[Veeck: A Man For Any Season raw #10]

Bill Veeck at Murphy's. Raw footage for "Veeck: A Man for Any Season."

00:00Copy video clip URL Color bars and tone.

00:30Copy video clip URL Veeck sits by the fireplace at Murphy’s, drinking an Old Style beer and chatting with Tom Weinberg and others off camera as they prep for the shoot.

01:40Copy video clip URL Veeck continues talking about the fireworks after a ball game. He compares how concessions sell after a win versus a loss. He says that after a loss, people want to get out of the park, but fireworks keep people there despite losing the game. He says that concession sales after the game with fireworks is twice that than without. But “if you win and have fireworks, you hit the jackpot.” He laughs about how his idea to have fireworks has paid off in the end because the extra concessions that are sold end up paying for the fireworks. He says that most promotions end up working out well, if you feel they are going to work out.

04:30Copy video clip URL Veeck tells about a disastrous promotion in Cleveland in 1949, where he engaged the organization in a ritual to bury the pennant as a way to take the heat off the manager and players. He describes the event and how they walked around the park, driving a hearse, and how they buried the pennant in center field. He said that many of the people felt that he had desecrated the pennant, but others thought that it was a clever way of poking fun at himself.

06:30Copy video clip URL Veeck reflects on his tenure at St. Louis, telling a story about the last play of the year, where they were down to their last baseball. He reminisces that he was as proud of that year as any other, even though they were in last place for the entire year.

08:10Copy video clip URL He calls baseball the best sport to promote equal opportunity for women. He claims that women could play baseball and that the first professional female player would likely play second base. He notes that women are growing in the fan base and that they are great fans, particularly because they have “staying power.”

10:35Copy video clip URL Veeck reflects on his attempt to try having a female announcer, not as a token thought, but as a serious career. He posits that just as men enjoy watching women play sports, that they might enjoy having a female announcer or working the sidelines as a ball girl or in another role. He continues to discuss his problem with promoting a female announcer, which revolved around the idea of reactions to her knowledge of the game. He comments again about the rise of women as spectators in the bleachers, noting that it’s about 30-35% female, and is increasing. He predicts that women will be entering professional baseball in the near future.

16:35Copy video clip URL Veeck talks again about promotions, reflecting on “music day” at the park. He admits that it didn’t really work as he had hoped. He tells stories about how there were about 25 tubas in the park that day, and that his hope was to have the largest band playing “Take me out to the Ball Game” in history, noting that even though it didn’t quite work it, it was “great fun.”

17:52Copy video clip URL End of tape.

 

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