SEPT2013:   THE 125th  ARTICLE FOR BASEBALL GURU

                                                      ONEMOREINNING

       PLAYSPARTTHREE

TAKE ME OUT: 2002:

Playwright Richard Greenberg premiered this play at the Joseph PAPP Public Theater in September and later it came to Broadway February 27, 2003. It did well and won the Tony Award for that year.

The premise was unusual. It takes place in a locker room and all sorts of issues and moments are explored (homosexuality, class distinctions, masculine attributes, bigotry, etc).

One of the star players of the team announces that he is gay. The reaction from his teammates is mixed.

The play stays in the dugout for the course of a season. At the end there are tragic circumstances.

Greenberg has stated that the inspiration for the main character of the play was Derek Jeter (make what you will out of that).

When  the play appeared at that time no Major League player had publicly come out.

THE SIGNAL SEASON OF DUMMY HOY

In 2011 Allen Meyer and Michael Nowak introduced a new play at the Jonesborough Repertory Theatre based on the real life ballplayer known as Dummy Hoy. The play was fictional but the remarkable Dummy Hoy was not.

William Ellsworth Hoy was a professional ballplayer at the beginning of the 20th century. He in no way was a dummy……the nickname referred to the fact that he was deaf.

The hand signals that are used in baseball today originated when his teammates tried to signal to him during games.

The play itself deals with Hoy's first season in the Minors. it details the relationship between him and his teammates. They have misconceptions and attitudes about the situation and also people who are different.

 It also highlights Hoy's struggles within himself and the ordeal he went through to work and try to resolve his disability.

 The show went to off Broadway and then played briefly on the Broadway stage.

ROUNDING THIRD:

   Is a two character  play with 2 men who face each other with mixed results. It's a first time encounter. It deals with both men being involved in Little League and both having "Odd Couple" differences over it.

   Over the course of the play both men get to know each other and establish a relationship of sorts.

   There are plenty of gags, and sometimes inside humor that would only resonate with baseball fans.

   It also talks a bit about the up's and down's of Little League play and how it can get to be overwhelming if carried to extreme. There is an effort to show the characters teaching the kids the values of life as well as those of sports.

   It was written by Richard Dresser who also wrote "JOHNNY BASEBALL."

Unfortunately Rounding Third has gotten very little attention.

MR. RICKEY CALLS A MEETING:

   In 1989 the George St. Playhouse (located in New Jersey) premiered a play that received enough attention so that it appeared in the West Cost in 1992. The premise was intriguing. It featured a meeting in a hotel room by Branch Rickey to discus the possible breaking of the color barrier in the Major Leagues.  Four prominent Afro Americans are assembled with Rickey to discuss the pro's and con's of the move. They include JACKIE ROBINSON, JOE LOUIS, PAUL ROBESON, and BILL ROBINSON.

    The meeting is related to the audience by a 64 year old African American bellhop who happened to be in the room at the time.

   The play  was "Mr. Rickey Call's a Meeting". While the discussion is going on its apparent that the people assembled are experiencing conflicts of their own. Some of them voice the opinion that Rickey was going to bring Robinson to the Dodgers because of the economic benefits that would come from exploiting the Black population in Brooklyn. Robeson and Louis were experiencing declines in their careers at the time. Their was some discussion that if the Major Leagues allowed blacks to play, the Negro Leagues would be severely damaged (which in reality did happen).

   The play never made it to Broadway. Jackie Robinson did not want himself to be portrayed the way he appeared in the play and Ed Schmidt (the writer) refused to change it. Robinson threatened to sue and the production ended.

   You're "A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN" opened on off Broadway in 1967. it had a successful run that lasted for 1, 597 performances. It came back (this time to Broadway) in 1971 for 32 days and once again in 1999.

   The play deals with all the elements that are featured in the comic strip. It has extended references to Charlie Browns misbegotten baseball experiences.  Not really a play about baseball but how can we not include it in this section  of plays dealing with the game.

   Next month Part Four