Reflections on the death of Jerome 'Dizzy' Dean

The Southeast Missourian reported the death of baseball legend Jerome "Dizzy" Dean, 63, on its front page on July 17, 1974. An article by Missourian sports editor B. Ray Owen brought the sad news to the newspaper's readers, and an Associated Press article was published on the front of the Sports section the same day.

Dean died early that day of heart failure at St. Mary's Hospital in Reno, Nevada, having suffered a severe heart attack two days earlier. His wife, Patricia; brother, Paul "Daffy" Dean, and Paul's two children were at the bedside. Dizzy and his wife had no children.

The AP story gave an overview of Dizzy's professional baseball career: "Dean won 150 games in the major leagues, including 27 shutouts, and lost 83. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1953."

Owen's article, however, provided a look at the pitcher's ties to Cape Girardeau, as did a followup story written by G.D. Fronabarger.

Published Wednesday, July 17, 1974, in the Southeast Missourian:

Dizzy Dean is baseball legend

"I'll strike out 15 of those Capahas. I could beat those bush leaguers pitching left-handed. Those Cape boys might at well leave their bats at home." — Dizzy Dean.

BY RAY OWEN

Missourian Sports Editor

Jerome Herman Dean, a former migratory cotton picker who rose to the heights of baseball pitching fame, is dead at age 63.

Known throughout the sports word as Dizzy, or Diz, Dean became a baseball legend for his brashness, and braggadocio. But more times than not, the big right-hander would make a brag and follow through on it.

Southeast Missouri's older baseball fans, however, recall an instance in Dizzy's younger days when the Arkansas native had to "eat some words."

It was on an October day in 1931, and Dean, who had just completed a 26-10 minor league season at a St. Louis farm club, Houston, was wintering in Charleston.

And, to keep his pitching arm sharp, he was tossing the old pill for a Charleston semi-pro team. Coming up was a big game with the Cape Girardeau Capahas.

Elam Vangilder, who had been around the pro circuit, too, with the St. Louis Browns, had been engaged to pitch for the Capahas.

"I thought I would have some opposition," said Dean prior to the game. "And here they're throwing an old man at me."

Vangilder, who had piled up some headlines of his own, was 31 at the time, and Dean, who had signed with the St. Louis Cardinals the year before, was 20.

"Why, I could beat those Cape boys pitching left-handed," said Dean.

Well, big Elam stole the show. Using a sizzling fast ball, Vangilder fanned 22 and captured the 4-0 Capaha decision, before a crowd of some 1,700 fans.

Diz finished up with nine strikeouts.

The following year, 1932, Dizzy was in a Cardinal uniform, and in 1934 had his best season, winning 30 games and pitching the Cardinals to National League and World Series titles.

Dizzy, who claimed he got his first pair of shoes while serving in the Army, had a brief career, cut short when he was struck on the toe by a line drive, but won 150 games in the majors, including 27 shutouts.

His career ended while playing for Chicago's Cubs in 1940, but he wasn't through with the sports world, becoming a "sports commultator," using this down-home twang to win his way into the hearts of millions of fans, with perhaps his most favorite among listeners being that old phrase, "He slud into base."

Read the rest of this blog at semissourian.com/blogs/fromthemorgue.

Sharon Sanders is the librarian at the Southeast Missourian.