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

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Broadway Lyn did not give up the quest, persuading his Marks to set him up with Mary for an evening of dinner and dancing. This time the two celebrities really hit it off, dancing to the popular song “Lucky in Love,” and soon were an item. After a brief courtship they were married on July 14 in New York City, with Babe Ruth serving as the best man. With no time for a honeymoon, the young couple cruised around town in a huge eight-cylinder automobile with Lary’s name plate on the side door.

Ballplayers around the American League took notice that Lary had landed a genuine Hollywood star. Though many of the guys dated beautiful women, Broadway Lyn had outdone them all. He would lead the Major Leagues until Joe DiMaggio wed the spectacular Marilyn Monroe more than twenty years later.

Certainly 1931 was a great year for Lary, yet an incident on the ballfield would mark him for the rest of his time in New York. In late April the Yankees were in Washington to play the Senators. In the top of the first inning, Lary reached base with a clean single. There were two out when first baseman Lou Gehrig smashed a tremendous drive to deep center field, heading straight for the bleachers. Lary sped past second while the ball cleared the center-field wall, hit the concrete, then bounced back onto the field. He raced to third and rounded the bag, looking back to see the Washington outfielder holding the ball in his glove. Despite the Senators standing at their positions without moving, Lary wrongly assumed the ball had been caught and headed for the Yankees bench without touching home plate. The Yankee dugout, watching the flight of Gehrig’s monstrous home run, failed to notice Lary had stopped before crossing home. The Iron Horse rounded third and touched home, only to be called out by the umpire for passing Lary on the baseline. The ruling gave Lou a triple, but no runs were credited to New York thanks to Lary’s remarkable lapse. Of course the Senators won the game by two runs.