1998 Volume 121 No 1–4 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

Lou: I don't think there's any
question about that. There are
very few major league
ballplayers in the history of the
game that have proven themselves
capable of jumping from
the sandlot or college into major
league baseball, and it usually
requires two to four years'
seasoning and then another
year's seasoning in the major
leagues while they are learning.
Constant reminding of different
things. Which plays they're
making wrong or littie "pepperuppers"
is what we call them."
Anc: That has often been
proved by what we call players
who have come up too soon and
have had to go back.
Lou: Oh, no doubt about it.
Anc: Do the majority of
ballplayers tighten up during a
World Series game or do they
usually take it as another game
Lou: That depends entirely on the individual's makeup.
Now personally, I was always as tight as a drum before the
game, before the World Series game. The constant milling
around, the hundreds of photographers, the hundreds of
newspapermen, and the thousands of requests for autographs
on scorecards and baseballs and things like that.
They tend to tense a ballplayer up. But the minute the bell
rang and the field was cleared and the first ball was thrown
and the first ball hit my glove, then I was just as relaxed and
it was just another ballgame after that.
Anc: It sort of reminds me of players on the stage. They're
tightened up until they get out on the stage reciting their
lines, then they are as free and easy as possible.
Lou: That's quite similar.
Anc: 7s it the same before every World Series game or just
the first
Lou: Oh, every game. Every game.
Anc: There's no game like the World Series game
Lou: Well, the All Star game's just the same.
Anc: Are you in favor of the All Star game
Lou: Oh, I think it's a great tiling. Just great. I'm tiirilled to
Lou Gehrig (left) with host Dwight Merriam at KROC studios in Rochester, Minn.
death every time I can attend one and you can imagine the
thrill I can get when I was chosen to play in them.
Anc: The receipts from the All Star game go to what
Lou: They go to a benefit the ballplayers have amongst
themselves, an organization that we pay ten dollars a year to,
to take care of the old ballplayers in the event of sickness
and inability to take care of themselves in their old age.
Anc: 7s that fund being disbursed
at the present time
Lou: Oh yes, it's one of
the most honest organizations
in the country
and we get booklets
every year telling not
the details and not the
names, but we know
just how much is donated
to whom and
where. But not pubUcly.
Anc: Thinking of an
organization such as
that brings to mind another
question. Do you
think there will ever be
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