Mattingly
07-06-2006, 09:04 AM
Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
Dario Lodigiani, now 90, was the White Sox' third baseman and among the first of 14 players
ejected by the umpire Red Jones on July 19, 1946.
60 Years and 1,000 Tales Since 14 Were Ejected (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/sports/baseball/06eject.html)
Sixty years is a long time to stretch a memory. But Dario Lodigiani is certain that the reason that he and 13 other Chicago White Sox players and coaches were ejected from a game against the Boston Red Sox had nothing to do with a ventriloquist in the stands.
"It was Mule Haas," said Lodigiani, now 90 and living in Napa, Calif., referring to one of Chicago's coaches at the time.
History has not always been so sure. What started as an ordinary game on July 19, 1946, has evolved into a sometimes extraordinary tall tale. With every telling, from the initial game-day report to a perennial "Today in History" blurb, the 14 Men Out story demonstrates how easily a yarn can turn into myth, especially in baseball, where the history runs deep and the folklore deeper.
The basics are unchallenged: Boston's Ted Williams was at the plate in the third inning when pitcher Joe Haynes threw at least one pitch that knocked him down. The umpire Red Jones gave Haynes a warning, and the White Sox began heckling Jones from the third-base dugout at Fenway Park.
Jones, apparently unsure of the primary source, eventually ejected all but Manager Ted Lyons, Haas, a trainer and a batboy on the bench. By several accounts, the most derisive term tossed toward Jones was meathead.
In subsequent retellings of the story, some spice was tossed in, including the topper: The antagonist was not on the bench but was a ventriloquist sitting in the stands, a sort of Edgar Bergen gone bad.
Dario Lodigiani, now 90, was the White Sox' third baseman and among the first of 14 players
ejected by the umpire Red Jones on July 19, 1946.
60 Years and 1,000 Tales Since 14 Were Ejected (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/06/sports/baseball/06eject.html)
Sixty years is a long time to stretch a memory. But Dario Lodigiani is certain that the reason that he and 13 other Chicago White Sox players and coaches were ejected from a game against the Boston Red Sox had nothing to do with a ventriloquist in the stands.
"It was Mule Haas," said Lodigiani, now 90 and living in Napa, Calif., referring to one of Chicago's coaches at the time.
History has not always been so sure. What started as an ordinary game on July 19, 1946, has evolved into a sometimes extraordinary tall tale. With every telling, from the initial game-day report to a perennial "Today in History" blurb, the 14 Men Out story demonstrates how easily a yarn can turn into myth, especially in baseball, where the history runs deep and the folklore deeper.
The basics are unchallenged: Boston's Ted Williams was at the plate in the third inning when pitcher Joe Haynes threw at least one pitch that knocked him down. The umpire Red Jones gave Haynes a warning, and the White Sox began heckling Jones from the third-base dugout at Fenway Park.
Jones, apparently unsure of the primary source, eventually ejected all but Manager Ted Lyons, Haas, a trainer and a batboy on the bench. By several accounts, the most derisive term tossed toward Jones was meathead.
In subsequent retellings of the story, some spice was tossed in, including the topper: The antagonist was not on the bench but was a ventriloquist sitting in the stands, a sort of Edgar Bergen gone bad.