Читать книгу No Money, No Beer, No Pennants. The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Great Depression онлайн

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Evans took the letter quite seriously. Manager Peckinpaugh reminded him that the Indians would soon be in a new stadium with a mammoth outfield. Jolley was at best an average outfielder. Earl Averill was fast and could cover a lot of ground. When Evans arrived on the West Coast he came to a decision to go after the better fielder. Averill was his man.

Just three days after the acquisition of Dick Porter, the announcement came over the newswires that Earl Averill was purchased by Cleveland for $40,000 and two players. As in the Porter deal, the two players to be named later were worth $5,000 each. If San Francisco was not keen on the players chosen, the Indians would pay an additional $10,000 instead. That made the total value of the two separate deals a whopping $90,000. Newspapers all around the country had a field day writing about the money shelled out by Cleveland. There was no doubt that Alva Bradley and his partners were playing for keeps.

Earl Averill came from the small town of Snohomish, Washington, in the northwestern part of the state. He was born on May 21, 1902. His father died when Earl was only eighteen months old. The Averill family, mother and sons, all went to work to scrape out a living. As a young boy, Earl would play baseball in a converted potato patch. The neighborhood boys had pulled out the stumps, cleared the rocks, and there was a perfect diamond to play on. They fashioned baseballs from old shoes and played until the makeshift balls fell apart. Snohomish did not have any organized baseball for Earl to get involved with. As a freshman in high school he attempted to make the team, but a problem with his throwing arm kept him on the sidelines. Soon Earl would quit high school and go to work on road crews, hauling lumber, and anything else he could find to earn a few bucks. All the physical labor helped him develop a large set of shoulders and strong arms that would come in handy in the near future.