Dizzy Dean

From SoSH

Contents 1 Overall Career 2 Awards 3 Achievements 4 Trivia 5 Transactions 6 External Links

Overall Career

Jerome Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (January 16, 1910 - July 17, 1974) was the colorful and talented leader of the 1934 Gashouse Gang. Dean often liked to boast about his talents to the media, but as he liked to say, "It ain't braggin' if you can do it." Dean won 30 games that season, the only National League pitcher to do so after 1920. His career was shortened when his toe was broken during the 1937 All-Star Game. He pitched four more seasons, winning just 16 more games. His final game was ten years later when, as the broadcaster for the Browns, he boasted on the air that he could pitch better than nine out of ten guys on the staff. The Browns' pitchers' wives complained, and, desperate to sell tickets, the Browns allowed Dean to pitch a game. He went four scoreless innings and had a 1-for-1 performance at the plate. He remained a popular broadcaster for many years and was nominated in 2006 for the Ford C. Frick Award.

When Dean retired, his career record was 150-83 with a 3.02 ERA.

Awards

• Elected to Hall of Fame by Baseball Writers in 1953 (79.17%)
  

• 1934 National League Most Valuable Player Award
• Four-time National League All-Star (1934, 1935, 1936, 1937)

Achievements

• Won 20 games four times (1933-1936)
• Won 30 games in 1934
• Two-time wins leader (1934 & 1935)
• Four-time strikeouts leader (1932, 1933, 1934, 1935)
• Three-time complete games leader (1933, 1935, 1936)

Trivia

• Dean made his major league debut in 1930 with a complete-game victory, allowing just three hits and one run while striking out five batters.
• Dean is one of 24 players to be immortalized in Ogden Nash's poem, "Line-Up for Yesterday." Dean's verse: D is for Dean, / The grammatical Diz. / When they asked "Who's the tops?" / Said correctly, "I is."
• Dean boasted that in 1934, he and his brother Paul Dean, also a Cardinals pitcher, could win a combined 45 games. They won 49. The brothers pitched the two ends of a doubleheader that season. Dizzy carried a no-hitter through eight innings before ending up with a complete-game three-hit shutout. Paul pitched a no-hitter in the second game. Dizzy supposedly told his brother after the game, "If I'd a-known you was gonna throw a no-hitter, I'd a-thrown one too!"
• Dean once bet that he could strike out Vince DiMaggio four times in one game. After whiffing three times, DiMaggio popped up behind the plate. Dean hollered to his catcher, "Drop the ball! Drop the ball!" The catcher obliged, and Dean managed to strike DiMaggio out to win the bet.

Transactions

• Before 1930 Season: Signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.
• April 16, 1938: Traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Chicago Cubs for Curt Davis, Clyde Shoun, Tuck Stainback, and $185,000.

External Links

• Dizzy Dean: Hall of Fame Page
• Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis
• 1953 Hall of Fame Class