MLB: The Days of Dizzy Dean, Red Ruffing, Del Pratt and Gink Hendrick Are Gone

Harold FriendJun 7, 2018

There has been a lot of union-bashing lately, but almost paradoxically, some of the highest paid individuals in the land of the free and the home of the brave owe more than they can ever repay to a union.

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was a baseball player named Gink Hendrick. One day, wearing the uniform of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he found himself on first base when manager Uncle Wilbert Robinson put on the hit-and-run.

The pitcher delivered a fastball right down the middle as Gink headed for second base. There was only one problem. The batter didn't swing. Gink was thrown out by such a wide margin that the Dodgers fans laughed.

The Brooklyn bench was silent. No, it was worse. They were ignoring the game until they heard the crowd laugh.

When Gink returned to the bench, he coldly observed his teammates and pronounced "After this, it's every man for theirself (sic)."

Until the great Marvin Miller, whom those who vote refuse to elect to the Hall of Fame, organized the players, everyone used Gink Hendrick's lone wolf approach, usually with a tremendous lack of success.

Dizzy Dean and his brother Paul held out one season, but they didn't stick together. Dizzy was adamant and highly motivated, while Paul made it clear that he was also striking, but not as adamantly as his brother.

Their St. Louis Cardinals teammates didn't support either. Dean's battery mate, catcher Spud Davis, made it clear that he was going to belt Dizzy in the face the next time he saw him. Manager Frankie Frisch declared that he wouldn't stand in Davis' way.

When Red Ruffing held out in 1936, the New York Yankees refused to allow him to train with the team. The idea was to further isolate him from his teammates.

In baseball's really early days, Ty Cobb's teammates showed him a modicum of support that didn't last very long.

On May 15, 1912, a fan named Claude Lueker, who had lost one hand entirely and three fingers from his remaining hand, made a disparaging remark about Cobb's mother. Cobb later said Lueker was"reflecting on my mother's color and morals."

Cobb told New York Highlanders manager Harry Wolverton that something had to be done or there would be a problem. Two of Cobb's teammates, Wahoo Sam Crawford and Jim Delahanty advised Cobb to take matters into his own hands. Cobb didn't know that he had two hands while Lueker barely had one.

The Georgia Peach finally had enough and ran into the stands to attack Lueker. The American League suspended Cobb and the Tigers went on strike for one game. The Tigers used college and sandlot players to play that game.

The strike ended when Cobb implored his teammates to return, which they did.

Finally, New York Yankees owners Colonel Jacob Ruppert and Colonel Til Huston decided that two Yankees that had been sent to the Boston Red Sox, but who had helped the Yankees finish in the money (top four teams shared the World Series receipts) should get full shares.

Yankees infielder Del Pratt objected and attempted to call a strike of Yankees players. It failed miserably, but illustrates graphically how it really was every man for himself.

During the 1950s, the American League was referred to as the "brother-in-law" league. Players would almost never slide hard into second base attempting to break up a double play and few pitchers, with the exception of Early Wynn and a few others, wouldn't throw at hitters.

The National League used to be different, especially with players such as the great Jackie Robinson, Stan Musial, Carl Furillo and Sal Maglie.

In 2011, thanks to free agency, enormous salaries and players changing teams more often than burlesque performers used to change outfits, both leagues are "brother-in-law" leagues.

The days of Gink Hendrick are long gone.