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

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Soon the residents and staff at the high-class Roosevelt heard about the incident. Oscar Vitt suspended Rollie, tacking on a significant fine. The regular season had not yet begun, and Hemsley had already started to rack up discipline penalties. Fans began to wonder if the hard-living Rollie would be on the club on opening day. Gordon Cobbledick wrote in the Plain Dealer, “[Hemsley’s] leadership along the primrose path might take some other Indians astray, and there probably aren’t any other who can stand the pace he sets.” The question remaining was whether the nervous front office could stand the pace either.

With Hemsley’s status in the air, the Indians left New Orleans to make the long trek back to Cleveland. On the way were exhibition stops in many of the southern cities. For the fifth year in a row, the New York Giants traveled with the Indians, providing the opposition at many of the locations. There were games in Alexandria, Louisiana; Birmingham, Alabama; Meridian, Mississippi; and several other cities and towns. Crowds averaged between three and five thousand per stop. The clubs got a large share of the gate from local promoters eager to host a Major League ball game and make something of a profit. It was win-win for all concerned, particularly the fans who traveled from all around the southern states to see a Carl Hubbell or a Bob Feller pitch three innings. In the days before television, the exhibition games were a once-a-year delight for the populations that lived great distances from the Major League cities.