Enos Slaughter interview
Date1987 April 07
DescriptionThree audio cassettes featuring an interview with Enos Slaughter conducted by Rod Roberts on the behalf of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on April 7, 1987 in Roxoboro, North Carolina.
Object numberHF-1994-0001-023
Interviewer
Roberts, Rod
Interviewee
Slaughter, Enos, 1916-2002
Subject
Slaughter, Enos, 1916-2002
Classificationsaudio/visual materials
Collection NumberBA RMA 001 Rod Roberts oral history collection
Library Call NumberCTA 825
Library Call NumberCTA 823
Library Call NumberCTA 824
Dimensions3 audio cassettes
TrannscriptionCassette 1Side One -- Track 1 - Born in Roxboro, NC, about a mile from where he lives now in the Allenville area (April 27, 1916,) on local Battle Ax Lodge, his parents were both born in Roxboro; mother's maiden name was Gentry, they were of English extraction as was his father; his mother's father was married twice, first marriage had five boys and two girls, and had 13 children with his second wife, all passed away but two; his parents had five boys and one girl, he lost one brother, Carlton, a tractor turned over on him the opening day of baseball season in 1950; he was the 4th boy; father was a tobacco farmer, also raised wheat, corn, all with mules; much easier to farm today with modern machinery and fertilizer; tobacco a year-round crop, he still farms a little bit, a little more than 3 acres; have to rotate crops every 3rd year to prevent disease; been in farming his entire life up until he started baseball, returned to farming after baseball (00:00:00 to 00:04:41) Track 2 - Went to Allenville High School and then they dropped football so he went to Bethel Hill High School to finish high school; the Cardinals had a tryout camp in Greensboro in Sept. 1934 and he was invited to come and signed a contract with the Cardinals; 400 students in Allenville school; about five other high schools in the county, but are consolidated now; didn't have the facilities for football, so he walked two miles to catch the school bus to play football in Bethel Hill (00:04:41 to 00:06:30) Track 3 - Started playing baseball with his family, his father was a catcher, used to catch without a mitt; whole family used to play on a semi-pro team, played on mill teams; every Saturday work would stop and then went somewhere to play ball; he lost his father to a fever in 1939, died at 59 and never saw him play in the big leagues;(interviewer talks about Ray Narleski playing with his father) younger brother signed with the Cardinals also, he played in the minors for one year, but he hurt his arm so they released him (00:06:30 to 00:08:47) Track 4 - Cardinals signed him and sent him to Martinsville, VA for Class D ball, a good year with over a third of his hits extra base hits and not sure how many runs he drove in, 18 home runs; next year he went to Cardinals minor league camp in GA, and Eddie Dyer picked him to go to Columbus, GA for Class B ball (00:08:47 to 00:10:21) Track 5 - Went to Columbus, OH in '37 and every year had a higher batting average; the Cardinals sent him to play with Burt Shotten and the Columbus Redbirds and he hit over .400 in spring training; he wound up hitting .382 for the year; on Shotten wearing a uniform, or not (00:10:21 to 00:12:12) Track 6 - Came up to the Major Leagues in '38 when the Cardinals moved spring training to St. Petersburg, FL, and he went to play right field, but (Branch) Rickey wanted him to play right field but then they tried to have Don Padgett as catcher, he hit .300 his rookie year in '37; and he was going to take his place, with Frankie Frisch managing; he hit above .300 for the first three months but then got in a slump (00:12:12 to 00:13:23) Track 7 - On Frisch as manager; he had a lot to say, had a bad ball club in '38; on Frenchy Bordagaray, Pepper Martin, Lon Warneke, Bob Weiland, Bill McGee, all the Mudcat Band; Paul Dean was there along with Bill DeLancey; that spring they sold Dizzy Dean to the Cubs, got Curt Davis, Clyde Shoun and Tuck Stainback plus $185,000; Dizzy didn't say goodbye, said Slaughter would be next, the Cubs threw $100,000 on the line for him, but Rickey sold Johnny Rizzoto Pittsburgh and Slaughter stayed in St. Louis; club didn't