American Valor Quarterly Issue 11 - Fall 2014 | Page 16

Haraz N. Ghanbari/The Associated Press

second game, and Williams hit one
back hard off of my leg and it rolled to
the right field fence. It had hit me on
the edge of the guard I had on my leg,
knocking me down and sending the
ball bouncing to the right field wall.
He ran to first and stopped. Then he
called time and came over. I was still
on the ground, and my inclination
was to check myself out before trying

to stand up to feel if anything was
broken. I looked up at him just to ask
him, “Why don’t you pull the ball?”
Well, he laughed at that comment, and
I completed the ballgame and won
it. Later that year, we were playing in
Philadelphia, and he hit a home run
off me. And as he rounded second
base, I turned my back to the plate and
yelled out at him, “I didn’t mean pull
it that far!” He got a big laugh out of
that. I think those two incidents really
brought us together as individuals. He
became a very good and thoughtful
friend especially after we both finished
competing. But that was the story, and
it really did happen.
In ’49, I made the All Star team. It
16

was probably my best year. I got to
pitch a little more regularly. And with
the ’49 season, we had a good run for
the pennant. We kind of ran out of
gas in September—Eddie Joost, our
shortstop, was hurt, and we didn’t have
a good replacement for him, but we
were in the race from the first day of
the season to the end. A number of us
in that ball club had a good year; I won

LOU BRISSIE MEETS ONE OF
BASEBALL’S BIGGEST FANS,
FORMER TEXAS RANGERS
OWNER, PRESIDENT GEORGE
W. BUSH. UPON MEETING,
BRISSIE RECALLED PRESIDENT
BUSH SAYING TO HIM, “I KNOW
WHO YOU ARE - YOU PLAYED
IN THE 1949 ALL-STAR GAME. I
WAS 3.”

16 and saved four or five. But we all did
rather well, and we were in the middle
of the race for the championship, so
that was the best year for us during my
tenure there. Connie Mack referred
to that team as his greatest team for

effort. A lot of people didn’t feel we
had the talent or the ability as a team
to beat, but we did. We had a couple of
unfortunate incidents with players that
year, but otherwise we would have won.
Philadelphia is a tough but
knowledgeable sports town. I enjoyed
my time in Philly. The folks up there
were good to me, and I enjoyed playing
there and meeting the people I met and
got to know. It was a pleasure really.
They are tough sometimes, but it’s
usually when you deserve it. It’s part
of the game, and occasionally that will
happen. It can happen to anyone at the
professional level. You have good and
bad days and they let you know right
off.
The time with the Cleveland Indians
was much more difficult for me. They
had a great pitching staff. Bob Feller,
Bob Lemon, Mike Garcia and Early
Wynn were their four big starters. They
traded for me to be primarily a relief
pitcher. I had never done full-time relief
before, and it really didn’t work out for
me. I had a few good years, but it didn’t
work because I had no schedule to stay
in condition. Since I couldn’t run, I
had a hard time staying in good shape
and being ready to pitch. I enjoyed the
players and the fans, but it was difficult
as far as playing was concerned. I had
uncertainty that I couldn’t rectify.
I had a disagreement with Hank
Greenberg, the general manager of the
Indians, right before I retired. I felt
that the situation was kind of a no-win
thing. Cleveland did not want me, but
they didn’t want anyone else to have
me. They sold me to Indianapolis.
There were clubs that were making
offers for me, and I figured if they
would do that once, they would do it
twice. I had three ball clubs interested
in my service. They could put a guy on
waivers and get you out of the league
if no one claims you. He put me on
waivers during the World Series when
no one was paying attention. I had a
fellow from the Baltimore paper call
me and tell me the Baltimore Orioles
wanted me. Art Ehlers and Jimmy
AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY