Literary birthday greetings: Ducky

November 24, 2010

Joe “Ducky” Medwick, Hall of Fame outfielder for the “Gashouse Gang” St. Louis Cardinals and other teams, was born this date in 1911.

A lifetime .324 hitter over 17 seasons, Medwick was involved in a famous (or infamous) World Series event: “His hard-charging style of play got him pulled out of the seventh game of the 1934 World Series by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, when Detroit Tigers fans started pelting him with garbage after he slid hard into third base on a triple (audio). Landis also ordered Tigers third baseman Marv Owen, into whom Medwick had slid, benched.”

This was a scene that was replicated in 1973 when Mets fans heaped refuse on Cincinnati Reds’ outfielder Peter Rose after his fight with shortstop Buddy Harrelson following a hard slide at second base.

Medwick is a staple of books about the Gashouse Gang era, as well as the subject of The Fierce Fun of Ducky Medwick, by Thomas Barthel (Scarecrow, 2003).

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