have very good pitching; Paul Dean was trying to come back but was afraid he would hurt his arm, others on the team were Johnny Mize, (Joe) Medwick, Terry Moore, Pepper Martin, Jimmy Brown, Stu Martin, Don Gutteridge, Lynn Myers; if you hit .250 then you're doing better than most people today (00:13:23 to 00:16:26) Track 8 - Frisch fired at the end of the season, Mike Gonzales managed the last couple weeks, they brought in Ray Blades the next year; they finished second that year because they didn't sweep Cincinnati; better pitching that year with Curt Davis, was better for the Cardinals than he had been for the Cubs; Dizzy Dean didn't have it after he hurt his arm; he and Slaughter had a lot of respect for each other, good friends; when Dean and Pee Wee Reese were playing, more people asked about them than any other players (00:16:26 to 00:18:46) Track 9 - On Pepper Martin, only one like him, he was just full of life, serious when he was playing, never would holler for a ball but never ran into anyone, could hear him coming; a lot of infielders never wanted you to holler; he always had to call the ball because players need to help each other out (00:18:46 to 00:20:33) Track 10 - On Ray Blades, a good manager but sarcastic at times (00:20:33 to 00:20:58) Track 11 - Anyone can manage, but if they don't have good material, team can't win; Frisch told Pepper Martin to play third and he didn't want to play third, and Frisch said he had to play anyway, and Martin told him that you can work a mule 40 days and 40 nights, but he won't win the Kentucky Derby; Slaughter played for 11 different Major League managers, and he played the way they told him to, never made a difference to him; managers come and go; today, players do whatever they want to, not what the manager wants; baseball today is awfully loose (00:20:58 to 00:23:08) Track 12 - On Roxboro activity, business booming (00:23:08 to 00:23:47) Track 13 - On 1940, Cardinals moved back down in the standings, in '41 they had a lot of injuries, Slaughter broke his collar bone, Terry Moore got hit in the head in Boston and they were left with Coaker Triplett and Estel Crabtree and that's how (Stan) Musial got a chance to come to the big leagues, they picked him up from Rochester and he hit .412 the last part of the season; in '40, he went out East hitting .371 and came back hitting .216; in '42 they won 43 out of last 52 games to overtake the Dodgers and beat the Yankees in the World Series; he enlisted in the Air Force on Aug. 27, 1942 so he could finish the season; they called him up in Jan. 23, 1943; Terry Moore, Jimmy Brown, Johnny Beazley and Frank Crespi all left the '42 club to serve; he lost three full years to WWII, came back in '46 (00:23:47 to 00:26:18) Track 14 - On playing ball in the service, at Lackland Air Force Base for two years, and from there he went to Honolulu, then on to the South Pacific; they built ball diamonds and played on the bases, drew 8,000-10,000 people every time they played, they had an eight-team service league and played about 80 games; played with Del Wilbur, Howie Pollet, Tex Hughson, Walt Nothe, Boo Ferriss, Clint Hartung; he hit .498 the first year, 116 hits for 233 times at bat, next year he fell to .420; the Navy was beating the Air Force in Honolulu, so Larry MacPhail pulled them all to go to Honolulu, they had a team with Birdie Tebbetts catching, Chuck Stevens on first; Joe Gordon at second, Billy Hitchcock at short, Don Lang at third, Joe Martin played left, Pete Laydon center, Slaughter right, with George Gill, Howard Pollet, and Roy Pitter as pitchers; Jack Russell, pro football player, was equipment manager; on Saipan, Buster Mills ran the club, had Taff Wright, Sid Hudson, Ferris Fain, and in Guam they had Max West, Walt Judnich, Tex Hughson, Lew Riggs, 30-some Major League players on the service teams, the Seebees build ball diamonds and they stacked up bomb crates to build bleachers (tape runs out) (00:26:18 to 00:30:02) Side Two -- Track 1 - (picks up in the middle of sentence) On oldest Hall of Famers, on Edd Roush, small gloves, Slaughter's glove at the Hall of Fame, he can't believe he played with a glove that small (00:00:00 to 00:01:57) Track 2 - On returning from the War in '46; he