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Show SPORT LIGHT Bill Dickey a Welcome Prodigal B'Grantland Rice IN THE SPRING of 1928 a tall, lanky kid blew into the Yankee stadium from Little Rock. He had arrived via Little Rock, Muskogee, Jackson and Buffalo. He was then 21 years old, 6 feet 2, weighing 185 pounds. When he was born in Bastrop, La., back in 1907, he was formally christened William Malcolm Mal-colm Dickey. The William Malcolm Mal-colm soon gave way to plain Bill. The point of this outbreak is that Bill Dickey, after a lapse of two years, is back with if" " ' tne Yankees again i as a catching and I pitching coach, a J SP' where he has .a no equal. I f s The Arkansas I Traveler has at (V-wf I 'east 'wo distinc-"VJfr.' distinc-"VJfr.' 1 tlons- is about !afi- . J as fine a Quail shot as you 11 run Grantland Rice acr0SS- And he comes close to being be-ing the best all around catcher baseball ever produced. His main challengers are Mickey Cochrane, Gabby Hartnett and Ray Schalk. Or maybe Johnny Kling from old Cub days. Other catchers have bad better bet-ter arms, or arms just as good as Dickey's. AO of them were faster. Mickey Cochrane was a ball-of-fire where Dickey was serene and unruffled. Bill's claim to fame rested on his hitting and the way he bandied pitchers. As far as 1 know. Dickey is the only catcher who drove in over 100 runs four years in succession 107 in 1936, 133 in 1937, 115 in 1938 and 105 in 1939. In these four years Dickey hit 102 home runs. Smart pitchers have told me more than once that in a clutch they considered Bill Dickey the most dangerous man in baseball and this wasn't barring Ruth, Gehrig, Geh-rig, DiMaggio, Greenburg, Foxx or Williams. Dickey remained with the Yankees from 1928 through 1946, when he returned to Little Rock for a two-year stay. Be was lured back to the Yankees this last winter and this spring he wiU help Casey Stengel unravel two Yankee tangles the catching and the pitching. If these two snarls are straightened straight-ened out, the Yankees can be a dangerous outfit. If not, they won't be. If the combined snarl and tangle can be handled, Stengel has the right man on hand for the job ... Dickey vs. Pitchers "One reason I get such a kick out of catching is the chance to see Joe Gordon play second base," Bill said some years ago. "He keeps on making plays that can't be made." It was always a treat to watch the way Dickey handled his pitch ers, especially the young ones. Atley Donald won his first 12 games pitching to Dickey. Now and then you'd see Bill stroll out to the box. The two would talk for a while and then Dickey would return re-turn to work. "What do you two talk about?" 1 asked. "Oh, I'd say what a nice day it was. Or ask him how the folks were. Something like that. And then suggest we had all afternoon and not to hurry. A lot of pitchers when they lose control or get in trouble seem to pitch faster and faster That's when you have to slow them down." "I'll never forget watching that Dickey stick his big glove nnder his left arm and start for the box," Roger Bresnaban said one day. Bresnahan was John McGraw's pick for the all-time catcher. "Yon could almost see the pitcher settling down. He was another pitcher after Dickey got through. Usually a catcher gets a little peeved or sore at a pitcher who can't locate the plate. Not Dickey. This was his chance to use bis soothing syrup." It must be admitted that Bill Dickey is a hard fellow to upset, mentally or physically. Bill's philosophy phil-osophy consists largely In accept ing the breaks as they come. The good breaks never lift him too high nor the tough breaks let him down. "It doesn't pay to get excited,' Dickey advises. "Why get wor ried?" Bill wouldn't know an alibi if he bumped into one. Dickey as always carried a great admiration for Ted Williams' batting eye. |
