Word: veeck
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...thing is sure, the "Billy market" is out there. Says Oakland Athletics Boss Charlie Finley: "I see where Bill Veeck [Chicago White Sox owner] is trying to get President Carter to throw out the first ball on opening day. Well, I'm trying to get Billy Carter. He's my kind of guy." Bantam Books rushed into print a collection of Billy's tell-it-like-it-is shots from the hip. An embarrassingly thin volume, Redneck Power: The Wit and Wisdom of Billy Carter sells for $1.50, yet went through its first printing...
Finley said he had been forced to sell because of "astronomical and unjustified" player salary demands. Angry fellow owners called it "a terrible thing," "a dark day." White Sox Owner Bill Veeck's telling summary: "It destroys the illusion ... that this is a game for the fans." The fans knew it, too, even in Boston and New York. Of the first 20 calls to a Boston sports talk show, not one defended the Sox deal. New York Times Columnist Dave Anderson wrote: "A sense of embarrassment dominates what the Yankees...
They failed, and already have suffered the consequences. In March, when the owners voted 23 to 1 to lock the spring training camps, the one was Veeck. ("That's the usual tally," he says.) A few days later, he unveiled the new White Sox warm weather uniform-short pants. On opening day, peg-legged Veeck (he lost his leg as a result of a 1943 war wound) choreographed some Bicentennial foofaraw and greeted his crowd as the fife player in a fetching patriotic ceremony. Marching across the field with him were Business Manager Rudie Schaffer on drum and stern...
Other owners have been complaining for years about Veeck's undignified approach to the game, while busily adopting his zany promotional stunts. It was he who first dotted the baseball calendar with Bat Days, Ladies Days, Bartender Days, Cab Driver Days, Gourmet Days, and Name's the Same Days (everyone with the same name as a member of the team gets in for free). He was the first to install an explosive Scoreboard, stage milking contests and have mock invasions from outer space. His most memorable stunt was sending a midget to pinch hit for St. Louis wearing...
...Veeck is the ultimate innovator, yet no one is more of a traditionalist. The son of a sportswriter who later ran the Chicago Cubs, he has spent most of his life around ballparks. "Baseball is a game with a long tradition," he says. "A father takes his son or daughter and they in turn take a son or daughter. It is important that tradition not be lost." But long before other owners realized it-and some still do not-Veeck saw that baseball's tradition was meaningless if its fans did not enjoy themselves. The last time Veeck came...