1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:14,000 This is Frankie Frisch, the old Flash, and in a few moments I'll tell you about my greatest sports thrill. 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:38,000 This is Harry Wismer. What you're about to hear is a transcribed story of one of baseball's outstanding players and an event our special guest, Frankie Frisch, considers his greatest sports thrill. 4 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:47,000 And Frankie himself is here to tell us all about it. But first, here is Bill Reddick with a message of interest from your United States Air Force. 5 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:52,000 In every sport, the importance of initiative cannot be overemphasized. 6 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:57,000 Recent servicemen, be sure you take the initiative today concerning your career. 7 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:03,000 It will really pay you to take a new look at your future in the United States Air Force. Here's why. 8 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:08,000 The new age of space is just beginning. It will be an exciting era full of challenge and promise. 9 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:14,000 Quite naturally, the Air Force will be on top of many new space age innovations as they're developed. 10 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,000 For this reason, the Air Force needs skilled technicians now. 11 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:24,000 If your specialty is needed, and it may be, you'll have an important job with a guaranteed future. 12 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:28,000 You'll find the Air Force is anxious to advance you according to your abilities. 13 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:37,000 Remember, your service-gained skills are more important now where the age of space is now, in the United States Air Force. 14 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:44,000 See your local Air Force recruiter for full details on a great future in the new age of space. 15 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,000 And now, back to Harry Wismer. 16 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:52,000 The story of Frankie Frisch is the story of a fabulous baseball player, a player who was best in a pinch, 17 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:58,000 a player who came up in 1919 and for 19 years was one of the most colorful stars in the game, 18 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:07,000 a player who was the mainspring of four consecutive championships for the New York Giants of 1921, 22, 23, and 24, 19 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:15,000 and the spark plug of four championships for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1928, 30, 31, and 34. 20 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:25,000 Frankie Frisch was a fiery competitor who slammed out a total of 2,880 base hits, scored over 1,500 runs, 21 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:35,000 wound up nearly 500 doubles, and stole more than 400 bases in a career that was climaxed when he was voted to Baseball's Hall of Fame in 1947. 22 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:40,000 Frankie Frisch was a money player who played his best when the biggest chips were at stake. 23 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:49,000 As witness is four Giants World Series batting averages of 300, 471, 400, and 333. 24 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:54,000 It is the story of a shrewd and calculating manager who directed, among others, 25 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:00,000 the famous Gas House Gang of St. Louis to a 1934 pennant and world championship. 26 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:06,000 It is no mere accident that Frankie Frisch played in more World Series than any other National League player. 27 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:13,000 He was the best second baseman the National League ever saw. He could do everything any other second baseman ever did. 28 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:19,000 There was never a fiercer competitor than Frisch, a money player and clutch performer without peer. 29 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:25,000 He could hit for a high average and great distance. He covered more territory afield than a space cadet. 30 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:31,000 He was a swift and daring baserunner. He was a player without a weakness. 31 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:37,000 Frankie Frisch was never a believer in the law of averages or the percentage table that you can't win them all. 32 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:44,000 He always played up to his ears right from the first time he appeared in a Major League lineup in June 1919. 33 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:49,000 That year the baseball public was amazed when John McGraw announced that Frankie Frisch, 34 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:54,000 just two months off the Fordham campus, was Larry Doyle's replacement at second base. 35 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:58,000 Such was McGraw's way. If a player couldn't take it when the going was tough, 36 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,000 then McGraw wanted to find out about it as soon as possible. 37 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:08,000 He found out soon enough in Frisch's case, but a kid from Rose Hill could not only take it, he loved it. 38 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:13,000 And from that afternoon, Frank Frisch was a regular until bad legs forced his retirement 39 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:18,000 as non-playing manager of the Cardinals 18 years later. 40 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:26,000 Even though he was a 340 hitter and a fielding wizard, Frank Frisch in those days had his frequent tiffs with McGraw. 41 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:31,000 The Giants manager was an absolute matenet, managing the ball clubs every move from the bench. 42 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:38,000 He called every pitch his twirlers through. He placed every fielder where percentage and his experience dictated. 43 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,000 He asked of his players only that they be effectual, not intellectual. 44 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:49,000 In 1926, when the Giants were battling the Cardinals for the flag, the break between McGraw and Frisch occurred. 45 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:53,000 Frisch lost a signal. McGraw lost his temper. 46 00:04:53,000 --> 00:05:00,000 There were harsh words, as there always were when a McGraw team lost, and Frankie got the next train back to New York. 47 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:05,000 That hurt McGraw because he was grooming the Fawdham Flash as his successor. 48 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:14,000 In December of that year, McGraw, still bitter at Frisch, traded him along with pitcher Jimmy Ring to the Cardinals for the great Rogers Hornsby. 