here and sit down.
Hi, Leo.
Hi, Ed, Duke.
Hello, Lorraine. How are you?
Duke, what's your real name?
Edwin.
Edwin, why did they call you Duke?
My father started that when I was very young and it stuck with me ever since.
It has nothing to do with baseball?
No, I don't believe so.
Well, Duke, I think you should answer this question since you were on the Brooklyn team.
Why did manager Dressen clear the Brooklyn bench so often last season?
Charlie cleared the bench mainly because he didn't want any more players thrown out.
We were known to have quite a loud bench and abating the umpires quite a bit.
And Charlie thought it might be a good idea if they were all in the clubhouse so that if we needed someone in an important situation,
well, he could get them rather than have them out of the game in the showers.
Well, couldn't you have just said be quiet?
That's pretty hard to do.
It is.
You know some of the umpires in our league.
Yes, I'm acquainted with some of them.
It seems to me, wasn't there a big rhubarb?
That comes right here. She says there's a P.S. that says, who kicked the door down?
Why, I don't know. There might be termites in that door up there or something because all of us were in the shower.
Must have been very exciting though, just reading about it in the paper.
It was. It made a good story even though it wasn't true.
Well, Leo, we have a question here for you from Charlie Hatch who wants to know,
why did you choose Sheldon Jones to pitch the second game of the playoff?
Duke, weren't you tickled to death that I picked Jones?
I sure was. I didn't get any hits that day but I was tickled to death about it.
A lot of other people got a lot of hits.
That's right.
Well, I'll tell you, I remember very well that I had pitched Maggley and Jantz in the last two days of the season
and that you had said to me, dear, who are you going to pitch today?
And I told you I didn't know.
And you told me that the good Lord hadn't taken us this far to cast us aside,
to get down on my knees and say a prayer.
And that he would tell us who, he would tell me who to pitch.
And you know, Duke, I was afraid to leave the bedroom without doing it.
So I did get down on my knees and I went to the ballpark and I pitched Sheldon Jones.
And you know what happened. You beat me ten to nothing.
And I remember coming out after the game and getting in the car and on the way home, Lorraine said,
well, that's the way the good Lord wanted it. He wants you to win it the hard way.
And of course my answer was, why couldn't he let us win today just so I could sleep tonight?
Make it easy for once.
Well, you know, Duke, that little story, when we were being beaten ten to nothing,
and all I could remember, all during the game was, and I told you to get down on these knees
and he would be told who to pitch. And so he pitches Jones.
And I said, I'm really going to get it out in the car tonight, you know, going home,
about the Lord told him to pitch Jones and he asked on my suggestion.
But Leo was wonderful because when he came out in the car he said, you know,
he wanted me to pitch Jones to save Magley for tomorrow because we couldn't get a hit off LeBine.
And if we had put Magley in, I'd have lost a great pitcher for tomorrow
because we just couldn't hit that wonderful pitcher.
Oh, LeBine was great that day, Duke. That was the best pitch ball game, I think one of the best,
that we had pitched against us all year. He had a great curve ball and I made the wrong guess.
But of course, you know.
No, but you didn't. That's the whole point. You didn't guess wrong.
It was the right guess because you couldn't win that game anyway. We couldn't hit LeBine.
I would have rather had a good night's sleep if we'd have gotten a few runs, you know.
I will say if Magley came in or Jansen, just as you said, what good does it do to have them in?
Not if Brooklyn gets ten runs. It doesn't make any difference who you pick.
That's right. Thanks. So everything turned out right and I'm in the clear.
You see, Duke, I'm telling you, you don't have to worry about who manages the club.
You know who manages the club. Oh, yeah.
That's what he keeps saying. So after all, an important decision. I never get to open my mouth.
Bonnie Young wants to know something about the signs that the manager gives to the pitchers and the hitters.
Well, first let's take the signs that a manager gives to the pitcher.
