Let's see your Gashouse Gang ...

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Posted By: David M

You'd think with my Login name, I'd have something to show. Sorry, I don't. However, I am a long time Cardinal fan. I thought the origins of the Gas House Gang name was interesting. Found this on the web:

While the origin of the Gas House Gang nickname is somewhat unclear, and baseball historians are even in disagreement as to which of the Cardinal teams it was first applied, there is no doubt that it was a direct reference to an especially violent 19th century gang from the Gashouse neighborhood of New York City (Think Gangs of New York if you've seen that movie.) Legend has it that a New York sportswriter coined the nickname by writing that the players looked like "the gang from around the gashouse" when the team did not have time to launder its uniforms during one of its road trips and arrived at the Polo Grounds looking dirty and shabby. Leo Durocher related the incident in his autobiography, remembering that "the next day, I saw a cartoon in the World-Telegram. It showed two big gas tanks on the wrong side of the railroad track, and some ballplayers crossing over to the good part of town carrying clubs over their shoulders instead of bats. And the title read: 'the Gashouse Gang.'" That cartoon, was drawn by Willard Mullin, the dean of American sports cartoons, and once it was published, the team would never loose its nickname.

Has anyone seen the video clip they used to show before the Cardinals telecasts? It showed members of the Gas House Gang doing a routine with the baseball. They would act like they were throwing the ball then pass it over their shoulder to another player, etc. Kind of like a Harlem Globetrotter routine. I'd like to see that video again and find out who the players are.