came right back and had one of his best years, he led the American and National League with 130 runs batted in and hit .300 and beat the Red Sox in the World Series; not sure why some players didn't return right away after the War; (Sam) Breadon sent all of the returning players to Florida for a month's vacation, Terry Moore, (Johnny) Beazley, himself all were there for free (00:01:57 to 00:04:02) Track 3 - Slaughter had a great year, the '42 club was the best club he ever played on, but the '46 club was a good club too, if the Cardinals hadn't sold Walker Cooper to the Giants in '45, they might have won the pennant 7-8 years in a row, not taking away from (Joe) Garagiola and Del Rice, but they were no Walker Cooper, he could hit the long ball, drive in a lot of runs, played nearly every ball game; the '46 club had Stan Musial at first, (Red) Scheondienst at second, (Whitey) Kurowski at third, (Marty) Marion at short, (Harry) Walker played left, Terry Moore center and he was right; Garagiola and Rice at catcher; pitchers were Harry Brecheen, Murray Dickson, George Munger, Howie Pollet, Al Brazie, Ted Wilks, Blix Donnelly (00:04:02 to 00:05:34) Track 4 - On Marion as short shop, top of the class on a grass infield, he was tall so he could get a lot of plays that others couldn't reach; (Ozzie?) Smith best shortstop on Astroturf, (Tony?) Fernandez not as good (00:05:34 to 00:06:55) Track 5 - On comparing older players with modern players, since baseball has been expanded, the players aren't as good because they need more players, back in the day, if you didn't hit .300 they sent you down to learn to hit, today hitting .240 is a superstar; only 6-8 guys on the Major League clubs today could have made the teams in the ‘40s; all the players in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s had pride in their work, and the players don't have that pride today; went out there to do a day's work (00:06:55 to 00:09:00) Track 6 - On being remembered for the '46 World Series, scoring the winning run; he thinks the '42 World Series was more thrilling, beating the Yankees in four straight games; in '46, they credited (Harry) Walker with a double, but it was a long single, he got to second base and held up, had they thrown to second, he would have been out, but Slaughter caught the whole Red Sox infield napping, they had Pinky Higgins at third, Bobby Doerr at second, Johnny Pesky had his back to the infield, and know one knew what to do with the ball, he threw home but he hesitated and Slaughter scored; in an earlier game, Mike Gonzales had stopped him on a bad relay throw and they lost the ball game, so Eddie Dyer told him, with two men out from then on to go ahead and take a gamble on scoring, and he'd take responsibility; when Slaughter hit second base, the ball hadn't even come down yet, so he thought he could score; Dominick DiMaggio was injured and Leon Culberson was playing center, so Slaughter just kept running, never even hesitated, didn't see Gonzales give him a stop or go sign, just kept running; people from Boston still boo him; ABC program Our World interviewed him, Pesky and Walker about it (00:09:00 to 00:12:38) Track 7 - It was a great thrill to be able to put on a baseball uniform every day; he played his whole career and never sent a contract back; he just wanted to play baseball, probably could have gotten more money; in '49 he hit .332 and finally got $25,000; the next year he hit .291 and had to take a $2500 cut; a guy hits .291 today and he'll own the franchise (00:12:38 to 00:13:46) Track 8 - On greatest defensive play being Terry Moore against the Giants, leading 3-2 in the 9th inning and Mel Ott hit a shot to left-center and Moore skidded on his butt on the wet field and caught it bare-handed for a 3rd out; Moore made some of the greatest catches ever seen; in the '46 World Series, Joe Cronin raved about (Rudy) York hitting one to right-center and Moore made a great catch; in the '42 World Series, DiMaggio hit a screamer to left center, Musial fell down and Moore jumped him and caught it back-handed; Moore was the greatest defensive center fielder ever, better than Willie Mays or anyone, made spectacular catches, always got under the ball (00:13:46 to 00:16:24) Track 