This is the nineteenth in a series of examinations of baseball-related legends and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of all the previous baseball legends.

In honor of Opening Week 2010, each legend installment this week will be a baseball one, spotlighting legends from one of the eight playoff teams last year. Today the featured team is the St. Louis Cardinals.

Let’s begin!

BASEBALL LEGEND: August Busch had a clever solution to the Major League Baseball ban on naming a stadium after an alcoholic beverage.

STATUS: True

For such a prominent baseball club, the St. Louis Cardinals actually spent over three full decades as the tenants of the hapless St. Louis Browns!

Before moving into Sportman’s Park in 1920, the Cardinals had played in Robison Field since 1893. But in 1920, Sam Breadon, who just purchased the team, decided that it made more sense to share Sportsman’s Park with the Browns (the Cardinals had originally played in Sportsman’s Park in the 1880s, but moved to “New Sportsman’s Park” in 1893, which was eventually re-named Robison Field).

At the time, the Browns were a decent team and the Cardinals were not a particularly good team. However, now that they no longer needed Robison Field, they sold it and used the money to finance an improved emphasis on scouting and the minor leagues, all under the watchful eye of their young General Manager, a fellow by the name of Branch Rickey (if you don’t know who Rickey is, you might want to take a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame – he is a member).

Rickey quickly helped build the Cardinals up, and by 1926, when the Cardinals won their first World Series against the New York Yankees, it was pretty clear that St. Louis was now a Cardinals town.

By the end of the 1940s, however, the Cardinals were slipping a bit. They had had a great deal of success since 1926 (six World Championships between 1926 and 1946), but with Rickey having been forced out a few years earlier (he would end up in Brooklyn as the Dodgers General Manager, but he didn’t end up doing anything notable there – at least nothing that anyone would remember nowadays), the team’s fortunes did not seem particularly bright. Breadon sold the team, as he was in poor health and he was unable to realize plans he had had to build the Cardinals their own stadium.

He sold to a man named Fred Saigh.

However, Saigh had a little problem with taxes – the problem was that he did not always pay them.

So in the early 1950s, Browns owner Bill Veeck felt that this was a great opportunity to make a move to get rid of the Cardinals – they were in disarray, they might have to sell the team to someone who would move the team! Rumors of a move to Milwaukee or Houston were heavily bandied about (especially Milwaukee, who ended up getting the Boston Braves to move there in 1953). Veeck tried a number of publicity stunts all designed to get the Browns’ attendance higher than the Cardinals. It looked like Veeck’s plan might actually work.

However, in 1953, Saigh’s problems actually ended up crushing Veeck’s hopes. Having been forced to sell the team, Saigh sold the team (at a loss from what he paid – you have to give Saigh that much credit, he took less money than he paid to get a St. Louis buyer) to Anheuser-Busch, the St. Lous-based brewery, and its President and CEO, August “Gussie” Busch (grandson of the brewery founder, Adolphus Busch).

Veeck realized that he was now done for – there was no way he would be able to drive Anheuser-Busch to sell the team, they had a lot more money to work with than him. So instead, HE was the one who decided to leave, selling the Browns to a group from Baltimore after the 1953 season, who named the team the Baltimore Orioles.

Before leaving, Veeck sold Anheuser-Busch Sportsman’s Park (it was actually a good thing, as he likely couldn’t afford to keep the stadium up to code had they NOT purchased it – his plan was that once he drove the Cardinals out of town that he would then make a lot more money and THEN would be able to pay to fix up the stadium).

So now that they owned the stadium, Gussie Busch wanted to give it a new name. That was only fair, of course. However, the name he chose did not go over so well with Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick. Busch wanted to name the stadium Budweiser Park, after the most famous of the Anheuser-Busch beers.

Frick said that was not possible – the public relations reaction would be too much of a nightmare.

So Busch decided to name the stadium after his family name, Busch.

In 1953, Sportsman’s Park became known as Busch Stadium (although most folks still called it Sportsman’s Park).

And in 1955?

Well, in 1955, sure enough, Anheuser-Busch debuted a brand new beer, Busch Bavarian Beer…

A beer now known as Busch Beer…

As you can see, there’s more than one way to skin a cat!

