Former New York Giants Pitcher: Paul Dean (1940-1941)

-
Paul Dee Dean was born on August 12th 1912 in Lucas, Arkansas. The six foot right hander, was the younger brother of  Hall of Fame pitcher; Dizzy Dean.

Paul became known as Daffy, after being a star pitcher in the minor leagues he arrived on the famous 1934 St. Louis Cardinals, Gas House Gang. The legendary Cardinal team, won the World Series that year, a team that featured Frankie Frisch, Ducky Joe Medwick, Leo Durocher, Ripper Collins & Pepper Martin. 

Paul made an immediate impact winning 19 games (19-11) second on the staff to his brother Dizzy who won thirty games. He had the best strikeout per nine inning ratio in the NL (5.786) as he struck out 150 batters (3rd in the NL) while pitching 233 innings with five shutouts (2nd in the NL) & posting a 3.43 ERA. On September 21st, he tossed a no hitter in Brooklyn beating the Dodgers 3-0 in the second game of a doubleheader. His brother Dizzy was the winning pitcher in the first game, after Pauls no hitter he said: "If I'da known he was gonna throw one, I'da thrown one, too."

Post Season: Daffy Paul Dean pitched a 1-0 complete game victory in Game #3 of the 1934 World Series at St. Louis, beating the Detroit Tigers Tommy Bridges. He returned for Game #6 in Detroit facing off against Schoolboy Rowe. Dean pitched a 4-3 complete game win, to bring the Series to a game seven.

In 1935 the Cards finished second to the Chicago Cubs, winning 96 games, four games back. Paul Dean won 19 games once again (6th in the NL), second on the staff to brother Dizzy's 28 wins. Paul struck out 143 batters (3rd in the NL) in 269 innings pitched (4th in the NL), leading the league with nine hit batsman.

The two brothers held out for contracts the next year & the layoff had an effect on Paul. He injured his throwing arm & was never the same pitcher again. He went 5-5 in 1936 but was limited to just 22 games over the next three years.

In 1940 he was drafted away by the New York Giants. He went 4-4 for the sixth place Giants, posting a 3.90 ERA in 27 games. The following year he made just five appearances posting a 3.18 ERA with no decisions.

Dean made just three more MLB appearances, in 1943 with the St. Louis Browns. In his nine year career he was 50-34 with 387 strike outs & 179 walks in 787 innings pitched. He had eight shut outs, with 44 complete games in 159 games posting a 3.75.

 Dean won 19 games when he was 30 years old pitching in the minor leagues, on team that averaged 24 years of age. After his playing days he managed in the minors for seven seasons.

Retirement: After baseball he bought an airplane, a farm & a ranch. He passed away at age 68 in Arkansas in 1981.

Trivia: The Dean brothers are mentioned in Abbott & Costello's "Whos On First" with a fictional French cousin; Goo-Fay Dean.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lace...
Read more

The History of Yogi Berra & the Yoo-Hoo Chocolate Drink

-
Image
Yogi Berra & Yoo-Hoo's  history go back to the 1950's. Yogi had met the Oliveri Family, the owners of the Yoo-Hoo company at a Country Club function near his home in New Jersey. Natale Olivieri started bottling the chocolate drink in 1928 in Garfield, w Jersey. By the late 1950's he Yoo-Hoo product wasn't selling all that well. Mr. Olivieri asked for Yogi's opinion at the new Jersey function. Berra said he actually liked the soft drink & started promoting it along with his teammates. Soon Yogi put Yoo-Hoo on the map, appearing in commercials, advertisements and supermarkets promotions.  Berra would show up at the factory in Carlstadt, New Jersey & became a hero to the factory workers. He soon became a Vice President of the company owning a large amount of Yoo-Hoo stock. In his auto biography Yogi wrote "One time I was in the office and the phone rang, I always answer a ringing phone, the woman on the other end asked if Yoo-Hoo was hyphenate...
Read more

Remembering Mets History (1979) SNL's Chico Escuela Visits Mets Spring Training & Attempts a Career Comeback

-
Image
Bill Murray interviews (Garrett Morris) Chico Escuela In March 1979, original Saturday Night Live cast member; Garrett Morris joined the Mets at Miller Huggins Field for Spring Training. At the time the Mets were still holding Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida.  Garrett Morris was posing as  the fictional Mets player, Chico Escuela who wore uniform #5 (cinque).  Escuela was doing his famous spoof of the Latin players of the time, posing as a popular infielder from the Dominican Republic that didn't speak much English. His legendary catch phrase was "baseball been berry- berry good to me". "baseball been berry-berry good... to me" The Chico Escuela character appeared nine times during on SNL's fourth & fifth seasons. He debuted on December 9th, 1978, in a Knight of Columbus sketch as a guest speaker. He then became the Weekend Update Sports reporter, where after being introduced by Jane Curtain, he would reply "tank you Hane". Chico woul...
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford...
Read more

Remembering Batgirl: Yvonne Craig (1937-2015)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz interrupts baseball with a sad note on one of his favorite actresses. Being a huge Batman (TV series) fan Yvonne Craig has been someone I adored since I was a child.  As a boy I always hoped the Batgirl cycle would wiz by on the opening credits, meaning it would be a Batgirl episode. I didn't realize why until I got older & liked girls. For myself & millions of young boys of the 60's / 70's Batgirl was one of our first crushes. But her character also she added so much more than that to the final season of Batman. She was special in so many ways ... rest in peace Batgirl! Yvonne Joyce Craig was born May 16th 1937 in Taylorville, Illinois. As a young girl she was a talented ballet dancer, getting accepted to the prestigious Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She eventually moved to Los Angeles & began an acting career. She landed a part in Gidget (1959) as one of Gidget's beach...
Read more