Word: veeck
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Black Rock. Bill Veeck, baseball and horse racing impresario, has lost the first round of his fight to bring major league horse racing to the Boston area in the fall...
...When Veeck bought out the twenty-four racing dates of Berkshire Downs two months ago, horseplayers were overjoyed. The reality of a fall meeting at Suffolk Downs seemed virtually assured. Since then, Veeck, a brilliant entrepreneur, has been trying to find his way through the local politicians version of the Porteus maze test...
Finding the cheeze has not been easy. The running surface of the maze could be defined in racetrack terms as heavy, composed of two parts quagmire and one part bog. The first people to lose their feathers over Veeck's proposed fall meeting were the track owners of Rhode Island who had also planned a fall meeting. Depending heavily on many Boston area bettors for their revenue, it was in their best interests to block the Suffolk Downs fall meeting. But, they had no jurisdiction in Massachusetts...
...trouble was, says Veeck, "baseball was becoming boring. More games, more clubs, less talent and duller stretches than ever before." He opted for horse racing because "nine times a day you have something exciting happening. That's something most ball clubs can't guarantee these days." Win or lose, he says, "we promise that the fan will have a little fun." Even more, once Veeck gets around to installing the steam calliope that he recently bought...
...walked on four straight balls. The league instantly outlawed midgets, prompting Veeck to ask if, at 5 ft. 6 in., Yankee Shortstop Phil Rizzuto classified as "a short ballplayer or a tall midget...