Bill Veeck (59 page)

The Children of Bill Veeck's Second Marriage
Mike Veeck, born on March 5, 1951, is by far the most public of the Veeck children and most like his father in terms of career. He had just turned
sixty when this book was written, and at that time he was co-owner of the St. Paul Saints, the Charleston River Dogs, the Fort Myers Miracle, and the Hudson Valley Renegades, in partnership with comedian Bill Murray and Wall Street lawyer Marv Goldklang. Mike's daughter, Rebecca, who was blinded by retinitis pigmentosa, displays the “same indomitable spirit” as her grandfather, according to Mike. When Rebecca was eight and still partially sighted, Mike took her on a tour of the country to see everything he and her mother, Libby, thought she should see, including her grandfather's marker in the Hall of Fame, a visit she made with Larry Doby. A child from Mike's first marriage, William (known as “Night Train”), lives in Chicago, and works for the Chicago White Sox.
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Marya Veeck, born on October 13, 1954, has been an artist and a gallery owner in Chicago since 1987, when her gallery, August House Studio, opened at 2113 West Roscoe Street. She represents a number of other artists and feels that the gift she got from her father was his business sense. Like her father, she has large hands, and she still marvels at the thought of the precision he employed in tying small pieces into mobiles using fishing line. She is married to Scott Smith, who works in film.

Gregory Veeck, born on January 11, 1956, today is a professor of geography at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, specializing in economic geography, agriculture, rural development, and rural environmental and ecological issues in the United States and Asia, particularly China. He is married to Ann Veeck, who also teaches at Western Michigan University and is deeply involved in issues of food supply in China. They have two daughters, Sarah and Robin. Greg shares his father's love of baseball and his delight in the rhythms of daily life.
⁴

Lisa Veeck, born on August 5, 1958, works today as media communications and publications director for a Chicago-based trade association. She noted that the only time he talked with his children about his experiences in World War II was to say that it had made him appreciate life. And, she noted, “he never had to scream or yell. He just gave you the look.”
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She is married to Don Sanetra.

Dr. Juliana Veeck-Brosnan, whose birth on July 4, 1961, had been celebrated by fireworks from the Comiskey Park scoreboard, died on June 12, 2010, after twenty years of dealing with the cancer that eventually took her life. Her obituary in the
Sun-Times
said, “As a clinical psychologist, Juliana Veeck-Brosnan counseled some of the city's most troubled youth—adolescents others had written off—and helped them find a passage through the chaos of their lives.”
“Juliana was probably one of the most gifted psychologists ever,” said a close friend and former colleague at Children's Memorial Hospital, psychologist Sharon Berry, “and she worked with the hardest and most difficult situations.” Like her father, she had a quirky sense of humor. When she got married in 1989, she brought her black Labrador retriever, Raven, to the church. Raven sat in the back row, wearing a shiny new yellow collar. “It was great,” her husband, Tom Brosnan, said. “I thought she was nuts at first, but it really worked well.”
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Juliana and Tom have three children, Christian, Jack, and Olivia.

Christopher Veeck, who was born in Easton on June 19, 1962, died in 1995 at only thirty-two of a heart attack. At the time of his death he ran the concessions for two sports complexes in Houston and lived in Humble, Texas. He is survived by his companion, Ann-Marie Hewitt, and a son, Patrick.
⁷

ALTER EGOS AND CLOSE ASSOCIATES

Hank Greenberg died in 1986, the same year that Bill did, on September 4 in Beverly Hills after a thirteen-month bout with cancer. According to Mary Frances, Greenberg used to say to Bill, “If you were as charming to the other owners as you are to cab drivers or doormen, they'd be eating out of your hands.”
⁸

Ed Linn died on February 7, 2000, at his home in Spring Valley, California, at seventy-seven; the cause was cancer. Linn covered the trial of Jack Ruby for the
Saturday Evening Post
and worked with bank robber Willie Sutton on his autobiography,
Where the Money Was
(1976). But he was best known for sportswriting, having been a contributing editor to
Sport
magazine and coauthor with Veeck for
Veeck—as in Wreck
(1962)

Rudie Schaffer died on November 27, 2007, in Menlo Park, California, at the age of ninety-six. “He really was [Bill Veeck]'s alter ego,” said Veeck's widow, Mary Frances. “They enjoyed a great relationship. They were the triumvirate—Bill, [Rudie Schaffer], and Roland Hemond. The three ran the Sox.”

