Pitchers Dizzy Dean and Paul Derringer didn’t get along as Cardinals teammates. As opponents, their dislike for one another erupted into public view.
Ninety years ago, on June 6, 1933, Dean and Derringer got into a fight on the field before a game at Cincinnati. Only their egos got bruised.
Dean, the consummate showman, was a flamboyant flamethrower who craved attention. Derringer, a skilled but less flashy pitcher, was “a belligerent man who often used his fists to settle disputes,” according to the Society for American Baseball Research.
Dean became a Hall of Famer, but Derringer earned far more career wins (223) than Dizzy did (150).
Intramural rivalry
Conflict between Dean and Derringer began in 1931 when both competed at spring training for a spot as a rookie in the Cardinals’ starting rotation. The Cardinals chose Derringer, 24, and returned Dean, 21, to the minors.
Derringer responded with an excellent rookie season for the 1931 Cardinals, helping them to repeat as National League champions. Derringer was 18-8, leading National League pitchers in winning percentage (.692). He also was the Cardinals’ team leader in shutouts (four).
While Derringer thrived with the Cardinals, Dean pitched for minor-league Houston and took out his frustrations on Texas League foes, crafting a 26-10 record and 1.57 ERA in 1931.
Dean joined Derringer in the 1932 Cardinals’ starting rotation. Smug after his successful debut season, Derringer “strutted too much” and “became his worst enemy,” Sid Keener observed in the St. Louis Star-Times.
That made Derringer a target for Dean’s barbs. “Derringer had trouble with Dean,” the Dayton Daily News reported, “and he was prepared to report to the league president that Dean had been nasty in riding him all season.”
June of 1932 was a turning point for the two rivals. Dean was 3-1 with a 1.91 ERA in June. Derringer’s June numbers: 2-3 and 6.09. From then on, manager Gabby Street turned increasingly to Dean, prompting Derringer to accuse the club of favoritism, according to the book “Diz.”
True to his nature, Derringer “challenged Gabby Street to a fistic duel in the clubhouse,” the Star-Times reported, “because he objected to the managerial maneuvers.”
Dean finished his rookie season as the National League leader in strikeouts (191), shutouts (four) and innings pitched (286). He was 18-15 with a 3.30 ERA. Pitching with “a chip on his shoulder,” according to the Star-Times, Derringer was 11-14 with a 4.05 ERA.
On the move
After Derringer lost his first two decisions in 1933, the Cardinals traded him and two others to the Reds on May 7 for shortstop Leo Durocher, plus two pitchers.
The Cardinals beat Derringer the first time they faced him, on May 30 at St. Louis. Boxscore Five days later, when the Cardinals came to Cincinnati, Derringer turned the tables and won. Boxscore
Derringer was one of eight former Cardinals on the 1933 Reds, according to the Dayton Daily News. Others included Sparky Adams, Jim Bottomley and Chick Hafey. When the series started, “the boys were all pals,” Si Burick noted in the Dayton newspaper. “Leo Durocher, the famous (bench) jockey, was kidding all his former teammates good-naturedly, and the Reds kidded right back. There was entirely too much fun going on.”
That all changed on June 6 before the start of a Tuesday afternoon game.
Fighting words
According to the Dayton Daily News, “Derringer was pitching in batting practice and Dean was razzing him from the Cardinals dugout.”
Dean was “riding the life out of me,” Derringer told the Associated Press.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Derringer said Dean was “questioning his courage.”
Derringer approached Dean and “asked him if he meant what he had been saying,” the Dayton newspaper reported.
“I replied, ‘I meant every word of it,’ ” Dean said to the Post-Dispatch.
Derringer threw a punch and claimed it landed square in Dean’s eye, the Dayton newspaper reported.
Dean told the Post-Dispatch, “I’m skillful at the manly art of self-defense and I ducked very cleverly.”
To prove his point, Dean “showed an eye that had no shiner,” according to the Dayton newspaper.
After the punch, Derringer grabbed Dean, “and when I saw he wanted to wrestle I caught him around the neck and threw him to the ground,” Dean explained to the Post-Dispatch.
As the clinched pair rolled around, Cardinals pitcher Dazzy Vance, 42, “strolled out and sat on them until the situation was in hand,” the Dayton Daily News reported.
Derringer told the newspaper that he “would have won by a knockout if Vance hadn’t stopped the bout.”
Dean claimed he gave Derringer “a right to the side of the head” before Vance arrived.
The Three Stooges-like antics carried over into the game. Cardinals player George Watkins was ejected for throwing his cap at an umpire after being called out on the base path, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, and Reds coach Jewel Ens also was ejected for arguing a call.
After the ejection of Ens, a woman spectator heaved a soda bottle from the stands, intending it for the umpire. Instead, it struck Cardinals infielder Burgess Whitehead on the shoulder as he stood on a dugout step, according to the Associated Press. Boxscore
Postscript
Dean was a 20-game winner for the 1933 Cardinals, then followed with 30 wins in 1934, plus two more in the World Series. He is the last National League pitcher to achieve 30 wins in a season.
Though his ERA was 3.30, Derringer was 7-27 in 1933 _ 0-2 with the Cardinals and 7-25 with the last-place Reds.
Despite that, he posted more wins (223) than losses (212) in his 15 seasons in the majors. He also pitched in four World Series for three franchises _ Cardinals (1931), Reds (1939 and 1940) and Cubs (1945).