An early edit of a documentary about Bill Veeck, the former owner of several baseball teams including the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians. It follows his career highlights, his life, and his thoughts. Veeck was a unique showman and entrepreneur responsible for many baseball innovations, including fan appreciation days and "give aways."
The story is told using a voice over by Veeck’s wife, Mary Frances, current and archival interviews with Veeck and his colleagues, and current and archival footage. Archival clips include footage of Wrigley Field, Old Comiskey Park, and Eddie Gaedel, the midget who Veeck sent up to bat in 1952, much to the chagrin of Major League Baseball.
0:20Copy video clip URL Bars and tone. Count-in.
1:15Copy video clip URL Veeck recites Kipling’s “The Elephant’s Child.”
1:59Copy video clip URL Opening music and voice over about Veeck’s accomplishments, narrated by Mary Frances Veeck.
3:25Copy video clip URL Archival Ed Murrow TV clip from “Person to Person” with Veeck and wife Mary Frances on program. Murrow gives Veeck’s bio to age 45.
3:58Copy video clip URL Veeck talks about his father and the lessons he taught him about money and life.
5:01Copy video clip URL Clip from Bill Veeck’s Front Office TV show. Veeck talks about the evolution of his career.
5:50Copy video clip URL Lou Boudreau credits Veeck with introducing entertainment to baseball.
6:01Copy video clip URL Harry Caray talks about Veeck and his promotional innovations.
6:17Copy video clip URL Veeck talks about his incongruent strategies with promoting and the Eskimo Pie giveaways.
6:50Copy video clip URL Voice over lists Veeck’s famous promotions.
7:20Copy video clip URL Veeck at Wrigley Field, talks about how much he loves that ballpark.
8:30Copy video clip URL Clips of Veeck signing autographs over music.
8:53Copy video clip URL Bill Gleason says that conversation with Bill Veeck is extremely stimulating.
9:11Copy video clip URL Veeck talks about our relationship to the future.
10:27Copy video clip URL Gleason talks further about Veeck’s huge amount of knowledge.
10:48Copy video clip URL Veeck talks about the value of reading.
11:28Copy video clip URL Veeck picks out books at a bookstore.
11:59Copy video clip URL Bertha Mazer, Dept of Aging and Disability for the City of Chicago, says Veeck is the man of this city and that everyone loves him.
12:23Copy video clip URL Mayor Harold Washington talks about Veeck.
12:42Copy video clip URL Clips of Veeck waving and greeting people.
13:21Copy video clip URL Veeck in Wrigley says he has seen all of America ‘ s natural wonders and still thinks that the most beautiful thing is a ballpark filled with people.
14:16Copy video clip URL Veeck talks to people outside Wrigley Field.
15:00Copy video clip URL Veeck talks about opening day at the ballpark and about giving all of his employees of Illinois Masonic free tickets out of gratitude for the excellent medical care he has received during his 33 operations.
15:48Copy video clip URL Veeck argues with John Mengelt about the Cubs and their fans and the reason WGN bought the team.
17:40Copy video clip URL Veeck talks about government policies around the world. He seems to have liberal politics and to disagree with Reagan.
18:52Copy video clip URL Archival footage of Veeck talking about giving speeches, followed by brief clips of Veeck giving speeches. One is at the Westin Hotel in Chicago in 1985, where Veeck is inducted to the Chicago Hall of Fame.
19:56Copy video clip URL Veeck gives another speech at Northeastern Illinois University. He jokes about the St. Louis Browns, a team he formerly owned.
20:52Copy video clip URL Mary Frances says that not many people know the introspective side of Veeck. Shots of Veeck gardening.
21:32Copy video clip URL Veeck talks about his wife and their lifestyle. They live very modestly because he doesn’t think that things that are more expensive are necessarily better.
23:30Copy video clip URL “Meet Bill Veeck.” The opening of the 1956 Chicago TV show, which gives a brief biographical sketch of the host. “Meet Bill Veeck. Bill who? Veeck (as in ‘wreck’)…Who is he? Well…He’s a man of parts, as they say. He dislikes pomp & cant…He can spot phonies. Presto! He has definite ideas…about sports…and the world…and the people in it. He has written 2 books…owned 3 baseball clubs…has 9 kids…and a lovely wife named Mary Frances. His is a refreshing voice of candor and truth…in a column syndicated in 80 American cities. Hear that voice now…and find out for yourself who Bill Veeck is!”
24:13Copy video clip URL Veeck talks about time and how we perceive it at different stages of our lives. “Time, of course, is purely relative. Time can seem endless to a youngster. The night before Christmas, when you were five years old, waiting for Santa, never passed. A summer day when you were a youngster seemed endless, but when you get older, you first recognize the limitations of time. And you also recognize that you can’t really stretch time yourself. So it is no longer endless. It is finite, rather than infinite. So being finite, as you get closer to what is accepted as a general terminal point, you find that without question that that time becomes more precious. Because there’s less of it. Maybe that’s the reason that elderly people – of which I don’t classify myself as one, although I fit into the time category – elderly people don’t sleep as much. Because maybe that allows them – they say they don’t need as much sleep – but maybe that allows them to maximize the time that they have that is conscious. And babies sleep almost all the time. Because it doesn’t matter. So you see here, you have these two extremes. And they’re approaching each other and you don’t really recognize with what great speed they are approaching until you get near the end. And then you have a greater appreciation of what is going to happen that you may miss.” He talks about his time at Illinois Masonic Hospital and worrying that he would never see his wife again.
27:08Copy video clip URL Mary Frances and Bill Veeck close Ed Murrow show.
27:18Copy video clip URL Veeck with fans at Cubs game singing “Take Me Out To the Ball Game.”
28:21Copy video clip URL Veeck gives one last sound byte – “This is the epitome of pleasure.”
28:37Copy video clip URL End of tape.
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