Bill Terry interview, 1987 April 23
Bill Terry interview
Date1987 April 23
DescriptionAn audio cassette featuring an interview with Bill Terry conducted by Rod Roberts on the behalf of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on April 13, 1987 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Object numberHF-1994-0001-014
Interviewer
Roberts, Rod
Interviewee
Terry, Bill, 1898-1989
Subject
Terry, Bill, 1898-1989
Classificationsaudio/visual materials
Collection NumberBA RMA 001 Rod Roberts oral history collection
Library Call NumberCTA 849
Dimensions1 audio cassette
TrannscriptionCassette 1Side One -- Track 1 - On Terry's oldest son being 69, having four children, a lot of grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren; born in Atlanta, GA, Oct. 30, 1898; only child; mother's maiden name was Bertha Blackmon, been in Georgia forever; Terry's father was from Virginia, western side of Virginia; his father was in the wholesale grain business in Atlanta; went to school in Atlanta, through age 13; his grandfather said he was big enough to work, so he got a job in a laundry for $7 a week; then got a job in the hardware business; and playing ball all along as an amateur; a lot of churches had teams, had a good team at Grace Church, he was a left-handed pitcher in those days; had an old man who was the catcher and the manager, the rest were kids (00:00:00 to 00:05:25) Track 2 - On signing with the Atlanta Crackers and they sent him to the lowest class club in Newnan, GA, had a great manager/catcher Matty Matthews down there; he was a wild pitcher, and the manager got a bottle of ink and had him throw at an ink spot; and Terry learned control, never had any more trouble; started playing when he was 15, several other players were the same age (00:05:25 to 00:07:20) Track 3 - On pitching a no-hitter, just another ball game to him (00:07:20 to 00:07:45) Track 4 - Following year, sold to Shreveport, LA, in the Texas League, a tough league, but they had a good ball club; was there two years, and Billy Smith was manager, and Detroit said, if Smith put him at first base, they would buy his contract; Smith refused, so at the end of the season, Terry quit; went home, got married and went to work for Standard Oil in sales, did public relations for Standard Oil (00:7:45 to 00:09:36) Track 5 - On walking away from baseball, didn't bother him, never played any other sports; he loved baseball but he didn't like being pushed around; was out of the game for four years; (John) McGraw called him and wanted him to sign with him, he wanted a two-year contract, $8,000 a year, McGraw offered $5,000 and Terry thanked him and walked out; McGraw got one of the other players to call him and say he'd meet Terry's price; McGraw and Terry fought all the time (00:09:36 to 00:12:02) Track 6 - George Kelly was at first base when Terry came up; they moved Kelly to the outfield, then traded him to Cincinnati; other players on the team were (Frankie) Frisch, Heinie Groh, Irish Meusel, Pep Young (Ross Youngs?,) (Frank) Snyder and (Hank) Gowdy were catchers; (Rosy) Ryan was a pitcher, Art Nehf; Phil Douglas, a spitball pitcher who was the best pitcher in the U.S. but he loved to drink and got them all in trouble, he was a great pitcher (00:12:02 to 00:14:10) Track 7 - His first year after he signed with McGraw, he went to Toledo for the same salary, and they did well, he hit .390-something; if you hit a home run, you got a $5 meal ticket, he hit five in one week (00:14:10 to 00:15:22) Track 8 - When he moved to the Giants, they were at the top of the League, won the pennant that year, and McGraw wanted the players to buy tickets, and Terry said he was going home; players were scared of McGraw, but not Terry; he and McGraw had several run-ins, McGraw was full of himself, had good luck, and fine ball clubs; his word was law (00:15:22 to 00:16:55) Track 9 - Mrs. McGraw was a lovely person; Terry would speak to her but not to McGraw; didn't speak to McGraw for two years; he got signs from the coaches; Terry hit .350 one year and .353 the next; McGraw never asked him to become manager; Terry saw the owner (Horace) Stoneham and made his arrangements with him, McGraw was retiring (00:16:55 to 00:18:45) Track 10 - On never having problems with reporters; Enos Slaughter having problems with the press, and wanting to get into the Hall of Fame (00:18:45 to 00:19:19) Track 11 - Terry loved being a player-manager, loved playing as long as he could play as well as everyone else; he had to quit after the '36 World Series because of a bad knee, he hurt his knee in 1922 playing an exhibition game, stepped on some live line and his leg went out from under him; still hurts him; that's why he stopped playing (00:19:19 to 00:21:02) Track 12 - Won the pennant three times as manager, and lost once to Brooklyn (00:21:02 to 00:21:24) Track 13 - On '36 ballplayers, (Carl) Hubbell, (Hal) Schumacher, Jo Moore, (Mel) Ott, George (Kiddo?) Davis; on Ott being young, about 17-18; Terry