SEPT: THE BASEBALL GURU ARTICLE FROM

ONEMOREINNING

JULY 6, 1933

THE GAME OF THE CENTURY

IN FOUR PARTS: PART TWO

 

   The event was heralded as, “THE GAME OF THE CENTURY.” It did serve the purpose of taking attention away from the disturbing news of the day. The Nazi’s were rapidly rising.  Hitler was the German chancellor now and Hindenburg, the ineffectual President of the German Republic, was losing ground. He had recently moved to safeguard Protestantism against Hitler’s wishes by supporting the right for the Church to exist. A bit of unexpected hope for Hindenburg came when Nazi troops protested against Hitler’s regime, demanding, “Hitler, give us bread or we’ll go Red.” Other countries were beginning to attempt to face up to the Nazi’s. In Vienna, the Diet, after heated battles with the Nazi’s deputies, ousted them from their body. In Italy however, the Vatican, which would end up having an interesting relationship with the Germans, reached agreement on a Concordat, which resulted in the end of the Catholic Centre Party in Germany and was to strengthen non political Catholic organizations, There were reports that Germany was buying many war planes and intended to use them for expansionist purposes.

   The world was in very poor economic shape. President Roosevelt, worried about erratic monetary fluctuations, was making statements that indicated that he felt the dollar had not dropped enough to stabilize the economy.

   On a lighter note, the idyllic marriage of America’s sweethearts, Doug Fairbanks and Mary Pickford was coming to an end. The couple had agreed to separate and their incredible home, Pickfair was put up for sale. In July 1, 1933 the 2 cents postal rate was put into effect. Primo Carnera stunned the boxing world by defeating  Jack Sharkey to become the new heavyweight champion of boxing. For a final note, gangster Jack (Legs) Diamond’s widow was found dead on her living room rug. She lived in a $45 a month apartment in Brooklyn. She had been dead for two days with a bullet in her temple. Rumor had it that she knew too much and certain politicians were getting uneasy.

   For Chicago though and baseball fans all over, the big news was what was going to happen on July 6, 1933. After one third of a century the greatest stars of both the NL and AL were going to play each other. This was the first time ever in sports that a game like this had been sanctioned within the professional ranks. Ticket prices were quite high, reserved seats going for an unheard of $1:10 per ticket. Days before the game the advance sale indicated that there might be a crowd of over 55,000 people and with a possible overflow crowd being allowed in the field itself, it could go even higher. As it was, some fans were being allowed to sit in the National League dugout. Rumor had it that the starting pitchers would be Lefty Gomez for the AL and the great Carl Hubbell for the Nationals. National League fans were excited about being able to see Babe Ruth play and of course AL rooters would get to see homerun slugger Chuck Klein, Bill Terry, and Paul Waner.

What a day it would be and what a day it was.

NEXT: THE MAN EVERYBODY CAME TO SEE (and he didn’t disappoint)!