1951 Yankee of the Past: Dazzy Vance

IT WORKS BOTH WAYS
"'One day,' recalls Dazzy Vance, 'I struck out Rogers Hornsby three times and he popped up the fourth. He was going back to the bench when a guy in the stands howled at him, 'Say, Hornsby, I paid to watch you hit.'
''All right,' Rogers told this guy. 'You paid to see that fellow pitch, too, and you're getting your money's worth. What's the squawk?''"

-Walter Stewart in the Memphis Commercial Appeal (Baseball Digest, October 1951)

SPEECH FROM THE FLOOR
"As a sample of Dazzy Vance's ever-ready wit, outfielder Rube Bressler recalls the speech he swears Dazzy made on the occasion of the double play Babe Herman hit into that memorable day in Brooklyn.
With one out and the bases loaded, Herman hit a long drive and then took off, head down, on a blind dash around the bases, while the others were waiting to see whether or not the ball would be caught. It wasn't, but just about everyone else was. Hank DeBerry scored from third, but Vance, who had been on second, was between third and home when he heard a stricken shout from the third base coach.
Thinking he was being called back, Dazzy turned and raced for third base. It didn't take him long to find out what ailed the coach, because just as Dazzy slid in from the home plate side, Herman was sliding in from the second base side. Chick Fewster, who had been running from first base, was also on the scene. He was standing on third base, hands on hips and mouth hanging open.
The Dodgers now had three men on third. Taking no chances, the third baseman tagged them all. The umpire seemed a little uncertain, and it was then, according to Bressler, that Vance spoke his piece. Still stretched out on the ground, his foot hooked into the base, Dazzy reclined on one elbow, looked up at the group around him and addressed them as follows:
'Mr. Umpire, members of the opposition, and my beloved teammates: if you will carefully scan the rules of our national pastime, you will find that the only party safe at this hassock is one Arthur C. Vance.'
He was, too."

-Bill Roeder in the New York World-Telegram and Sun (Baseball Digest, October 1951)

DEBERRY CAME FIRST
"Stories have been written and told down through the years that the Brooklyn Dodgers bought Dazzy Vance from New Orleans and just took Hank DeBerry, who died recently, along as his catcher. But Hank maintained that wasn't right. 'The Dodgers bought me long before they did Dazzy,' he explained.
'It happened like this: Brooklyn won the pennant in 1920 and came to New Orleans in the spring of 1921 to play exhibitions with the New Orleans club. I had a really great spring against them, and they bought me for 1922 delivery. They didn't buy Vance until the next year- and then on a look. You must remember that Daz knocked around with Pittsburgh and the New York Yankees and in the minor leagues for a long time.'"

-Bob Wilson in the Knoxville News-Sentinel (Baseball Digest, November 1951)