had no problems handling him; the only problem he had was Freddie Lindstrom and he got rid of him quick; before he died, Freddie came up to Terry and told him to kick him for being stupid enough to leave; McGraw liked Lindstrom, and a right-fielder (tape runs out) (00:21:24 to 00:24:45) Side Two -- Track 1 - Conversation picks up in the middle) On managing by consensus; (John) McGraw managed in a conservative way; he liked hit-and-run, but you didn't do it right; you were never right (00:00:00 to 00:01:09) Track 2 - Best team Terry played on was the '33 ball club, it was great; won easily, won the World Series 4-1 (00:01:09 to 00:01:45) Track 3 - On having pretty good days in baseball; day he was made manager; day Lou Gehrig hit four home runs and Terry got all the publicity; he was very fond of Lou and they laughed about it a lot (00:01:45 to 00:03:03) Track 4 - They had a lot of pretty plays, defensively, made good plays all the time; Terry Moore caught a pop fly that Mel Ott hit, one of the greatest plays he ever saw; Moore was outstanding, he could do anything in the outfield, caught the ball bare-handed; he was great (00:03:03 to 00:05:00) Track 5 - (Interviewer Roberts talks about interviewing Leo Durocher, picking an all-star team) Terry says he'd never pick an all-star team, never have and never will; don't see enough players playing in those days, and you might miss some; he saw some of the greatest players; didn't see Babe Ruth that much, they didn't get over there much, only on an off day (00:05:00 to 00:07:52) Track 6 - Never had problems with pitchers, left or right; he just went up and hit the ball (interviewer talks about determining what is being pitched); Terry hit against spitball pitchers, emery ball pitches and everything else (00:07:52 to 00:09:52) Track 7 - More on spitball pitcher Phil Douglas, a great pitcher and a drunkard (00:09:52 to 00:10:15) Track 8 - On having a good time playing, had a couple of beers after the game, they enjoyed playing; didn't really have any players that clown around (interviewer talks about Durocher wanting a clown), on Hubbell being a great player, baseball should do something for Hubbell, has had two strokes; Terry took care of Stan Coveleski, sent him $500 a month; Terry says the Coveleskis were great people, they were crazy about them; more on Hubbell, Terry saying he got married again, one of the greatest pitchers that ever lived; one of his favorites, always liked to play behind him (00:10:15 to 00:14:25) Track 9 - On Edd Roush, roomed with him, Terry could out-hit Roush any day of the week; a great man, knew his wife very well (interviewer talks about Roush wanting to be the oldest man in baseball) (00:14:25 to 00:16:11) Track 10 - Retired from car business eight months ago, worked for Standard Oil for 18 years; got a Buick dealership in Florida, hard to get a good dealership (00:16:11 to 00:17:43) Track 11 - Doesn't watch or follow baseball anymore; dislikes the money and the way they play, the one-handed playing; he doesn't care for it; a lot of differences in modern baseball; doesn't miss the game at all (00:17:43 to 00:19:26) Track 12 - Quit managing because he wanted to quit the whole thing (00:19:26 to 00:20:00) Track 13 - On loving baseball, travel didn't bother him, although he didn't like being away from home; tough in center field in summer when the sun was out, didn't like playing St. Louis and Chicago in the summertime, it was hard to see and it was hot; Terry told the hotels to put in air conditioning or lose the team's business (00:20:00 to 00:21:48) Track 14 - On playing in the Polo Grounds; pitched outside to some players, like Ott, to make them hit it to the opposite field (00:21:48 to 00:22:50) Track 15 - Pittsburgh was a beautiful ball park, Cincinnati was hard (00:22:50 to 00:23:08) Track 16 - On hitting home runs and triples, between right and center fields, plenty of space in there; never had problems with injuries except for his leg (00:23:08 to 00:25:00) Track 17 - On holding National League record for base hits, 254, shared with Lefty O'Doul, 129 RBIs and .401 average, he went down from .410 at the end of the season (00:25:00 to 00:26:35) Track 18 - On having batting slumps; Ott having some bad slumps, he couldn't hit without lifting that leg up; Terry would work out in the batting cage if he didn't feel right at the plate (00:26:35 to 00:27:50) Track 19 - On being a manager and doing everything that the other players did, doesn't believe in resting a ballplayer, they don't like to be taken out (00:27:50 to 00:29:00) Track 20 - On refusing to play night baseball; Cincinnati tried to force him by calling owner (Horace) Stoneham and he backed Terry, said he's running the ball club; never played a night game (tape runs out) (00:29:00 to 00:30:32) Public Access NotePlease note that not all works are on view at all times - their availability is subject to change per the discretion of the Museum staff. 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