Sideline Stories- Art Fish & Bill Veeck

Bill Veeck

In basketball once you start shooting from beyond the three point arc, things can get wild. In this series, I am going to share some stories that may seem a little wild too. 

“Beyond the Arc” is a series that looks at the unusual from the past. Stories from our history, both locally and nationally. Some are from the sports world and others just from the world. Some are stories I have read about and others are legends passed down to me.

Classroom Observer- I started teaching in the Fall of 1974. Before school started, all of the first-year teachers had in-service meeting with members from the Board of Office, as well as meeting with the GHS Administration.

In these meetings, it seemed like we got 100’s of directions and 100’s of rules to follow. Among these many directives, they explained that as first-year teacher, we would have people coming into our classroom at different times to evaluate us. There was enough information thrown at us, that I really couldn’t remember the details about how this classroom evaluation would work. 

Sure enough, about two weeks into the school year, an older gentleman quietly came into my classroom and went to the back to sit, while I was giving the students instructions about the Civil War. This man just sat, saying nothing for about 10 minutes. 

As a beginning teacher, it created a real tension with a visitor in the classroom, especially since I was sure that he was evaluating me. 

After about ten minutes, the man stood up and announced to the class that the information that I was giving them was incorrect. He walked up to a wall map and pulled it down. He explained how the battle that I had been describing really happened. 

After a brief 2-3 map lecture, he announced, “I know what I am talking about, I fought in that battle.” With that, he said no more and walked out the door. 

My class was not an advanced class, so while I realized the man had pulled off a joke on me, many of the students were sure they had just heard from a Civil War veteran. 

I had never met my visitor, but I later found out Art was not evaluating me, it was just Art Fish’s way of introducing himself to me. 

Base on Balls- Bill Veeck was a Major League owner, who was famous for his promotional ideas while being the owner of the St. Louis Browns and later the Chicago White Sox. 

One of his most famous stunts was signing Eddie Gaedel from an actor’s guild to play for the Browns. Eddie was 3’7” in height. Veeck assigned him the number “1/8” and instructed him to go up and get a walk. 

Gaedel had been ordered not to swing. He was walked on four straight pitches, and went to first. The manager then put a pinch runner in for Eddie. That was his last at bat as his contract was voided the next day by the Commissioner of the American League. 

While Gaedel had previously been employed during WW2 as a riveter because of his ability to get into airplane wings, much of his work was as a stunt man where he was often having his short stature being laughed at. 

When Veeck became owner of the White Sox, he twice used Gaedel for other stunts. Once he had him land in a helicopter in a space suit as part of an “alien invasion.” Another time, he was hired as a concession vendor so he would not block spectators view of the field. 

In this era, people were oblivious to the cruelty and ridicule that he was receiving. In 1961, in his mid-30’s, Gaedel was beaten and killed when returning home one night. 

Because of the limited number of autographs that Eddie gave, today it is claimed that his autograph is worth more than a Babe Ruth autograph.