Word: lipping
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Polo Grounds one day, The Lip declared, with a flip of his hand: "I don't want any nice guys on my ball club. The nice guys are over there on the Giants' bench, and where are they? In last place...
Where the umpire's decision was close but right, The Lip is apt to make far more noise. "I'm just putting up a smoke screen," he admits. "Maybe the ump will call the next close...
...inspiring of umpires is large, red-faced George Magerkurth, who swells up with majestic rage when his dignity is pricked. Leo's arguments with him are Brooklyn legend. "The Mage," says Leo fondly, "is one of the best umpires in baseball." It is a slow season when The Lip gets less than five notices from National League headquarters. Sample: "For prolonged argument, delaying the game, use of violent, profane language, you are fined...
There are some public-relations experts who dispute Barnum's dictum that any publicity is good publicity. But few of these heretics work for ball clubs. The Lip gets in print oftener, and apparently without trying, than any other five baseball managers put together. Not until this year has anyone seriously questioned the sales value of this publicity...
...dugout for Leo's nod. Leo's smart assistant, Coach Chuck Dressen, now with the Yankees, spent much of his time reinflating egos. (Some belittlers, exaggerating Dressen's importance, think the Dodgers won't be the same without him.) But Leo's lip also pays off. Against the Chicago Cubs last season, the day was getting dark and Brooklyn's pitcher was weakening. As his club came to bat, still leading 2-to-0, Durocher snapped to the bench: "Listen, you guys! I'm gonna stir up a rhubarb.* He began heckling...