"Dale tried out as a left-handed catcher- it didn't work. He went to the minors and had three good seasons. With Pittsburgh in 1955, he tied for the most triples (13) in the National League."
-1956 Topps No. 56
THE LONG WAY HOME
Pirates' Record-Setter Finally Rewarded For 12 Years' Struggling
"You probably recall the old gag about the taxi driver's theme song being 'The Longest Way 'Round Is the Shortest Way Home.'
Well, for one fabulous stretch this season, the longest way 'round- the Dale Long-est way, that is- WAS the shortest way home.
The way to home runs. SHORT- and sweet. For in a run of eight consecutive games, the Pirates' big (six-four, 212), likeable lefty from the Northern Berkshires did what no other of the 9,000 big league players before him ever did- knocked a homer a game in each of the eight straight games.
Sure, there have been other tremendous displays of home run power compressed into small packages of time. An earlier Pittsburgh Pirates home run hero, Ralph Kiner, once (1947) sent eight big homers resounding in four consecutive games. Tony Lazzeri (1936) and Gus Zernial (1951) hit seven in four games. Babe Ruth, Vic Wertz and Jim Bottomley hit seven homers in five games. Only two years ago Stan Musial hit five in a double-header. But for sustained consistency, never before was there anything like Long's surge.
It extended over a period of ten days and was accomplished against eight different pitchers of five different teams and in Philadelphia as well as Pittsburgh. It started at Pittsburgh when Long sent one of Jim Davis' knucklers roaring high into the second deck of the right field stands in the eighth inning to help beat the Cubs, 7-4.
The next day, in a double-header with Milwaukee, Long hit another into the same upper stands off Ray Crone in the first game, and in the opening inning of the second game repeated off Spahn, again to the same deck. After an open date, the Cardinals showed up at Forbes Field. Once again the upper right field stands were dented, with Herman Wehmeier the victim.
The fifth homer in the skein was a low liner that said goodbye to Forbes Field just above the 436-foot sign on the right-center field wall. The Cards' Lindy McDaniel thus had the dubious distinction of throwing what was said to be the first home run ever hit over that distant spot in the nearly half a century of the park's existence.
Two nights later the scene transferred to Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium. Curt Simmons was the pitcher. The score was 3-2 against Pittsburgh when Simmons walked Frank Thomas. Though it was obvious he was fooled by the pitch- Long said later that he was looking for a fast ball when Simmons crossed him with a curve- Long hit the ball one-handed as he fell away from the plate and the surprising result was a homer- number six- over the 350-foot right field fence.
Next day Long broke the major league record for hitting homers in consecutive games with his number seven, also at Philadelphia. In the very first inning he knocked at the door of the record with a drive that came within a half foot of clearing the right field wall, rebounding for a double. After two more futile tries, he connected off Ben Flowers in the eighth frame, with the right field wall the departure point.
Fate took a hand in raining out the last game at Philadelphia, returning the Pirates to Pittsburgh to give the home fans- 32,000 of them were there and will be talking about if for years to come- a chance to see number eight. It came in the fourth inning off Brooklyn's Carl Erskine and tied the score.
The deserved ovation accorded Long was what many veteran observers believe to be the greatest ever given a player in the history of the game. The deafening cacophony of fans' huzzahing him until they were hoarse, hand-clapping until their palms stung, didn't let up until Long emerged from the dugout and took a 'curtain call.'
That night, for 34 games, the big first baseman was hitting a stratospheric .414, with a total of 14 homers and 39 runs batted in.
Though stopped by the Dodgers' Don Newcombe the next day, he went on to 17 homers before pulling an ill-fated handicap. A pulled leg muscle, compounded by a badly bruised right shin, crippled him and while he gamely continued to play, his hitting was obviously affected.
Though it took him a little more than a week to capture the nation's headlines and the fans' imagination, it was, literally, a long way around for Dale. At 30 (he was born Feb.6, 1926, at Springfield, Mo.), he endured the despair of perennial frustration almost since he first started in pro ball with Milwaukee in 1944.
His itinerary in baseball sounds like something a beserk train caller would call out. Milwaukee, Middleton, Lima, Columbia, Ogden, Providence, Muncie, Oneonta, Lynn, Williamsport, Binghamton, Pittsburgh (for ten games in 1951), the St. Louis Browns (for 34 games in 1951), San Francisco, New Orleans and Hollywood before finally, at long last, becoming the Pirates' regular first baseman (.291 and 16 homers in 131 games) in 1955. That's at a total of 16 teams in 13 years.