In 1966, the official Busch Stadium opened up…

The Cardinals, who are no longer owned by Anheuser-Busch (Gussie died in 1989, and he was really the one who most loved owning the Cardinals – the team was sold in 1996), still play in Busch Stadium, with the latest park by that name opening in 2006 (Anheuser-Busch owns the naming rights through 2025).

Rob Neyer mentioned these events in his great book, Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Legends: The Truth, the Lies, and Everything Else, although it wasn’t one of the legends in the book, which is why I feel okay using it (I’d never repeat one of the actual legends from the book – that’d be way tacky). You should read his book – it is neat.

BASEBALL LEGEND: After Dizzy Dean suffered a head injury in a World Series game, a headline the next day read “X-ray of Dean’s head shows nothing.”

STATUS: False

Jay “Dizzy” Dean is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame who pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1932-1937 (he actually pitched the last game of the 1930 season for the Cardinals, throwing a complete game victory in a 3-1 win, but for whatever reason they did not bring him up for any of 1931).

He was an instant sensation, finishing in the Top 20 of the Most Valuable Player balloting EACH of his first FIVE seasons, including a remarkable stretch from 1934-1936 where he won the 1934 MVP (winning 30 games – the last National League pitcher to do so) and then came in second in both 1935 and 1936!

Dean was a workhorse – he not only started 33-36 games every year, but he also finished another 15 or so games every season! He led the league in saves in 1936 (granted, there was no statistic called “save” back then, so he didn’t KNOW he led the league in it, but he did, consarnit!)!

In any event, he was also a very eccentric fellow – you could definitely consider him a “flake.” Heck, his nickname WAS “Dizzy,” after all!

Dean certainly embraced the fame that came with his eccentricity, and he made a point to try not to deny pretty much any story that someone might tell about him – why ruin a good story with the facts, right?

One such example of this happened after the fourth game of the 1934 World Series.

The Cardinals were matched up with the Detroit Tigers in the Series, with the Cardinals holding a 2-1 series lead (Dizzy won Game 1 and his brother Paul, also a starting pitcher for the Cardinals, won Game 3).

In the bottom of the fourth inning of Game 4, the Cardinals were trailing 4-2 when back-up catcher Spud Davis came in to pinch-hit for the pitcher, Dazzy Vance (who had come in to relieve the starter, Tex Carleton, in the top of the 3rd) with runners on first and second and no outs.

Davis singled in a run, so there were runners on first and third with no outs.

With lead-off hitter Pepper Martin up, the Cardinals decided to pinch-run Dean for the slow-paced Davis.

Martin hit a tailor-made double play ball to second base. Detroit second baseman Charlie Gehringer fed the ball to shortstop Billy Rogell to get the force at second. Rogell then threw the ball to first base to complete the double play. Dean, running from first, did not want to let the double play be completed, so he managed to get himself in the way of the throw (without moving out of the basepath, of course) and he succeeded in breaking up the double play – by virtue of getting beaned directly in the head by the baseball!!

Dean was knocked unconscious by the blow.

He was taken to the hospital.

He recovered in time to start Game 5 (and lose), but luckily for him, Paul won Game 6, so Dizzy came back and won Game 7, winning the World Series for the Cardinals (isn’t that neat – two brothers winning every game of the Series for the Cardinals?).

Well, after Game 4, as you might imagine, fans were dying to learn the fate of Dizzy – is he OK? Would he be able to pitch in the Series still?

So, as the story go, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s sports sub-headline the next day read “X-ray of Dean’s head shows nothing” (or, in the alternative, “X-ray of Dean’s head reveals nothing.”).

It’s a great story,and it’s one that Dean never denied, letting the legend grow in basically fact over the years.

As time has gone by, I’ve generally seen folks refer to that headline in three different ways…

1. People who tell the story as if the headline was just a case of unintentional humor.

2. People who tell the story as if the headlines was just a clever case of INTENTIONAL humor.

3. People who suggest that the headline is probably mythical.

You rarely see folks who will actually check to see if the headline IS mythical or not.

Luckily for us, John McCollister did the research in his history of the Detroit Tigers, Tigers and Their Den: The Offical Story of the Detroit Tigers (Honoring a Detroit Legend)

As McCollister tells us:

The actual wording of the October 7, 1934, edition of the paper read: “X-Ray Photograph of Head Shows No Lasting Injury.”

