Читать книгу Bad Boys, Bad Times. The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Prewar Years, 1937–1941 онлайн

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The pregame revelries began with Mayor Harold Burton throwing out the first pitch. It took him four tries before he sailed one across home plate. The large crowd rose to its feet when a group of dazzling chorus girls from Playhouse Square lined up smartly at home plate. The Indians nearly knocked each other down scrambling out of the home dugout and dashing to a spot in front of the eye-catching ladies. Roy Weatherly proved he was the fastest ballplayer on the club, outrunning everybody to get a choice location for the photos.

With this appealing highlight, the pregame ceremonies ended. Allen tossed his warmup pitches and the game got underway. Through much of the 1936 season he had displayed a violent personality, ready to fight umpires, opposing players, managers, and anybody who seemingly wronged him. The Cleveland fans wondered if he would continue the outrageous behavior in the new season.

To the relief of the 20,752 patrons, the Browns went out easily in the top of the first inning. Allen faced three batters without screaming at anyone. The Indians’ new shortstop, Lyn Lary, came to the plate to face St. Louis starter Elon Hogsett. The veteran pitcher, formerly of the Detroit Tigers, eventually sported a high lifetime earned run average of over five runs per game. Lary swung at the first pitch, lining a double down the right-field line. Roy Hughes walked and Earl Averill laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third. That brought up slugging first baseman Hal Trosky. He did not disappoint, lining a shot to deep right field, where Beau Bell made a nice running grab. Lary, who had tagged up at third, scored the game’s first run without difficulty.