Larry Doby was at former Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Don Newcombe's home near Los Angeles when he learned in March 1998 that he'd finally made it to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. “It's kind of like a bale of cotton has been on your shoulders and now it's off,” he told Hal Bodley of
USA Today.
“I can't tell you my feelings, but they're great.” He had waited thirty-six years, during which time he had also lobbied strongly for Veeck's inclusion in the Hall of Fame. Doby died on June 18, 2003, at his home in Montclair, New Jersey. He was seventy-nine.

Bill Veeck was afraid for his old friend Casey Stengel in 1967 because a new biography by Joe Durso, a
New York Times
writer, was about to be published. “I was afraid it would be another paint pot glue job in which you read the clippings and put the book together,” he confessed on his syndicated radio show. Within this fear was another, deeper one: that Durso would opt to depict Stengel as a clown.

But then Durso, presumably with a wink and a nudge from Stengel, offered Veeck a chance to write the introduction and with it a chance to read the book in the form of uncorrected proof pages. “The real Casey came through,” said Veeck. “Durso did him well—magnificent job.” He added that in Durso's capable hands Casey's life became a history of our times.

It is in this spirit that I attempt to bring Veeck into focus as neither a clown nor a hero—although he could play either of these roles—but as a remarkable iconoclast and individualist living through a time when conformity and corporate allegiance were valued personal attributes.

If I have achieved this goal and gotten Veeck right or nearly so, then I have many to thank for their help. When I began this project, I could not have imagined how many people would actually contribute to it. The list is a function of Veeck's continuing impact rather than my ability to place phone calls and set up appointments.

Some of those who were interviewed for this book did not end up in the final narrative for the simple reason that their praise for the man became repetitive. From the players who knew Veeck or even those were around during his time, there was a universal response when one asked about him. It typically started with a broad smile followed by a question—“Bill Veeck?”—and a short gleefully delivered comment. “Bill Veeck? He did it up right. He was a real baseball man” was the response of Hall of Fame infielder Brooks
Robinson. Jerry Coleman: “Bill Veeck? The greatest innovator. A lot ballparks could use a Bill Veeck today.” Ralph Kiner: “Bill Veeck? He was a fantastic man. I played a lot of tennis with him. Even with that bad leg, he was very competitive.”

A—Steve Ackerman, Robert Ames Alden (former sports reporter for the
Cleveland Press
and the
Washington Post
), Carol Alley, Rebecca T. Alpert, Joshua Anderson CHS, Marty Appel, Jon Arakaki (who teaches communications at SUNY Oneonta), Mark L. Armour (SABR Biography Committee), Chris Axelrod.

B—Nina Bahadur, Jack Bales (reference and humanities librarian, University of Mary Washington Library, for his material on Bill's father), Steve Banker (the late oral historian), Ernie Banks, Allen Barra, Monica Pence Barlow (director of public relations for the Baltimore Orioles), Brad Beechen (Cubs usher and former classmate), Myron Belkind, Lea Beresford, Yogi Berra, Hal Bodley, Doug Boyd Jr. (director, Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries), Lou Brissie, David Broder, Charlie Brotman.

C—Eileen Canepari (membership services manager, Society for American Baseball Research), Terry and Mary Cannon (the Baseball Reliquary), John Carlson (late scholar of the Black Sox), Gene Carney, Jake Carrow (Chicago intern/researcher, Vanderbuilt University), George Case III, Jamie Ceasar, Frank Ceresi, Bill Chastine, Mike Clark, Roger Clark, Jim Clavin, Heather Cogge, Jerry Coleman, Chris Core, Bob Creamer.

D—Ivan R. Dee, Laurina Deliso (Pima County, Arizona, deputy clerk), Joe DeMaestri, Larry Dierker, Larry Doby Jr.

E—Morris Eckhouse, Edmund P. Edmonds (associate dean for library and information technology and professor of law, Kresge Law Library, Notre Dame Law School), Jonathan Eig, the late Gene Ellis, Eric Endess, Jim Evans (of the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring).

F—Dick Fischman, Donald L. Fordham (Veeck's Sergeant, Headquarters Company, 3rd Special Weapons, 3rd Marine Division, Bougainville), Phil Friedman.

G—Ned Garver, Tim Gay, Bill Gilbert, Mike Gimbel (statistician/organizer and defender of Veeck), Bill Gleason, Patricia Goforth (National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis), Peter Golenbock, Ray Grebey, Deborah Grodinsky (Skokie Public Library, Skokie, Illinois), Steve Grubeck.

H—Ed Hartig (unofficial historian, Chicago Cubs), Ernie Harwell, Dick Heller, Roland Hemond, Katherine Hillenbrand (summer of 2009 intern),
Phil Hochberg (attorney), David Hoekstra, Sam Holt (filmmaker), John Holway, Keith Horvath MD,
^dm
Frank Howard.