9 - On leaving baseball; when he was 40, the Yankees bought him from Kansas City, he was supposed to be washed up, they were in Washington and Detroit had beat the Yankees 22-6, and Casey (Stengel) needed him to play the outfield, because they were down to (Hank) Bauer and (Mickey) Mantle, so he joined the Yankees on Saturday night and played a double-header on Sunday, got 5-9, quite a day; he was 43 his last year, he could have played longer; Lou Miller writes for the NY World Telegram that he was clocked going to first base in 3.6, in the top 25 at the age of 40 going to first base, hadn't slowed at all; he could have been a utility player for another few years; they didn't want a 44-year-old when they had a 22-year-old prospect; if he had played in 60 he would have been the first one to play in four decades; Marty Marion and Milt Fishman owned part interest in the Houston franchise in Triple A, so Marion called him up and asked if he would be a player-manager in '60, he didn't have a job, so he didn't turn down the contract, he went down and managed and he had a working agreement with the Cubs, his team finished third and he got beat in the seventh game of the playoffs so he was out of a job in '61; he had players like Billy Williams, Ron Santo, (Dick? Joe?) Schaffernoth, Jim Brewer, very wild, catcher Dick Bertell, Dave Pope in the outfield, "Sweet" Lou Johnson in the outfield, Billy Williams jumped the club four times and went home because he was homesick, Williams was a great ballplayer, and he's got as good wrists as anyone who ever swung the bat, he was from Alabama, near Mobile; in '61, the Mets were trying to get organized and tried to form a Minor League organization, and Ernie White managed in Mobile, and Slaughter managed Raleigh, they told him to do the best he could and they'd take care of him, he ran 54 guys through Class B ball and finished on the bottom, they fired him at the end of the season and he never got back into baseball; a few years later, Eddie Cameron from Duke University called him and asked if he would be a part-time coach for Duke, he did it for seven years; he had a lot of fun but they didn't give out any baseball scholarships, so tough to get players; Mike McGee was the football coach, and he tried using the football players for baseball; he had Larry Doby's son there, but he couldn't hit; he wanted to stay in baseball, paid his own expenses to go to the Minor League meetings in '61 and '62 and couldn't get anything; he was bitter because he sweated his blood and guts for the Cardinals and they never offered him a coaching job, scouting job, nothing, and it hurt (00:16:24 to 00:23:57) Track 10 - On baseball being inefficient, not well run; not keeping good people, he ran 54 players through Raleigh, couldn't hire or fire a player, they sent Red Ruffing down, he had a utility infielder, (?) Coleman, they said he had to go, Ruffing said he was the only one he had that could play; talked to Charlie Hertz(?) and said he didn't have a single Major League prospect; they didn't have a team until '62, and he was working in '61; had (?) Hoy a pitcher, went to the Mets, had a temper (00:23:57 to 00:26:30) Track 11 - Told the Cardinals he wouldn't kiss their behind for a job, so he went back to his farm, built his house in '58, owns 3 farms, they devalued his land when they built a lake and turned his land into a mosquito ground and a snake pit (00:26:30 to 00:28:37) Track 12 - Doesn't volunteer for youth baseball, too busy, used to play a lot of old-timers games nearly every weekend; once he got in the Hall of Fame, he is booked solid from April until October, farm four days a week and travel three; plays in old-timers games, celebrity golf tournaments, raise money for crippled children (tape runs out) (00:28:37 to 00:30:00)" Cassette 2 Side One–Track 1 - (Picks up in the middle) On memorabilia and card shows; going to the Roger Maris memorial tournament to raise money for cancer, made $40,000 last year; more on his schedule of benefits, going to Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame weekend (00:00:00 to 00:02:00) Track 2 - Did some barnstorming, in 1953, Eddie Lopat had an all-star team and they went to Colorado Springs, Denver, Honolulu