Came across an interesting podcast awhile ago, Baseball’s Greatest Hits, produced by author and baseball historian Wayne McCombs for a radio station in Tulsa. Oklahoma.
While the program is no longer live, you can still hear several episodes via iTunes, which is where I found this 1948 recording of Elmer, the Great, written by Ring Lardner and presented as a radio play starring Bob Hope. Hope is (was?) an acquired taste and the script here doesn’t really present him at his bets. But I guess it’s unfair to judge a 60-year-old program based on modern sensibilities. suffice it to say, he was a beloved comedian who actually had a stake in the Cleveland Indians back in the 40s.
The story is fairly straightforward: Elmer is a great player. in fact, but the problem is that he knows it. He’s also a rube, so when he comes up to the majors, he’s a bit hard to take nad has to learn a couple of lessons before he’s accepted.
Comedian Joe E. Brown portrayed the character in the 1933 movie version.
You’ll have to put up with some long, local commercials, but I thought it was so unusual I had to post it.
Hear it here:
is available on Amazon.com,
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