I—Jeff Idelson (director of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, who has a copy of Veeck's Twelve Commandments in his office), Monte Irvin (Hall of Famer and World War II vet), Stan Isaacs, David Israel.

J—Bill Jennings, Gary Johnson (Library of Congress, Periodicals Reading Room), Grady Johnson (South Sider and Clarence Page's father-in-law), Randy Johnson, Steve Johnson, Scott Jones.

K—Cliff Kachline, Dave Kaplan, Stan Kasten, Jeff Katz, Dave Kelly (Hall of Famer and World War II vet), Ralph Kiner, Bruce Kraig, Frederick Krehbiel.

L—Joe Lapointe, David Levey, Stephanie M. Lisico, Bob Luke.

M—Andy MacPhail (GM and president of the Baltimore Orioles, son of Lee and grandson of Larry [the only father and son in the Baseball Hall of Fame], Myra MacPherson, Ellen Maggs (Veeck's daughter from his first marriage), Glenn Marcus, Marty Marion, Babe Martin (St. Louis Browns), Lesley A. Martin (Chicago History Museum), Richard Marsh, William Marshall, Skip McAfee, Paul McCardell, Clinton “Butch” McCord, Larry McCray, Jan McKee, Ron Menchine, Bill Mead (friend and Brownie historian), Ed Mickelson (St. Louis Browns), Vick Mickunas, Arthur H. Miller (archivist and librarian for special collections, Donnelley and Lee Library/LIT, Lake Forest College), Marvin Miller, Clark Mitze (Veeck's 1951 grandstand manager), Wally Mlyniec (Georgetown Law School), Willis Monie (bookseller extraordinare, Cooperstown, New York), Joseph Thomas Moore, Russell Mott, Caitlin Mullen.

N—Bill Nack.

O—Andrew O'Toole, Jim Odenkirk.

P—Clarence Page, Ted Patterson, Hank Peters, John Peterson, Duane Pillette, Brian A. Podoll, Murray Polner, Mark Plotkin (political analyst with Veeckian aspirations), Jacob Pomrenke (chairman of the SABR Black Sox
Committee), Jay Porter (the youngest St. Louis Brown ever), Bill Purdy (St. Louis Browns batboy and batting practice catcher).

R—Tom Randall, Branch Rickey III (president of the Pacific Coast League), James A. Riley, Jacob Roberts (intern summers of 2006 and 2008), Brooks Robinson, Ray Robinson, Lester Rodney, Dan Rodricks, Dick Rosen (vice chair, Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society). George Rugg (Sports and Games Collection, Notre Dame University),

S—Alex Sanders, Eloise Saperstein, Marty Schram, Peter Schilling, Art Schreiber, Fred Schuld (for his help with the 1948 season), Al Silverman (former editor of
Sport
magazine), the late Hubert “Bert” Simmons (the last Elite Giant left in Baltimore and founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum of Maryland), Claire Smith (Major League Baseball writer, currently with ESPN), Curt Smith, Wyonella Smith, Brad Snyder, Michael Spekter, David A. Spenard (Abe Saperstein's nephew), Burt Randolph Sugar.

T—Paul Tenpenny, John Herd Thompson (professor of history at Duke University), Michael Thomas, Erin Tikovitsch (Chicago History Museum), Larry Tye.

V—Gregory Veeck, Lisa Veeck, Mary Frances Veeck, Marya Veeck, Mike Veeck, J. D. Vercett.

W—Willie Weinbaum, Rich Westcott, Pat Williams, Tom Wolf.

X/Y/Z—William Young (of Arlington, Virginia), Bill Young (of Chicago).

The team that created this book also deserves credit, beginning with my agent, Deborah Grosvenor of the Grosvenor Literary Agency. Great thanks to the team at Walker & Company, led by my old friend George Gibson, who edited this book with rare dedication and sublime skill. He was aided by Lia Beresford and Nina Bahadur. Sue Warga copyedited the book, Nathaniel Knaebel led the production team, and Robert “Skip” McAffee was the indexer and final fact checker.

The narrative you have just read asserts that Bill Veeck attempted to buy the Philadelphia Phillies after the 1942 World Series and turn the team into an all-black or predominantly black team. It points out that the idea of putting a black team or teams in the major leagues had been advanced as early as 1933 to Veeck's father by Syd Pollack, that the notion was current in 1942, and that Veeck was already involved in promoting black-versus-white baseball events in both baseball and basketball with Abe Saperstein, who had scouted financial backers for the 1942 attempt to buy the Phillies.