and four weeks in Tokyo, lost first game 4-3, a kid doubled off of Robin Roberts, they won the rest of them, averaged 36,000 a game; flew to Okinawa, rained 10 straight days, played a service team, beat them 22-3, plane lost a motor and they couldn't get to Manila, where they were supposed to play before a sell-out crowd, the Philippines military picked them up so they could play, they got in at 9 p.m. and beat the team; they brought the Japanese team from Tokyo, first time the Japanese had been to Manila since WWII, and the all-stars beat them 1-0 in 99%+ humidity, Bob Lemon fell off the mound, a nice trip but his last barnstorming trip; had two little bat girls as chaperones, gave prizes every time they hit a home run; had Eddie Robinson, Nellie Fox, Billy Martin, Pee Wee Reese, Eddie Mathews, Yoggi Berra, Gus Niarhos, Jackie Jensen, Hank Sauer, Robin Roberts, Curt Simmons, Mike Garcia, Bob Lemon and Eddie Lopat, great trip; one of the last barnstorming trips over to the Far East, more than 2 million people were in the parade from the airport to downtown, they all road in convertible cars, threw out candy and balloons (00:02:00 to 00:05:32) Track 3 - (Interviewer talks about Leo Durocher) Slaughter doesn't want to pick the best players for each position, greatest outfielders, (Ted) Williams, (Joe) DiMaggio, (Stan) Musial, (Hank) Aaron, (Roberto) Clemente, who you going to leave out; Williams by far the greatest hitter ever seen; played with Musial his whole career and he was a great all-around team player, ahead of Williams, Musial was a better first baseman than outfielder; when he came from the service, he had to play in left field, couldn't play the shift; old-timers like Pie Traynor, (Rogers) Hornsby; didn't see Mays play, didn't see Aaron much, Terry Moore on defense can play with any outfielder; always let you know where the wall was because Moore would say "careful," a great asset (00:05:32 to 00:09:30) Track 4 - On defense being underrated, Dominick DiMaggio; Jimmy Piersall played the shallowest center field of all; Moore had a .285 lifetime average, and that was average back then (00:09:30 to 00:10:14) Track 5 - Slaughter played in 10 all-star games, and lost three years when he was in the service; when he came back they said he was not worth anything, but he fooled them, played 13 more years, couldn't make any money; $25,000 most he ever made; all the big money started during the War years; a lot of ballplayers quit when they are in their 30s, but haven't hit their prime yet; he was a player-manager in Houston at 44, played in Raleigh when he was 45 (00:10:14 to 00:12:27) Track 6 - On moving from the Minors to the Majors in just three years, and every year his average went up, hit .325 in Columbus, GA, then went to Columbus OH, hit second all year and drove in 122 runs, scored 146 with 245 hits, 43 doubles, eighteen triples, 26 home runs and overall hit .382, and made $150 a month, voted MVP and he went to Branch Rickey and said "you paid Mr. Ward $250 a month for being batting practice catcher," and asked for a bonus, Rickey and Bert Chapman jumped down his throat and he went home without a bonus; the Cardinals paid him $400 a month his first year in the big leagues, then he went to $600 a month; in 1939 he led the National League with 52 doubles and hit .320 and made $700 a month; these guys today complaining about making $500,000 (00:12:27 to 00:14:03) Track 7 - He hit .575 in high school, pitched and paid second base; when he coached at Duke, they all said they hit over .500, but they really couldn't hit; no problems making the adjustment to the Major League pitching (interviewer talks about Edd Roush) a lot of guys in the Minor Leagues can pitch as well as those in the Majors, they just don't get the breaks; hitters don't study pitchers anymore; people ask him about Dwight Gooden, he might not be around in five years; don't think (Roger) Clemens will come back and have another good year, he got a lot of breaks, he won't always be able to throw past those hitters; more on Gooden, brings trouble on himself, didn't show up for the championship celebration; a lot of guys don't appreciate things, for example, they put Gaylord Perry and Catfish Hunter in the NC