49 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:22,000 The St. Louis fans incensed that owner Sam Braden for trading away the world's champions manager were cool toward Frisch. 50 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,000 But it didn't take him long to win them over. 51 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:34,000 That season began a pleasant and stormy 11-year soldiering for Frank Frisch and St. Louis, in which Frankie endured himself to the Mound City citizens. 52 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:44,000 He was a fighting second base captain under Bill McKechnie on the Champions of 1928 and on Gabby Street's pennant winners of 1930 and 1931. 53 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:49,000 Frisch was elevated to the managership of the Cardinals on July 24, 1933. 54 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:59,000 The Flash guided the reins of the Redbirds until the closing weeks of the 1938 season and later managed the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. 55 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:12,000 Frankie Frisch's greatest accomplishment was to lead the 1934 Cardinal Club, the famous Gas House Gang, to an Astor League pennant and then to an uphill victory against the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. 56 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:23,000 Baseball men who know will tell you that no other ballplayer ever played the game harder. No other player ever got as much fun out of the game as Frankie Frisch got out of baseball. 57 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:30,000 A boy at heart, but a man among men. That's the story of Frankie Frisch, the Fordham Flash. 58 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:42,000 Now before you meet our special guest, Frankie Frisch in person, and hear about his greatest sports thrill, here is a message of interest to all young men with an eye to the future. 59 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:51,000 Former servicemen, did you know that some Air Force jet fighters contain 15 times as much electrical wiring as did World War II aircraft? 60 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:58,000 It's true, and it points up the fact that today's Space Age Air Force is a highly technical organization. 61 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:05,000 Naturally, technical experts are needed to keep the many Air Force jets, rockets, and missiles operational. 62 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:09,000 Trained men, men like yourself, are needed right now. 63 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:14,000 If there's an opening in your field, you will have an important job with a guaranteed future. 64 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:21,000 Regular pay boosts, tax-free allowances for food, quarters, and clothing, and many other Air Force benefits. 65 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:25,000 Take advantage of your experience and background now. 66 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:29,000 And by the way, former service women are also needed by the Air Force. 67 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:36,000 So all you recent servicemen and women, see your local recruiter about joining the Space Age Air Force soon. 68 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:41,000 An important job in a promising career field could be your reward. 69 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,000 Now back to Harry Wismer. 70 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,000 Frankie Frisch, what was your greatest sports thrill? 71 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,000 Well, Harry, there have been quite a few of them. 72 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:58,000 I don't mean to say that in a braggadocio way, but I think the one that stands out with the old flashes in the 1934 World Series, 73 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:02,000 when I often say that I stretched the triple into a double. 74 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:08,000 You know, I always read part of that because the bases were loaded and I got a two-base hit. 75 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:13,000 And it should have been a triple because I was so happy and elated to get this base hit. 76 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:17,000 I got the second base and I stood there and I watched those three guys score, and I said, 77 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:22,000 well, that's enough runs for old days. Now if he just bears down, he's got the game won. 78 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,000 What you know in a series like that, you know, they forget the guy that got the base hit. 79 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:29,000 It's that guy that wins the ball game, you know, out of the mound. 80 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,000 Then the next one was also in the World Series. 81 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:37,000 Let's see. My first game in the World Series, Giants and the Yankees. 82 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:43,000 I sound like a pop-off guy or a braggadocio guy when I talk about this, but these two were real thrills. 83 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:48,000 I was in the foul maze pitching against the Giants. We got five hits and I got four of them. 84 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:52,000 Little kid said to me one day, who got the other one? I couldn't recall who it was, 85 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,000 but later on I looked it up and it was Johnny Rawlings. 86 00:08:55,000 --> 00:09:01,000 And Harry, I think I could say they, both those incidents were my greatest sports thrills. 87 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:05,000 Do you recall your first appearance at the plate in a Major League game? 88 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,000 Harry, why do you bring that up? I mean, now this was a nice, pleasant conversation. 89 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,000 I mean, I thought he was going to smile. I thought he was going to have a little laugh. 90 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:17,000 I was in Pittsburgh and I joined the ball club and my mother thought I was going to Europe, I think. 91 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,000 They packed the bag. They must have had everything they could find in it. 92 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:25,000 I think they even had a blue plate lunch in there, vegetable soup and everything else in this bag. 93 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:28,000 It weighed about 4,000 tons. 94 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:31,000 Well, anyway, I got to Pittsburgh. That's where I joined the Giants. 95 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:35,000 I finally got acquainted with the ball club and one day Mr. John J. McGraw said, 96 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,000 young man, grab a bat, go up and hit. 97 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:44,000 And right there the bat fell out of my hand three times, you know, going up the home plate. 