Show and/or tell of your Casey Stengel stuff

[FrankWakefield]

I like them all... very nice red border up there, Cat.

I don't think there's a W514 yet, so here's one cut a bit close...



And I can offer a 1943 Dodgers scorecard.

Inside, where the game was scored, there are 7 autographs, all in pencil. 5 players, a coach, and a manager, all with the Boston Braves. The main reason I got the scorecard was because it was signed by Hugh Poland, a Kentucky fellow who caught a bit. He attended Western Kentucky University, and as I understand, he lettered in everything... baseball, football, basketball, track, wrestling... I stayed in a dorm named after him when I attended college there. The coach's signature is George Kelly, the Hall of Famer. And the manager, #32, was Casey Stengel.


Great Stengel stuff, guy!!! I think the 3rd baseball book I read, as a kid, was Allen's Now Wait a Minute, Casey. I still have a copy on the bedroom bookshelf. Might be time to reread it. An entertaining book.

[brianp-beme]

Here is his W503:

Brian

[kdixon]

Casey and Zach and I am not sure who the guy with the glasses is. I am sure someone else knows, this was in 1970.wheat stengle hof.jpg

[kdixon]

Here is Mckechnie, Wheat, Casey and Roush at Shea Stadium

[kdixon]

Here is a news clipping signed by Wheat and Casey.

[kdixon]

Another Casey with Wheat

[Al C.risafulli]

I'll shoot Al C. a PM about this thread and see if he can add anything

Thanks, Chuck!

A few years ago I picked up a couple of piles of correspondence from Casey's estate. They included a lot of letters, telegrams and postcards that had been sent to him over the years by fans, celebrities, players, and family members. I spent a lot of time with them and eventually put them in a 5" binder, in plastic sheets, sorted in chronological order. When you read the binder, which begins with letters from the 1920s and ends with letters of condolence that were sent to his wife Edna after Casey passed in 1975, it reads like a great biography of Stengel's life.

It fascinated me, so along the way I've picked up other Stengel-related memorabilia: team photos, wire photos, programs, etc. I don't have a lot of stuff, but the stuff I have makes for an interesting picture of a great manager's life.

Here are some highlights:

These are some Mayos that were owned by Stengel at some point. They were all framed, mounted on cardboard, many trimmed. Whoever came into possession of them pulled them off the cardboard and had them slabbed individually. I'd rather have the bunch all mounted the way they were, but this is cool anyway.



This is a story written by Casey himself, about the first time he faced Walter Johnson at an exhibition game in 1912. I don't know what Casey wrote this for - a newspaper? Book? Some sort of tribute to the Big Train? It's still one of my favorite pieces.



In 1932 the Max Carey-managed Brooklyn Dodgers finished in 3rd of 8 teams. Stengel was a coach on that team, and as you can see, at the end of the season he was forced to take a pay cut. Stengel came back in 1933, and was made manager for the 1934 season.



If you don't think that athletes care about "bulletin board" quotes that come from other athletes, you're wrong. Back at the beginning of the 1934 season, when asked about the Stengel-managed Dodgers, Giants manager Bill Terry said "The Dodgers? Are they still in the league?"

The last two games of the 1934 season, the Dodgers faced the Giants, with the Giants running neck-and-neck with the Cardinals for the NL Pennant. Stengel received tons of letters from fans, encouraging him to beat Terry. He saved dozens of them - not only during 1934, but he saved them for HIS ENTIRE LIFE. Don't tell me that "bulletin board" quotes don't mean anything to the players.



Of course the Dodgers won both games against the Giants, which enabled the Cardinals to win the pennant and go on to face the Tigers in one of the most memorable World Series in history. Casey saved a bunch of his congratulatory letters as well:



The last letter I have that was sent to Casey himself was sent by legendary coach Rod Dedeaux in early September, 1975, wishing him the best. Casey died on September 29.

-Al