Sports Hall of Fame and they never showed up for another banquet since they were put in; Slaughter was put in ‘64 has attended every banquet since '64; they usually have 1,000 people show up, they advertised Ted Williams, Bobby Richardson and Hunter, and Hunter didn't even tell them he wasn't coming, said he had to get ready for spring training , he only lives an hour's ride away; older ballplayers had a sense of obligation to the fans, but not today's players; on a old-timers cruise with people from Cooperstown; they discuss different people from Cooperstown; Slaughter talks about signing autographs, especially for kids; people can be rude and interrupt people when they are eating; Slaughter tries not to miss Cooperstown events; says Early Wynn won't come back to one because he doesn't like Peter Uebberoth (00:14:03 to 00:24:39) Track 8 - Phone rings, Slaughter answers, interviewer takes pictures, they talk about farming and the weather (00:24:39 to 00:27:01) Track 9 - On the off season, lived in St. Louis and worked for a general grocery company, Manhattan Coffee; in Kansas City he covered nine states for Schlitz Brewery and put them in first place in '55; moved back to Roxboro in '58; he hunts and fishes, quail, rabbits, squirrel, doves, turkeys, deer; a lot of good fishing, bass and crappie; been hunting and fishing all his life; catching striped bass bootleggers, taking 110,000 pounds out of one lake (tape runs out) (00:27:01 to 00:30:05) Side Two -- Track 1 - (picks up in middle of sentence) More on fishing, catching crappies, bass, jacks; cooks for himself, lived by himself for six years, gets lonesome sometimes, but keeps busy; he has a worker who's worked with him for 35 years; his brother-in-law fills in to feed the cattle; he also has chickens; he sells his cows, but buys rib eyes, doesn't really eat hamburger, pork or ham; on local weekend breakfasts (00:00:00 to 00:03:25) Track 2 - His first year in the Majors, he paid $5 a day for room and board, when he was in Class B he paid $1 a day room and board, they brought food out in bowls and said eat it up; the Cardinals used to give meal money, and the boys were saving the money, so the Cardinals had them eat and sign at the hotel; doesn't like White Castle, loves a ball park hot dog with onions; in the ‘50s, in Florida, they'd give meal money, room money or laundry money so you could bring your family down; today they get $48 a day for meal money (00:03:25 to 00:05:53) Track 3 - On nickname "Country" from Burt Shotten, started calling him that in '37; Bob Hood for the Ohio State Journal had a contest for a nickname, and he looked over thousands of them, and he said he was born and raised on a farm and "Country" suited him just fine; he looks forward to sitting on the tractor, when daylight comes, he's out of bed and working at 6 a.m.; if he gets tired, he'll come in and read the paper and take a nap; has one dog but keeps him in the pen so he won't kill the chickens (00:05:53 to 00:08:42) Track 4 - On modern ballplayers, admires George Brett, Don Mattingly, talked to them both and they haven't let things go to their heads; Brett is a nice guy, plays for keeps (00:08:42 to 00:09:39) Track 5 - (Contains profanity) On pitchers, never caring who was throwing as long as he got one at a time; gave Casey Stengel credit, knew what Slaughter could do; he played against (Herb) Score, against Billy Pierce, against all the tough left-handers, they kept the right-handers on the bench; he and Musial came up in a different era, the pulling in and out of left- and right-handed pitchers; Frisch told people that if they could stop Musial and Slaughter they could beat the Cardinals; they kept putting them against left-handers, but he got to where he could hit left-handers better than right-handers; swung the bat differently, had a different pattern, didn't pull the ball, hit straight away against left-handers; (Joe) Medwick was a wild swinger, hit right-handers better than left-handers; this year's Cardinals team has seven left-handed pitchers; on current season, doesn't like (Ray) Knight, Mets made a mistake letting (Kevin?) Mitchell go to the Giants; (Jack?) Clark will have to hit for the Cardinals, swings at a lot of bad balls; Dale Murphy