Red Ruffing interview
Date1981 October 09
DescriptionTwo audio cassettes featuring an interview with Red Ruffing conducted by Rod Roberts on behalf of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on October 9, 1981 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Object numberHF-1994-0001-032
Interviewer
Roberts, Rod
Interviewee
Ruffing, Charley, 1905-1986
Subject
Ruffing, Charley, 1905-1986
Classificationsaudio/visual materials
Collection NumberBA RMA 001 Rod Roberts oral history collection
Library Call NumberCTA 852
Library Call NumberCTA 853
Dimensions2 audio cassettes
TrannscriptionCassette 1 Side OneTrack 1 - Born in Granville, IL on May 3, 1905; family moved to Nokomis, IL; father was a coal miner; he was born in Germany, he mother was born in Munich; he went to school in Nokomis, had one year of high school, he quit school at 16 and went to work, also played semi-pro ball; worked in a coal mine and lost four toes on his left foot; he got his start as a slate-picker for $3 a day, then he went into the mine to be a track layer, and that's when he lost his toes at 17, got caught between two cars, didn't hurt much because it happened so fast, took the shoe and everything (00:00:00 to 00:04:16) Track 2 - Started playing baseball with his father, they had a coal mining team; he played first base, then they were supposed to play some good club, and the pitcher got cold feet and wouldn't pitch; Ruffing's brother was catcher and told his father to let him pitch, but they lost 2-1; he started pitching after he lost his toes, he had to land sideways, kept him from running fast; never went back in the mines after the accident; he pitched for his father's mine team, and there was another man named Doc Bennett who had a pool hall, and he put together a ball club to play a town about 16 miles away as a grudge match, and Bennett asked Ruffing to pitch two games for him, and he said no, until Bennett offered him $20 a game, so his Dad lost him as a pitcher; Bennett later became a scout for the White Sox; Bennett wrote to Danville in the Three I League (Illinois-Indiana-Iowa) and they offered him a contract, he won 12 games with a losing ball club; before the year was over, he was sold to the Boston Red Sox; Bennett also showed him how to pitch (00:04:16 to 00:08:55) Track 3 - Was with Boston from 1924 to 1930; they sent him to Dover, Delaware in the Minor League; Boston had terrible teams while he was there (00:08:55 to 00:10:06) Track 4 - On Bill Wambsganss, from Cleveland, he sees him now and again, Ruffing didn't know much about the players, he was just a rookie; he knew the Browns and the Cardinals, the Browns had Ken Williams, a home run hitter, and he was Ruffing's idol; Williams was battling Babe Ruth; he also followed George Sisler, a hell of a ballplayer, a hell of a hitter; on older players giving rookies a hard time, spitting on them with tobacco juice, trying to see if they could take it, just had to keep still; sometimes the rookies would get mad, then the older players wouldn't even talk to them; Wambsganss was one fellow he liked, told him not to pay attention to the other guys, just laugh it off; Wambsganss always called him by his first (contains profanity) (00:10:06 to 00:12:42) Track 5 - On getting the nickname "Red" from one of the sportswriters, his face got red when he pitched (00:12:42 to 00:13:04) Track 6 - On Howard Ehmke; (?) Alexander; Bill Piercy; Ehmke was a lot of fun, always trying to pull some shenanigans; Steve O'Neill was Ruffing's first catcher on the club, a good catcher; on Baby Doll Jacobson with the Browns, getting his nickname in Mobile, came up with the bases loaded and hit a home run, and some lady got up and hollered "you're a baby doll!" (00:13:04 to 00:15:09) Track 7 - On tough years in Boston; had no club at all; lost 25 games in 1928; 3.90 ERA and lost 25 games, 12 of them by one run; Lefty Grove beat him 1-0 one time, they had a great ball club, Al Simmons and all; Grove beat the Red Sox four straight games one time, Grove said "five;" he could throw really hard and was the fastest pitcher Ruffing ever saw, faster than (Bob) Feller, but