He doesn't really give a sign to a pitcher, does he? Doesn't he give a catcher?
No, the catcher controls the game. He gives all signs.
Once in a while a manager may call for a certain pitch during a game.
Well, what does the catcher tell him to pitch to Muziel?
Well, whatever it is is wrong. We ought to pitch under the plate.
It's a better thing if you just forget Muziel and Duke and those kind of hitters.
And pitch underneath the plate or behind them a little bit.
That's very dangerous. That's it. That's it.
That's it, yes. Oh, yeah.
That was a big blue barb about it as I remember.
Oh, Duke, it's just what Duke knows. It's one of those things.
You try to pitch a man high and tight and you just can't thread the eye of the needle all the time.
And you get it a little farther in than you really want it to be.
But now about this giving signs to the hitter.
I've been trying to find out these signs for three years.
Well, I'll tell you what we'll do. When I'm managing Brooklyn, Duke played for me.
I and Duke, how about this? I'll give you some signs that we had.
You mean Duke played for me.
All right. Duke, I will give you some signs that we had in 1948.
All right.
And Duke will stand there and I'll give them. He'll take that bat right there, Duke,
and we'll go through the signs and we'll see if you can get them. Okay?
You've always wanted to know and we'll answer the question at the same time.
All right. And then if I get them, is it a promise that I'll give them to you next season from the box?
You've been doing it now for a couple of years. I don't see why you won't continue.
Before Leo, Lorraine, and Duke give you the lowdown on baseball signs,
here's the lowdown on something very special.
And now back to Leo, Lorraine, and Duke Snider of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Leo is about to perform some of the signs which he gives his players on the playing field,
and we're going to try and catch some of these and describe them to you.
Okay. Now, you're going to give the signs to Duke. Duke is going to do what you call.
Then you'll give them again and see if I can get them. Okay?
All right. Are you ready?
Ready.
You're watching me? All right.
All right. Here's the first signal now. We'll try and follow it along.
Leo first touches his cap with his right hand. He brings the hand down to his chest.
Then he adjusts his belt. His right hand goes back to his cap.
Hit and run.
That's the hit and run. Okay.
All right.
Yeah. Give the next one.
This time Leo performs the signal with his left hand.
He starts it with the hand resting on the letters on his chest.
Now he goes down, adjusts his belt, brushes off his left knee, back to his belt again,
and the left hand finally comes to rest on the letters on his chest.
Fun.
Okay.
All right.
Here's the next signal. He hitches up his pants, claps his hand, goes back to the visor of his cap,
hitches up his pants again, and takes one step to the right.
That's fake. Oh, I'm sorry.
I do it.
No, you can't do it. Don't tip her off, Duke.
All right. Now we'll start again. I'll give you another one. Are you ready?
I'm ready.
Leo takes his right hand and touches his cap. He brings the hand down to his chest,
Leo's left hand now adjusts his belt, claps his hands together, and takes one step to the left.
And finally the hand goes back to his cap.
Now that's the hit and run. Am I right or wrong?
How did you know it was the hit and run?
I'm guessing.
Oh, all right. You can't guess. You've got to know what you're doing.
You can't make a mistake at the play.
You do the same thing every time.
Oh, no I don't. All right. Here you are.
Go ahead.
Leo performs these signals very fast and it's rather difficult to catch them.
The hand goes back to his chest, where the letters would be, next to his belt,
and the hand comes back to his chest again.
Now that's the hit and run.
Duke will tell you what it is.
That's the bun.
All right. You want to see one more?
Yes.
All right.
Yes, we have another one.
Okay.
All right.
He brushes his right knee, the hand goes back to his belt, touches his chest again.
What haven't we done? We've done the hit and run, we've done the bun. That must be the take.
That's right. That is the take. What made you get the take?
You know, honestly, I couldn't tell the difference. Now show me, actually, what you do for a hit and run.