is not a great ball player in his book, he's not there in the clutch, need someone who can be there when the chips are down; Slaughter loved getting up there in the clutch; all you need is a base hit; another guy, (Mickey?) Hatcher, never thought he was worth it (phone rings, they talk about not taking calls) on George Rorrer, he wrote an article on Jackie Robinson and said Slaughter intentionally spiked Robinson, he and Red Barber came up with it and all hell broke out, he didn't know anything about it, he wasn't there; one big writer wrote two years before writers voted for Slaughter for the Hall of Fame, said he didn't belong being discussed in the same breath as Duke Snider as an outfielder and hitter; but the veteran's committee voted him in; it makes him mad every time he thinks about it; the story about Robinson did hurt Slaughter getting into the Hall of Fame, but he played the game like it was supposed to be played, Robinson was playing first and his foot was back on the bag and Slaughter stepped on it, rather than getting a sprained ankle, he didn't even draw blood; Dixie Walker on his club was the one raised hell, Terry Moore was captain, they froze Musial's appendix for two days so he could play in NY, no one ever said they were going on strike; he slid into second and put 23 stitches in Bill Rigney's hand, and no one put that in the paper; anyone who says he intentionally spiked Robinson, he'll call them a son of a bitch and knock him on his ass today, if someone gets in your way you run over them, all that stuff they wrote, Red Barber wrote it and Slaughter threatened to sue him for everything he had (00:09:39 to 00:20:26) Track 6 - (Contains profanity) Never had any problems with black people, his closest neighbors are black and they do more for him than any white folks, they all sit down and eat at the table together; he never said anything against Robinson or any black players, the sportswriters made it all up for a headline, because he was a Southern boy, too much hearsay; writers hated Ted Williams, but he was the best guy to all the ballplayers; sportswriters don't know about the game, the younger writers never even saw Slaughter play; rules and regulations for going into Cooperstown, they did wrong, Roberto Clemente and Nelly Fox might never get in, Monte Irvin was put in under the colored vote, and that wasn't right, he should have been put in when he played here, he thinks a lot of Irvin, almost stepped on him once when he was playing first; Slaughter didn't want to hurt anyone, but didn't want to sprain an ankle missing someone's foot; on various people who don't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, Ralph Kiner, Ray Dandridge, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale; people who should be considered, (Lew?) Burdette, Phil Rizzuto, (Marty) Marion; they put in (Luis) Aparicio and (Pee Wee?) Reese; Rizzuto holds it against Slaughter that the Yankees brought him in when he was 40, but released Rizzuto when he was 39, but Slaughter had nothing to do with it; they told Slaughter to keep his mouth shut so he could get in the Hall of Fame, but he refused to keep his mouth shut; the Hall of Fame is a popularity contest, surprised that Rizzuto wasn't in, because of the NY writers; Slaughter doesn't have to take a back seat to other players, (George) Kell, Yogi Berra, a few others; he has millions of letters that he should have been in the Hall of Fame years earlier, he appreciates the veteran's committee, not the writers (00:20:26 to 00:28:53) Track 7 - Played on 10 All-Star teams, and it was an honor every time, he thinks people that get picked for an All-Star team and don't show up should be thrown out, because it's an honor, just like Cooperstown; the all-stars he played with were Koufax, Snider, Drysdale, Killebrew, Brock, Wilhelm, they come back to play in Cooperstown because it is an honor to play, and they give them $1,100 for each game; Connie, Musial, Reese all come back to play; 20 guys showed up out of about 60 living Hall of Famers (Tape runs out) (00:28:53 to 00:30:06) Cassette 3 Side One Track 1 - (Contains profanity) (Picks up in the middle of sentence) they had Dick Myers in; (Stan) Musial and (Red) Schoendienst) were