''The Pride of St. Louis'' is a 1952 American biographical film of the life of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Dizzy Dean Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (January 16, 1910 – July 17, 1974), also known as Jerome Herman Dean (both the 1910 and 1920 Censuses show his name as "Jay"), was an American professional baseball pitcher. During his Major League Baseball (MLB) career ...

. It starred

Dan Dailey Daniel James Dailey Jr. (December 14, 1915 – October 16, 1978) was an American dancer and actor. He is best remembered for a series of popular musicals he made at 20th Century Fox such as '' Mother Wore Tights'' (1947). Biography Early life D ...

as Dean,

Joanne Dru Joanne Dru (born Joan Letitia LaCock;Known as Joan Lacock in th1930 United States census/ref> January 31, 1922 – September 10, 1996) was an American film and television actress, known for such films as '' Red River'', ''She Wore a Yellow Ribbo ...

as his wife, and

Richard Crenna Richard Donald Crenna (November 30, 1926 – January 17, 2003) was an American film, television and radio actor. Crenna starred in such motion pictures as ''The Sand Pebbles'', ''Wait Until Dark'', ''Un Flic'', ''Body Heat'', the first three ' ...

as his brother Paul "Daffy" Dean, also a major league pitcher. It was directed by

Harmon Jones Harmon Clifford Jones (June 3, 1911 – July 10, 1972) was a Canadian-born film editor and director who worked for many years at the 20th Century-Fox studio in Southern California. He is credited as the editor for about 20 feature films through ...

. Guy Trosper was nominated for an

Academy Award for Best Story The Academy Award for Best Story was an Academy Award given from the beginning of the Academy Awards until 1956. This award can be a source of confusion for modern audiences, given its co-existence with the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenpl ...

. Much of the plotline is reasonably close to the facts of Dizzy Dean's life and baseball career; however, the climax is fictionalized, based on an on-air comment he made regarding his use of the word "Ain't": "A lot of folks who ain't sayin' 'ain't,' ain't eatin'. So, Teach, you learn 'em English, and I'll learn 'em baseball." The

story arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vid ...

covers Dean's rise to pitching superstardom, the early end of his career, and his redemption through radio broadcasting. The screenplay was the last by Herman J. Mankiewicz, who earlier had co-written the script for the

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...

biography ''

The Pride of the Yankees ''The Pride of the Yankees'' is a 1942 American film produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by Sam Wood, and starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and Walter Brennan. It is a tribute to the legendary New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, who di ...

''.

Plot

A scout for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

comes to a small town in the

Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant port ...

to assess pitcher Jerome Herman Dean (Dailey). Dean, with an over-abundance of self-confidence, is certain that the club wants him to start immediately and is surprised that he is sent to the minor league

Houston Buffaloes The Houston Buffaloes, Houston Buffalos, or Buffs were an American minor league baseball team, and were the first minor league team to be affiliated with a Major League Baseball, Major League franchise, which was the St. Louis Cardinals. The clu ...

. Despite his obvious talents, Dean is teased about his rustic clothes and goes to a department store to buy new suits. He meets pretty credit officer Patricia Nash (Dru) and courts her with great vigor. At an exhibition between the Buffaloes and the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

, Dean is dismayed to see Pat with another man but pitches an almost perfect game. The White Sox players razz Dean, calling him "Dizzy," but he adopts the nickname, which is picked up by sports reporters. Dean asks Pat to elope, and although she is stunned by his proposal, agrees to marry him. Dizzy, now his team’s star pitcher, is told to report to the Cardinals for spring training. Dean is delighted and becomes a colorful story for baseball reporters. The next spring his brother

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

(Crenna) joins Dizzy in St. Louis, and the irrepressible Dean brothers promote the team by acting as ushers, selling tickets in the box office and even cavorting with the marching band. Their antics get them into trouble, however, and when they are fined by the team's manager,

Frankie Frisch Frank Francis Frisch (September 9, 1898—March 12, 1973), nicknamed "The Fordham Flash" or "The Old Flash", was an American Major League Baseball player and manager of the first half of the twentieth century. Frisch was a switch-hitting seco ...

, Dizzy goes on strike. Pat urges him to stop being stubborn and Dizzy storms out of their apartment. He meets Johnny Kendall, a businessman who relies on crutches and a specially equipped car to get around. Johnny’s quiet acceptance of his handicap humbles Dizzy and he ends his strike. The Dean brothers lead the Cardinals to victory in the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

. Dizzy soon suffers an injury when a line drive breaks one of his toes. He egotistically returns to pitching too soon, despite being warned that he is risking serious injury to his pitching arm. Dizzy's ability to pitch declines, and eventually even a minor league team lets him go. Dizzy refuses to accept that his baseball career is over and tries to forget his troubles by drinking and gambling. Unable to endure his self-destructive behavior, Pat leaves him, telling him she will not return until he "grows up." Dizzy is devastated and asks Johnny for a job as a salesman. Dizzy is instead given a job broadcasting baseball games on their

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

. Dizzy's thick Arkansas accent, often twisted English, and colorful stories make him an instant hit. An irate group of teachers oppose Dizzy, saying that his poor English is a bad influence on children. Dizzy is stung by the charge and decides to quit. During his final broadcast, Dean gives the children of St. Louis heartfelt instructions to pursue their education, then returns home, where Pat is waiting for him. The head of the teacher's group calls Dizzy to say that his last broadcast deeply moved the committee and tells him: "We'll keep teaching the children English and you keep on learning them baseball."

Cast

as Jerome Herman "Dizzy" Dean *

as Patricia Nash Dean *

as Paul Dean *Richard Hylton as Johnny Kendall *

Hugh Sanders Hugh Howard Sanders (March 13, 1911 – January 9, 1966) was an American actor, probably best known for playing the role of Dr. Reynolds in the movie ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. Biography Born in Illinois, Sanders graduated from Northwestern U ...

as Horst *James Brown as Moose *Leo Cleary as Houston Manager Ed Monroe *

Chet Huntley Chet is a masculine given name, often a nickname for Chester, which means ''fortress'' or ''camp''. It is an uncommon name of English origin, and originated as a surname to identify people from the city of Chester, England. Chet was ranked 1,027t ...

as KWK Announcer Tom Weaver

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pride of St. Louis, The 1952 films 1950s biographical drama films 1950s sports films 20th Century Fox films American baseball films American biographical drama films Biographical films about sportspeople Cultural depictions of baseball players Cultural depictions of American men American black-and-white films Films directed by Harmon Jones Films set in Houston Films set in St. Louis Houston Buffaloes Films with screenplays by Herman J. Mankiewicz Sports films based on actual events St. Louis Cardinals Films scored by Arthur Lange 1952 drama films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films Films set in the Ozarks