Dean, "Dizzy" (Jay H.)
Baseball
b. Jan. 16, 1911, Lucas, AR
d. July 17, 1974
Dean was one of baseball's greatest pitchers and one of its greatest characters. The brash Dean, who never doubted his ability, was fond of saying, "It ain't braggin' if you can do it."
As a youngster, he and his brothers roamed through the Southwest with their father, picking cotton for fifty cents a day. Dean joined the Army in 1927, learned to pitch with a service team, and signed a professional contract after being discharged in 1930. He appeared in one game with the St. Louis Cardinals that season.
A right-hander, he joined the Cardinals to stay in 1932 and led the league in strikeouts with 191, in shutouts with 4, and in innings pitched with 286, while compiling an 18-15 record for a sixth-place team. He was the strikeout leader again with 199 in 1933, when he had a 20-18 record. On July 30, he set a record by striking out 17 Chicago Cubs in 9 innings.
Dean's greatest year was 1934, when he had a 30-7 record, leading the NL in percentage, .811, shutouts, 7, and strikeouts, 195. He was named the league's most valuable player and the Associated Press's male athlete of the year. His younger brother Paul joined the team that year and had a 19-11 mark.
Going into the World Series against the Detroit Tigers, Dean predicted, "Me and Paul will win two games each." He was right. Paul won the second and sixth games while Dizzy won the first game and the deciding seventh game.
Dean had a 28-12 record in 1935, leading the league in strikeouts for the fourth year in a row, as well as in victories, complete games, innings pitched, and strikeouts, and he went 24-13 in 1936, when he pitched three shutout innings in the All-Star game.
The 1937 All-Star game was his downfall, however. A line drive by Earl Averill broke the big toe on his left foot. Dean insisted on returning before it was completely healed. Unable to follow through properly, he seriously damaged his arm and was never the same.
He was traded to the Chicago Cubs after the season and won just 16 games for them before being released early in 1941. He then became a broadcaster for the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns. Dean made a final major league appearance with the Browns on the last day of the 1947 season.
When some teachers objected to his misuse of the language, particularly to his frequent employment of the word "ain't," Dean responded by quoting Will Rogers, "A lot of people who don't say 'ain't,' ain't eatin'." He was supported by thousands of listeners.
During the 1950s, he did network telecasts of the major league game of the week and became known to millions of fans who had never seen him pitch. He retired in the late 1960s.
In just 317 games, Dean had a 150-83 record, with a 3.02 ERA. He struck out 1,163 hitters and walked 453 in 1,967 innings.