the only two players left when Slaughter retired; on resentment against Negro League players, never heard of Ray Dandridge until he was elected to the Hall of Fame (interviewer talks about Negro Leagues and other interviews) Slaughter says if someone is going to go into the Hall of Fame, but him in before he dies, take Bob Ray, he saw Slaughter play his whole career, in 1949 he hit .336, (UPS truck arrives) and Ray wrote that the Cardinals lost the pennant because Slaughter ran out of gas, he went from .342 to .336 and they said he ran out of gas; Marty Marion took over as manager and he only had two players, and that was Musial and Schoendienst; Slaughter played fewer games under Marion than anytime he was in the big leagues, only hit .286; next year they named him comeback player of the year, but he hadn't gone anywhere, just didn't get to play; Marion played (Tommy) Glaviano in the outfield, and they had an eight-run lead over Brooklyn and Glaviano made four errors and Slaughter sat in the dugout chewing tobacco and laughed; he drove in 103 runs and hit .300; Bob Ray sent him a newspaper clipping about not making the Hall of Fame because of (Pee Wee) Reese and (Rick) Ferrell, (Ernie) Lombardi, Arky Vaughan, and Slaughter wrote Ray a letter asking why he should have to wait when he played more games, got more hits, more doubles, triples, home runs, RBIs, played longer; when Slaughter finally did get in, Ray wrote everyone on the veteran's committee, and Monte Irvin spoke well of him to the black members because Ray Campanella and Buck O'Neil held the shit against him that the writers made up; they shouldn't wait until after people die to put them in the Hall of Fame (00:00:00 to 00:07:10) Track 2 - (Contains profanity and racial slur) People ask him to support Roger Maris and Allie Reynolds for the Hall of Fame, but Maris only had two good years; Reynolds was a good pitcher; heard a lot of talk about Catfish Hunter and Billy Williams, Williams a hell of a hitter, a mainstay for the Cubs, much more than (Ernie) Banks, Banks only hit .265 for lifetime, he had 1100-some strikeouts and only 700 base on balls in his career; Gaylord Perry, you would think he was a shoe-in; goddamn, he won't go in on the first ballot, he's a horse's ass, made $400-$500,000 and then filed for bankruptcy, put him in the NC Sports Hall of Fame and he never shows up; Catfish Hunter had six good years, came up to the old-timers game and threw like he did when he was pitching, he wanted to strike everyone out; Slaughter guarantees that he could play today and not strike out as much as modern players; Commissioner (Bowie) Kuhn treated Charles Finley badly, he was good for the game of baseball, lost $10 million worth of players and got nothing out of it; that's not right, you're in business to make money; Early Wynn doesn't like (Peter) Ueberroth right now; in '46 they started the player's pension, they donated all of their radio rights to the pension fund and the players today say they don't owe the bastards anything; the fund has $137 million in escrow and Uncle Sam says they better do something with it, but the older players won't get anything; Slaughter played for 22 years and only gets $900 a month, today they stay 10 years and retire with $90,000 a year; Wynn doesn't want to play the old-timers game because he doesn't believe that they will donate the money to the old-timers pensions; Carl Hubbell "ain't got a pot to piss in;" (interviewer talks about Stan Coveleski and other players falling on hard times) they could up the old-timers pensions by $500 a month and it wouldn't hurt the pension fund at all; present day players should consider themselves damn lucky that they started the pension fund; he locks his doors at night and keeps guns in the house; colored workers wanting to extra money, and he lets them have it, so they keep faith with him, sometimes they double-cross him; a different world, older colored workers never go to the front door, they still go to the back door; Slaughter does all of his own house-keeping for his eight room house, and heats it with firewood (tape ends) (00:07:10 to 00:18:59) Side Two is filled with unintelligible noise. 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