Dizzy Dean's Announcing Raised the Ire of America's Teachers

New York City's Mayor, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, would have been proud of Dizzy Dean. Bloomberg loves to denigrate the teaching profession. Dean simply reacted to criticism from some teachers in his own, inimitable way.

Dean was a broadcaster for both the St. Louis Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns, and later for the New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves.

During the 1946 season, a group of Missouri teachers complained to the Federal Communications Commission that Dizzy's broadcasts were affecting the youth of America negatively.

They wrote that his broadcasts were "replete with errors in grammar and syntax," and they were having "a bad effect on the pupils."

There was actually a public debate about the issue. The prestigious Saturday Review of Literature supported Dean. Other powerful forces concurred, but before the issue was closed, Dizzy got in one last shot.

An English teacher wrote to Dizzy, complaining that he should stop using "ain't" on the air. In his usual manner, during one his broadcasts, Dean replied, "A lot of folks who ain't sayin' 'ain't,' ain't eatin'. So, Teach, you learn 'em English, and I'll learn 'em baseball."

Dean never got past the second grade. He admitted, "I didn't do so good in the first grade either." He projected the image of a gullible country boy as a ploy to entertain listeners.

"The Good Lord was good to me. He gave me a strong right arm, a good body, and a weak mind."

Nothing was sacred to Dean. He did the national Game of the Week for the CBS during the 1950s and on one Saturday, in his innocent way, told his audience "I don't know why they're calling this the Game of the Week. There's a much better game, Dodgers and Giants, over on NBC."

Dean was one of the greatest of all pitchers. The closing days of the 1934 season illustrate that claim

He hurled a 3-hit shutout in the first game of a doubleheader against the Brooklyn Dodgers on Sept. 21.

Brother Paul no-hit the Dodgers in the second game, and in his inimitable manner, Dizzy told reporters that if he had known Paul was going to pitch a no-hitter, he wouldn't have given up the three hits he allowed in the opener.

Two days later, Ol' Diz relieved in both ends of a twin bill against the Cincinnati Reds, and two days alter that, he beat the Pirates. On three days' rest, he shut out Reds, and two days later, shut them out again. He beat the Detroit Tigers in the World Series three days later.

Dizzy Dean is in baseball's Hall of Fame. Dizzy Dean is in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.

Reference:

DURSO, B. Joseph (1974, Dizzy dean, hall of fame pitcher, dies: A modern folk hero enjoyed the spotlight teachers in wrath A youth of confidence folk legend filmed strikeouts his goal. New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. 38. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/119940324?accountid=46260