NO ESCAPE
"Ted Lyons, the Brooklyn coach who was in the Navy during the war, pitched for a service team on Guam. The first game his club played he faced Joe DiMaggio who was with an Army outfit. 'I left the country to get away from DiMaggio,' said the old White Sox pitcher, 'and there he was.' "
-Jimmy Cannon in the New York Post (Baseball Digest, May 1954)
DIMAGGIO- ALMOST A SECOND DEMPSEY!
"Joe DiMaggio felt almost lost the other lunchtime in the establishment bearing his name, during the photo flashed signing of the Olson-Castellani fight papers. Most of the athletic personages in the restaurant were identified with the fight scene. Joe- the new Joe- rushed back into the act when he made his speech. He told the time he almost became a heavyweight prizefighter under the management of Jack Doc Kerns.
'Doc buttonholed me at Toot Shor's in New York,' Joe remembered. 'First, he asked me how much I made a year. I told him about $50,000.
' 'You'll make ten times that much with me,' said Kerns, 'and you won't have to wear sweaty, heavy, dirty old uniforms. I'll give you a clean pair of shorts and a light pair of boxing gloves.' '
Joe told the assemblage he almost considered the idea, but that night he looked at a mirror, twisted his nose this way and that, and decided he was satisfied with its present shape.
Later on the program, when Kearns made his little talk, he said he remembered the incident. 'Sure,' said the Doc, 'when I saw all that hitting power, I decided this kid could be another Dempsey. But he stayed in baseball. Well, they all make mistakes.' "
-Art Rosenbaum in the San Francisco Chronicle (Baseball Digest, September 1954)
No comments:
Post a Comment