Dr David Tracey...Brownie Hypnotist

[portobob]

The Brownies tried many angles to put a winner on the field but the most bizarre was Bill Veeck's move to employ a team hypnotist to put the guys into a winning mode. No one will ever know if this was just another laugher or if Bill really believed that he could transform players with 200+ batting averages and pitchers with 6.50 era's into pennant contenders. Can you imagine Doc Tracey convincing say....Joey DeMaestri that he was a "fence buster"???? What would he say" Okay Joey.... concentrate now ......you are the world's greatest hitter....Mike Garcia, Early Wynn, Raschi....Mel Parnell....(his voice trails off) You can murder these mutts...They've got nothing to stop you". DeMaestri awakens from a deep hypnotic sleep, starts the game at shortstop and strikes out 3 times. The knothole gang has another great nite as the Brownies take one on the chin.

[Aa3rt]

portobob-funny you should mention this. I was just perusing my "Baseball Hall Of Shame" books and read this reference yesterday:

From "The Baseball Hall Of Shame #2" by Bruce Nash and Alan Zullo, in a chapter titled "The Bottom Of The Barrel", St. Louis Browns Franchise 1902-1953:

"In 1950, the team was in desperate need of help. But rather than find a solution through trades or promotion of minor leaguers, the Browns turned to David Tracy, a psychologist, who was hired to hypnotize the team into winners. After a few sessions, Tracy announced that the Browns were suffering from "loser's syndrome." Being traded to the Browns was the psycholological equivalent of being shipped to Siberia, he said, adding that new players arrived in a dejected frame of mind. Fans and players, none of whom had psychology degrees, already knew this. Like most everything else the Browns tried, Tracy's hypnosis didn't improve the team. The "whammy man," as the press labeled him, was summarily dismissed."

[Bill_McCurdy]

Ode To Dr. Tracey

If you're playing lousily,
Let me help you stand and be,
All that's now so hidden,
Deep inside.

With a little hypno-luck,
We'll find a way to get unstuck,
All those now lost hits,
So deeply fried.

Your problem is not low esteem,
Your problem is that awful team,
Those Browns of old St. Louie,
Suck hope 'til all have cried.

But if you rise and start to be,
Another Sisler wannabe,
The Browns will sell you out,
To pay the light bill,

... and you're going to feel a whole lot better about yourself when you look down on your uniform shirt someday soon and see that "NY" initialed on your jersey's left breast panel.