98 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,000 I finally got up there and there was a guy named Frank Miller. 99 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:52,000 I never had seen curve balls like this. These things exploded. 100 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,000 Boy, they like dropping off a table. I didn't even swing at them. I couldn't. 101 00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:00,000 I didn't know where they were going. I'd go oomph and go to swing, you know, and that thing would snap. 102 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:04,000 Well, I took three beautiful curve balls and I was back on the bench. 103 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:07,000 Frank, what was it like playing under John McGraw? 104 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,000 Very interesting if you could stand it, Harry. 105 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:14,000 I mean, he was severe, strict, and you had to play his system of baseball. 106 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:18,000 In other words, I say, you had to know how to punt, you had to know the fundamentals. 107 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:21,000 He was a strict disciplinarian. 108 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,000 Brother, you better learn how to punt. 109 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:28,000 You had to know how to touch the bags, don't run over them, and a little fine now and then, but you might get it back. 110 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:32,000 He was very kind. That way if he finds you 25 and you're knocked in the winning run, 111 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:35,000 you might get 50 if you were up in the race fighting for the pennant. 112 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:40,000 I can recall one day I knocked in two runs and I hit a ball right off the ear of the third baseman. 113 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,000 Hit a line drive, one of the hardest balls ever hit. 114 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:46,000 And a two run scored, and that'll cost you 25, young man. 115 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:50,000 I said, what? I told you to hit the right field. 116 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,000 I said, Mr. McGraw, the ball was outside. 117 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:58,000 He said, next time you get up the plate, wait till you get one inside and pull it to right field. 118 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,000 I am managing this club and you do as I say. 119 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:08,000 Frank, what made the 1934 St. Louis Cardinal Gas House Gang such an outstanding ball club? 120 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:15,000 Well, Harry, it wasn't what I'd say a rough-neck ball club, but I could say they played rough on the field. 121 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:24,000 I don't think they would intentionally spike anybody, try to injure anybody, but it was a ball club that was colorful. 122 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:30,000 I say out of the eight World Series teams I've played for, this was the most colorful, 123 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:35,000 the most interesting, and the one I got the most enjoyment out of, 124 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:40,000 despite the fact that a lot of people say, oh, they created a lot of headaches for me. 125 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:45,000 To be with a ball club like that and have the honor to manage it, it was outstanding. 126 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:51,000 Frank, did a pitcher ever talk you out of taking him out of the box, and with what results? 127 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,000 Oh yes, that happened when I was managing Pittsburgh. 128 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:59,000 And we're leading by two runs, I think it was a seven-nilling, and I had a good curveball pitcher out of the mound, 129 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,000 Johnny Lanning, and John was getting tired. 130 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,000 And I walked out to the mound, the Braves had the bases loaded, one out, 131 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:11,000 and I said, John, I think you're getting a little tired. It's about time you got out of there now. 132 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:15,000 Let so-and-so come in and finish this up, and I'm sure he'll do a good job for you. 133 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:20,000 And Lanning looked me in the eye, and he said, Frank, this guy never hits me. 134 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:25,000 All I'll do is throw that curveball low, and I'll get him to hit the ball on the ground, a double play and it'll be over with. 135 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:29,000 I said, all right, be sure you get that curveball low now. 136 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:35,000 So I started back to the bench, and just as I reached to get a glass of water, I heard balloon. 137 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:41,000 And there she goes. The ball wound up in, I think, the room of the professor of mathematics 138 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:47,000 in Carnegie Institute of Technology, about 800 feet away out over the left-seam of the offense. 139 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:51,000 And when John came back, I said, what happened? 140 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:56,000 He said, the ball hung. It didn't break. I said, yes, that's it. 141 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:03,000 Frank, what good does it do a ballplayer to argue with the umpires when they know they just can't win? 142 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:10,000 Well, you can win once in a while. You might wake an umpire up. You might get him to bear down a little more. 143 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:18,000 But I still contend that arguing too much will upset yourself, upset your ball club, 144 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:24,000 and I think you're better off to walk out gently and say, good morning, my little arbiter. 145 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:31,000 Would you kindly change your decision? And he'd possibly say, go back and up bench a big meathead or something of that kind. 146 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:35,000 But I often say, no, it doesn't do any good to argue. 147 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:42,000 Frank, of all the pitchers you've seen or managed, if you had one game to win, who would you have to go with? 148 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:48,000 Well, if I had to pick a pitcher to win that one big game, I'd have two guys in mind. 149 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,000 One would be Dissy Dean and the other would be Carl Hubbell. 150 00:13:51,000 --> 00:14:12,000 Thank you very much, Frankie Frisch, All-Time Baseball Great, and a member of Baseball's Hall of Fame.