The Reader‘s archive is vast and varied, going back to 1971. Every day in Archive Dive, we’ll dig through and bring up some finds.
Veeck, he noted, was, in addition to his ridiculous stunts like sending the midget Eddie Gaedel (who had a correspondingly short strike zone) up to bat and offering free admission to White Sox fans with the last name of Smith as long as they cheered for outfielder Al Smith, responsible for a lot of practical innovations that still exist in major-league ballparks. When he owned the Cleveland Indians, he integrated the American League just a few weeks after Jackie Robinson started playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He introduced promo giveaways like bats and caps, and deserves credit for opening up a nursery for small children so their parents could enjoy the game, and for putting players’ names on the backs of their uniforms. He designed the Wrigley Field scoreboard and planted the ivy along the outfield wall.
“And I don’t think our fans fight and drink any more than fans anywhere else. I think that the security, perhaps, needs careful study. But you know, people behave much as the host does. If you go to somebody’s house and they’re throwing cigarette butts on the floor and so on, you’ll start doing the same thing. In other words, you’ll behave in accordance with the surroundings. The better the surroundings, the better the behavior. If people don’t care enough to keep their own place up, why should someone else?