Well, for a hit and run, our hit and run sign happens to be, if I had a cap on, I was using my forehead for a cap.
Yes.
And say that I start and stop in the same position. Anything I do in between means nothing.
In other words, I touch him with a cap. Boom, boom, boom, boom.
Now you didn't give a sign.
Yes, I did.
Well, you said it meant nothing.
I started and stopped on my cap, which is hit and run.
But you said, whatever I do between the time I touch my cap and stop.
Nothing.
Why? Well, then when did you get the hit and run?
I started and stopped on my cap, that's hit and run.
I see.
Now this is nothing. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
I started on my cap, but I never went back to my cap.
So that means there's no sign. He's on his own. Duke could do anything he wanted.
So that is called what we call a block sign. In other words, it's take, put it on, take it off.
If I start, I must come back to that same place.
All right, now I understand. If you wanted him to hit and run, you'd start with your cap,
and whatever you did doesn't mean a thing, but coming back to your cap means that Duke must hit and run.
On that ball, he must swing at it and try to protect the runner.
Then I'm sending the runner and I want him to hit.
No matter where the ball is, he must swing at it.
All right, but if you didn't come back to your hat, he's on his own.
He's on his own, doesn't he? Please, the player.
You did that merely to confuse the manager or the pitcher or the other player.
I may give the sign. That is what's called coming back, starting and coming back to it.
I can confuse the opposing player or the coaches or the manager who may be watching.
And the manager's wife.
Oh, of course. Actually, the manager's wife, you can't run the game.
It's always confusing.
What does he mean to me like this, always on?
You could also have a call-off sign. You could give the sign all the way through maybe and then clap.
That's right.
And that would call it off even though he gives the whole sign.
Well, what was Dresden doing all the time he was whistling?
Well, that is more or less a decoy, Lorraine. He doesn't give any signs when he does that.
Well, you know, I was always under the impression that when he whistled,
it meant that perhaps he'd caught a signal from the pitcher, you know, and was saying,
here comes the fast one.
I really shouldn't say anything about that, but he does give it.
Yes, and how. I was going to cut right in there. He does catch him once in a while.
He's the greatest in the business. He's the greatest third base coach I've ever seen.
Well, tell me, what about a bunt? Now show me the bunt sign.
Well, look, dear, I showed you the way the manager gives them.
And let's do, why don't you show her the way when you played for me and I was to give you the bunt sign.
Go ahead and show her exactly what the bunt sign is.
Well, the bunt sign was the letters. We don't have any letters here, but you know,
The giants and the dodges that crossed here.
The bunt was with the letters, you had to start and stop there.
You can do anything else you want, but you've got to go back to the letters and stop there.
And that is the bunt sign.
Well, now tell me, couldn't say, an opposing player, couldn't he just watch where you ended
and know what the sign was the next time you did it?
He'd see the sign and then he'd see the hitter bump. He saw that you ended with the letter.
Well, wouldn't he say, well, the next time they end there, that's the bunt?
Well, it could be changed, though. I mean, that's just one group of signs.
I could do this and fool around with any part of my body and go back here
and maybe then I'd take a step to the right or a step forward or clap my hands
and holler, come on, or something. That could be a call-off sign.
And then he would be hitting.
Well, there is one sign that I want to know about particularly.
Just what is the sign that means hit a home run?
Why you?
Oh, this is the sign.
Listen, I'll see you next session, same time, same station, I hope.
Now, let's honor it in the time we have.
Why you knucklehead hop.
What are you going to do?
[♪upbeat music playing.
You're listening to another chapter of Double Play with baseball's most exciting couple,
Lorraine Day and Leo DeRoscher.
Today, Lorraine and Leo had as their guest Duke Snider.
Join us when again it's time for Double Play with Leo DeRoscher and Lorraine Day
plus another big-time guest star.
Double Play is produced by Marty Martin, directed by Ted Nealon,
and is a MarTed production.