The PERFECT Screenplay Treatment

We knew what you were daydreaming about today, sports fans — finding the next great sports movie subject you could get rich writing a screenplay for. Here it is. No need to look anywhere else. All the other stories have been done. It’s called…

 Dizzy and the Gashouse Gang

Not kidding. This is word for word from the Libcyclopedia Wiki. They don’t seem to see anything wrong with it.

“Dizzy Dean was best known for winning 30 games in 1934 while leading the "Gashouse Gang" Cardinals to the National League pennant and the World Series win over the Detroit Tigers. He had a 30–7 record with a 2.66 ERA during the regular season. His brother, Paul, was also on the team, with a record of 19–11, and was nicknamed "Daffy", although this was usually only done for press consumption. Though "Diz" sometimes called his brother "Daf", he typically referred to himself and his brother as "Me an' Paul." Continuing the theme, the team included Dazzy Vance and Joe "Ducky" Medwick.

St. Louis was the southernmost and westernmost city in the major leagues at the time, and the Gashouse Gang became a de facto "America's Team." Team members, particularly Southerners such as the Dean brothers and Pepper Martin, became folk heroes in the Depression-ravaged United States. Americans saw in these players a spirit of hard work and perseverance, as opposed to the haughty, highly paid New York Giants, whom the Cardinals chased for the National League pennant.

Much like later sports legends Joe Namath and Muhammad Ali, Dean liked to brag about his prowess and make public predictions. In 1934, Dean predicted, "Me an' Paul are gonna win 45 games."[6] On September 21, Dean pitched no-hit ball for eight innings against the Brooklyn Dodgers, finishing with a three-hit shutout in the first game of a doubleheader, his 27th win of the season. Paul then threw a no-hitter in the nightcap to win his 18th, matching the 45 that Dean had predicted. "Gee, Paul," Dean was heard to say in the locker room afterward, "if I'd a-known you was gonna throw a no-hitter, I'd a-throw'ed one too!" On May 5, 1937, he bet he could strike out Vince DiMaggio four times in the game. He struck him out his first three at-bats, but when DiMaggio hit a popup behind the plate at his fourth, Dean screamed at his catcher, "Drop it!, Drop it!" The catcher did and Dean fanned DiMaggio, winning the bet. Few in the press now doubted Dean's boast, as he was also fond of saying, "If ya done it, it ain't braggin'." Dean finished with 30 wins, the only NL pitcher to do so in the post-1920 live-ball era, and Paul finished with 19, for a total of 49. The Cards needed them all to edge the Giants for the pennant, setting up a matchup with the American League champion Detroit Tigers. After the season, Dean was awarded the National League's Most Valuable Player Award.

Dean was known for antics which inspired his nickname. In time, perception became reality. In Game 4 of the 1934 World Series against Detroit, Dean was sent to first base as a pinch runner. The next batter hit a potential double play ground ball. Intent on avoiding the double play, Dean threw himself in front of the throw to first. The ball struck him on the head, and Dean was knocked unconscious and taken to a hospital. The storied (and possibly apocryphal) sports-section headline the next day said, "X-ray of Dean's head reveals nothing."[10] The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Detroit Free Press merely stated that the X-rays "revealed no lasting injury." However, Dean was reported saying his head was too hard for a baseball to hurt it.

Although the Tigers went on to win the game 10–4, Dean recovered in time to pitch in Game 5, which he lost. After the Cardinals won Game 6, Dean came back and pitched a complete game shutout in Game 7 to win the game and the Series for the Cardinals. The Dean brothers accounted for all four wins, with two each.”

There’s even the injury and failure at the penultimate moment, just before the underdog win. As I said. Perfect. Minor End Note. There was no ‘slider’ pitch in Dizzy Dean’s day. Had there been, his lifetime ERA might have been lower than 3.02 over 15 years.

P.S. Why Gashouse? Because in furtherance of their scorned white trash status as the most westernmost and southernmost major league team, they quit bathing and changing their uniforms during their pennant stretch drive. Almost a century ahead of their time. What else is perfect? The irony. No politics needed. Dizzy’s formal education ended in second grade. He’s an honest-to-goodness legend of American sport.

P.P.S. Always something of the Resistance in the Cardinals. Long after Dizzy, there was Bob Gibson, who recorded the greatest single season ever by a major league pitcher (1.12 ERA over 300 innings). Then he became a villain as a batter. Cuts both ways, don’t it? Then there was Curt Flood. Who was a genuine all-time all-star and gave his career away to end slavery in baseball.

I’ve been to St. Louis. They have their own spirit, beyond the one dangling from wires at the airport. I know it. Why I’ll end this way…

Meet Me in St. Louis anytime. White as she is, she was a resister too.