So while it is a great story, it is not the truth.

Sadly for Dean, an injury in the 1937 All-Star Game did not end as happily. A fractured foot off of a line drive ultimately affected how Dean threw, which in turn damaged his arm, robbing him of his great fastball and basically ending his career as a dominant pitcher. By 1941 he was effectively retired (he made one last short-lived comeback in 1947).

But for that five and a half period of 1932-1937, there were few pitchers greater than Dizzy Dean – and certainly fewer as colorful!

Thanks, of course, to John McCollister for the information! Go buy his book!

BASEBALL LEGEND: Wally Moon effectively promoted himself to the big leagues.

STATUS: True (Effectively is the key word, of course)

Wallace “Wally” Moon was signed to a minor league contract by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1950, when he was 20 years old.

While still in the minors, Moon finished work on a master’s degree in administrative education from Texas A&M University in College Station.

He began coaching baseball while still in the minors, and he was getting really tired of still being in the minors.

He had a degree and he had a promising future as a baseball coach if he wanted to pursue it, but he did not want to give up his dreams of playing professional baseball, especially for his boyhood heroes, the St. Louis Cardinals.

So even though he had other opportunities, he signed another minor league contract in 1953.

You have to understand, while minor league contracts might not be anything to write home about nowadays, salary-wise, back in the 1950s they were dreadfully small.

And Moon had a wife and was beginning a family – pretty soon it would be downright foolish of him to turn down a career in coaching if his dreams of playing professional ball were not going to happen.

After winning the Caribbean World Series in the winter of 1953/54, Moon figured that 1954 HAD to be “the” year, so when he was told to report to the Cardinals’ minor league camp – he was not pleased.

He decided to take a leap of faith. Rather than reporting to minor league camp, he went to St. Petersburg, where the Cardinals held their Major League training camp.

He essentially offered up an ultimatum – he would not return to the minors, the Cardinals could either let him compete for the big league club or he would simply retire and take up coaching.

Cardinals manager Eddie Stanky backed him up, so he was allowed to compete for a job in training camp, and surprisingly enough (to the Cardinals, of course, as Moon was sure of his talents), he played terrific in camp. He played so well that they gave him a spot on the roster as the starting left fielder.

To make room for Moon, the Cardinals traded veteran (and future Hall of Famer) Enos Slaughter to the New York Yankees.

Slaughter, forever famous in Cardinals (heck, baseball) history for his “Mad Dash” in Game 7 of the 1946 World Series (where the slow-moving Slaughter scored from first base on a double in the 8th inning of Game 7, basically winning the World Series for the Cards), was a fan favorite…

So when Moon had his first at-bat in the Majors in 1954, the fans chanted “We want Slaughter!”

Moon then promptly hit a home run in that first at-bat.

He went on to hit for a .304 batting average, with 12 home runs, 76 runs batted in and 18 stolen bases, easily winning the 1954 Rookie of the Year (beating out a couple of no-names like Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks).

Moon went on to make the All Star team (and win a Gold Glove) for the Cardinals in 1957…

He was traded to the Dodgers in 1959, and he made another All Star team with the Dodgers in 1959, and he was part of two Dodger World Series teams (and was on the regular season roster in 1963, when the Dodgers also won the World Series).

You can read more about Moon’s life and career at his website, wallymoon.com, where he has some good quotes about why he made his bold gamble in the spring of 1954!

Okay, that’s it for this week!

Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com

Tags: All-Star Game, Anheuser-Busch, August Busch, Baseball Hall of Fame, Bill Veeck, Billy Rogell, Branch Rickey, Budweiser Park, Busch Bavarian Beer, Busch Beer, Busch Stadium, Caribbean World Series, Charlie Gehringer, Dazzy Vance, Detroit Tigers, Dizzy Dean, Eddie Stanky, Enos Slaughter, Ernie Banks, Ford Frick, Fred Saigh, Gold Glove Award, Gussie Busch, Hank Aaron, John McCollister, Los Angeles Dodgers, MVP Award, New York Yankees, Paul Dean, Pepper Martin, Rob Neyer, Robison Field, Rookie of the Year Award, Sam Breadon, Sportman's Park, Spud Davis, St. Louis Browns, St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Wally Moon, World Series