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Hello baseball fans. This is Harry Heilman speaking for American Legion Junior Baseball.
Today we're all set to bring you a clubhouse interview with a former Legion player who is now one of the brightest stars in the major leagues.
We're talking today from the clubhouse of the Detroit Tigers at Briggs Stadium.
And right now we have a tall, sinewy left-hander who will pitch today's game.
He looks unusually fit, and I wonder the batters in the American League like to be somewhere else when this boy is fogging them in.
Fans, we're talking about Hal Neuhauser, whom baseball experts consider the best south port chucker in the league.
We've got a little talk scheduled with him, and here he is right now. How's the old wing feel today, Hal?
Never better, Harry. This is one of those days when the ball feels light as a feather, and that's one of the signs a pitcher likes best.
It usually means he'll have his good stuff working good.
Well, after glancing over your playing record, I would say that there aren't many days that you don't have plenty of stuff on the old ball.
You've won 118 games in the last five years, and that gives you an average of almost 24 victories per season.
No other pitcher in the majors can boast such a record.
Thanks, Harry, but speaking of records, I happen to know that you are quite a ball player yourself.
American League batting champion four times, a lifetime batting average of 342. That's exactly the same as Roos' lifetime record.
Yeah, now, Hal, no comparing me with the babe. He stood alone.
And anyway, we didn't have to bat against anybody named Neuhauser in those days, thank goodness.
But tell us, Hal, do you have any special goal or personal objective as a hurler?
Well, of course, my prime aim each season is to help the Tigers win the pennant.
And by the way, Hal, you must have started playing baseball at a pretty early age.
Yes, Harry, I started early thanks to American junior baseball.
When I was 15 years old, I started playing junior baseball, and it really got me going.
In 1938, I played for Roos Vancker Post 286 here in Detroit, and we really had a crackerjack team.
As I remembered, Hal, that club went a long way in the Legion National Tournament, didn't it?
That's right, Harry. We went to the semifinals in the national tournament at Charlotte, North Carolina.
San Diego, which eventually won the championship, stopped us, and I was defeated by pitcher Chuck Keane 2-1.
Keane later went up with the Dodgers for a time.
And I have a few statistics on your performance in Legion ball that year.
Prior to the defeat by San Diego, you had pitched 65 consecutive scoreless innings,
had 119 straight games, and had three no-hit games to your credit.
I'd say that was great throwing in any league.
Would you say that your Legion junior baseball experience has been of value to you as a professional ball player?
Harry, American Legion junior baseball is just about the finest sandlot baseball organization in the world.
I got my first taste of tough competition while playing in that league,
and the many little things I learned while playing junior baseball helped me to get to the majors more quickly.
I spent only one season in the minors before coming up to the Tigers,
while most of the fellows require four or five years of seasoning in the lower leagues.
Yes, sir, I'm a real booster for American Legion junior baseball.
Well, thank you, Harold Neuhauser, and may you keep firing that wicked curve through there for many more years.
This is Harry Heilman reminding you we'll be back from time to time with more diamond interviews
with baseball's brightest stars presented in the interest of the 22nd consecutive season of American Legion junior baseball.