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By Andy Baeuerle
When I first got the idea of a series of articles to discuss sports in our state, I thought about players, games, seasons, and coaches. But I also thought about athletes and coaches who made the state their home through family or the teams they worked with, even though they were not originally from Mississippi. The first person who came to mind because of this was National Baseball Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean.
Born in Lucas, Arkansas, on December 10, 1910, Jay Hanna Dean attended school only until the second grade. He would eventually join the U.S. Army, where he served at Fort Sam Houston and played baseball for the Army. Dean earned his “Dizzy” nickname during an exhibition game against the Chicago White Sox of the MLB. At 19 years old and pitching his way through the White Sox lineup, a manager of the Sox yelled out, “Knock that dizzy kid out of the box!” The manager continued to call Dean “the dizzy kid,” and the name stuck. Some sources also count his nickname “Dizzy,” complimenting his colorful personality.
In 1932, Dean was drafted to the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League in the MLB. In his first season as a Cardinal, Dean led the entire league in shutout games and innings pitched. In his first four seasons, Dean led the League in strikeouts. In 1934, in only his second season as a pro, Dean led the Cardinals to their third World Series. The team also finished 1934 with a 30-7 record. This season led Dean to become the last National League pitcher to win 30 games in a season. He would also be the National League MVP for 1934. While the Cardinals would not even reach another World Series until after Dean’s tenure, he remained popular in Major League Baseball. In 1937, while pitching for the NL in the All-Star Game, Earl Averill hit a line drive that pounded straight into the big toe of Dean. His pitching ability started to deteriorate after being traded to the Chicago Cubs in 1938. His final game in Major League Baseball was game 2 of the 1938 World Series, popularly known as “Ol’ Diz’s Last Stand.” Despite his playing career coming to an end, Dean remained a popular figure in the baseball world. He appeared in a semi-pro exhibition team by the short-lived Fremont Ohio Green Sox and Detroit Cubs teams.
In the 1940s, the St. Louis Browns were a struggling team with barely any publicity at all. Dizzy Dean was still a popular figure at this time and was hired by the Browns as a broadcaster for the team. During a 1947 Browns game where the pitching was a struggle, Dean was quoted as saying, “Doggone it, I can pitch better than nine of the ten guys on this staff!” This led to the wives of the pitchers going to complain to the Browns’ management. The management team, in need of a way to sell tickets to games, decided to give Dean a chance to back up his talk. Surprisingly, the 37-year-old Dean pitched four innings and allowed no runs then. In his broadcasting career, Dean was known for his country humor and way of butchering the English language. While broadcasting a Browns game, as outfielder Al Zarilla was going to slide on third base, Dean humorously announced, “Zarilla just slud into third!” Dean had switched “slud” with the actual past-tense version of “slide.” Due to his use of “ain’t” on TV and radio so frequently, Dean received a letter from an English teacher asking him not to use “ain’t” so much, as it was a bad influence on children. Dean replied, saying, “You learn ‘em English, I’ll learn ‘em baseball.”
After retiring from broadcasting in the 1960s, Dean moved with his wife Patricia to her hometown of Bond, Mississippi. In 1960, he founded Dizzy Dean Enterprises, a subsidiary of Mississippi Industries Incorporated, and constructed a $350,000 charcoal plant in Pachuta, Mississippi, a small town near Quitman. The plant would be capable of producing 10,000 tons of charcoal briquets per year and employing over 100 people. The plant opened in 1962, but no records are found of it ever closing down, but it is closed today. Dean and his wife built their home less than a mile away from Bond Baptist Church, where they were members for the rest of their lives. Their home was named Deanash, a combination of his last name “Dean” and Patricia’s maiden name “Nash.”
While on a trip to Reno, Nevada, on July 17, 1974, Dean suffered a fatal heart attack and passed away. He was buried in Bond Cemetery. When his wife Patricia passed away in 1981, her will bequeathed to the Mississippi Children’s Village, operated by the Mississippi Baptist Convention. The home now offers housing for orphaned children in Mississippi, forever cementing the Dean’s commitment to their faith.
Dizzy Dean left a fantastic legacy in the baseball world. Known today as one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the MLB, Dean was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1953, years before his involvement in the league ended. The Dizzy Dean Museum was opened in Jackson, Mississippi, and was absorbed into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1991. The museum is next to Smith-Wills Stadium, a former minor league baseball stadium. A semi-biographical film about Dean was produced in 1952, titled “The Pride of St. Louis,” starring Dan Dailey as Dean. A rest area on Highway 49 North in Wiggins was named after and dedicated to Dizzy Dean in 2007. If ever you get the chance, drop by there and admire the legacy and influence of Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean.
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