But that's only part of the story. They tried him in the outfield, on the mound (one victory at Lima in 1945, a defeat for Ogden in 1946), at first- and Branch Rickey, in one of his wilder moments, even envisioned him as that rara avis, a left-handed catcher.
What sort of fellow is this Long? Well, let's look around the Northern Berkshires, where he is proudly claimed by three communities, North Adams, Mass., where he now makes his home with his attractive wife, Dorothy Robak Long, his high school sweetheart, and their two children, Dale, Jr., eight, and Johnny, one; Adams, where he gained his first athletic fame as an outstanding high school athlete climaxed by being named All-New England center in basketball in the 1944-45 season, and finally, Cheshire, where he spent his boyhood.
Determination, so often expressed by the slugging first baseman in the winter months where he worked first for a department store as a truck driver and then in the public relations department of the Sprague Electric Company, the world's largest manufacturer of electronics and North Adams' biggest industry, was foremost in his mind when he reported for spring training this year.
And through all his latest success, the TV and radio appearances, the unprecedented ovations at the Pittsburgh ball park, the interviews by top sports writers, Dale has remained the hometown guy everybody likes.
He is still the same chap who during the winter, at the end of the day's work, would dally over a cup of coffee at Liggett's drug store or Nassif's drug store and bat the breeze with the fellows.
The same fellow who, when he returned home at the end of the 1955 season would walk to the high school football practice field and show the kids how to boot the ball high and far down the field and who never tired of trying to help some youngster get more distance in his punts.
A typical example of Dale as a thoughtful neighbor is seen in the case of Mrs. Andrew Flagg, his next door neighbor on Blackinton Street before the Longs moved to their pleasant, modest dwelling on Corinth Street.
Mrs. Flagg met with a serious injury this past winter and for a long time was unable to walk and was alone during the daytime hours while her husband was at his teaching duties. Every morning, before going to work, Dale would go to the Flagg home next door and carry Mrs. Flagg to the Long home where she would spend the day visiting with Mrs. Long and the children.
Dale's wife did not see her husband break the homer record. Little Dale was making his first communion in St. Francis Church the day after Dale broke the record by hitting home run number seven.
Did Dorothy listen to the radio that night when Dale hit number seven? No, she was too busy getting Little Dale ready for his big event and putting Johnny to bed. She did not know about it until Bucky Bullett, North Adams sportscaster and a close family friend, called her.
'We have had our ups and downs,' Dorothy told this writer, who has known her since she was a little girl in Adams.
'But through it all,' she went on, 'Dale has never whimpered, never complained, never blamed any one person for the tough breaks he got, but always saying, 'Our day will come; don't worry, honey, we'll get there yet.'
'Naturally, I am thrilled and happy, not so much because Dale has broken the home run mark, but for Dale himself and the fact that he is finally being recognized for all that he is,' she asserted.
'The biggest thrill of all,' Dorothy declared, 'was the night in Pittsburgh when Dale was called from the dugout by the fans for that great big ovation. And when I look back on the days of the boos and the jeers, instead of the cheers, I am so thrilled I can hardly think. Yes, he has been booed, not cheered. And believe me, it is hard, real hard, to sit in the stands and hear your husband get the catcalls when you know deep in your heart that he is giving everything he has.
'The darkest days in Dale's baseball life,' Mrs. Long said, 'came when he was with Hollywood and couldn't get out of a slump. He knew that he had to make good or go back to a lower league. He wasn't hitting, wasn't eating and was just plain discouraged. I suggested that he have a talk with Bobby Bragan, who was manager of Hollywood at the time. Dale did and started off by saying, 'What's going to happen to me, Bobby?' 'What do you mean, Dale?' Bobby replied. 'You're staying with Hollywood. Now go out and hit a few.'
'His confidence restored, his mind resting better, Dale did go out and hit a few. It changed his whole career. I believe that was the turning point. Do you wonder why Dale has such confidence in and such respect for Bragan, now his manager with the Pirates?'
Long was voted the Most Valuable Player in the Pacific Coast League that year.
A little know trait concerning Long and which really brings out 'the boy in him' is the desire to be on hand when news stories are breaking, especially accidents and fires, and he has a standing order with Randy Trabold, staff photographer for the North Adams Transcript, to 'call me when you're going out to take a picture, no matter what the hour.' "
-Tommy McShane (Baseball Digest, August 1956)
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