Ruffing never saw Walter Johnson (00:15:09 to 00:17:15) Track 8 - On being traded to the Yankees, manager was Bob Shawkey (00:17:15 to 00:18:05) Track 9 - On Lou Gehrig, kind of a moody guy; hard to get close to, but Ruffing got along well with him; got along well with all of the players on the team; on college-educated players acting just the same as others (00:18:05 to 00:19:05) Track 10 - On rooming with Tony Lazzeri, full of tricks, he'd get exploding cigarettes (00:19:05 to 00:19:38) Track 11 - On Babe Ruth, he liked a little joke now and then; going up to his house for dinner, playing pool, and he had a photo of all these people that he hit home runs off of; pitched Ruth high, try to keep it up, not below the knees; Gehrig wore him out; on no one really minding about Ruth making more money; Ruffing said he didn't think Ruth was really making $80,000 a year, and he walked over to look at the check on payday once, and he really did make that much money; Ruth could never remember people's names, called Ruffing "Meathead;" one time in Boston, a woman was in the hospital and wanted Ruth to come see her, so they went and said hello, and he introduced Ruffing as Meathead; he couldn't have been a better ballplayer even if he hadn't been a drinker; just like Paul Waner, they took booze away from Waner, to see how he hit without the booze, and he only hit in the .200s (00:19:38 to 00:24:03) Track 12 - On Ben Chapman, a "red tail," got mad a lot if he didn't get a hit every time up; he was a fighter; they always got into a scrap with Washington, one time the whole stands came out (contains profanity) (00:24:03 to 00:24:46) Track 13 - On Bill Dickey, good catcher, good hitter, tough in a clutch, that's what made the Yankees great, they'd get up to the plate with someone in scoring position, and they'd find someone up there to get the run in, not like players today (00:24:46 to 00:25:35) Track 14 - On Ruffing being a good hitter; when the Yankees made the deal with Boston for him, they were figuring that if Gehrig went, they would need another hitter, and so they thought about making him a first baseman, but they didn't (00:25:35 to 00:26:22) Track 15 - On keeping in shape as a pitcher, working hard every day, even on days when he wasn't pitching, never took a day off, even on a rainy day would run around the park to keep his legs in shape, threw every day; never had two days rest, can't tell that to the pitchers today, the more you're on the mound, the sharper your control will be (00:26:22 to 00:27:54) Track 16 - On coaching for the Mets one year in 1962, a terrible ball club; big difference in modern ball players, they don't listen; the old-time players loved baseball, would have played for nothing; when he broke in, he made $1600 a year; hotel was $1.50, for 75 cents, you got a good dinner; but when fall came, you were broke (00:27:54 to 00:29:41) Track 17 - During the off season, he didn't do anything, wouldn't work in the coal mine because of worries about injury; he hunted a while, tried to catch a pheasant or rabbit, no deer down there near Springfield, Illinois; he couldn't shoot a deer on a bet (00:29:41 to 00:31:35) Track 18 - On Benny Bengough, caught him a few times, a nice fellow and a good ballplayer (00:31:35 to 0:32:05) Track 19 - On Bubbles Hargrave, he stuttered, years ago, there was a church close to the ballpark, and they couldn't play on Sundays, so they had to play in the Braves field; when he was with the Yankees, Hargrave was on there, had a good day, went 4/5 and Babe Ruth hit a home run; they picked up the paper the next day, and all it had was about Ruth hitting a home run, and Bubbles wanted to know "what the hell do you have to do to get your name in the paper?!" (contains profanity) (00:32:05 to 00:33:30) Track 20 - On Gehrig being a tough hitter; also Charlie Gehringer a tough hitter, had a smooth stroke (00:33:30 to 00:34:02) Track 21 - On Mark Koenig, they traded him to the Cubs; didn't know Herb Pennock very well, might have been getting about $20,000; Ruffing was making $6000, a lot of money then (interviewer talks about teaching school, Ruffing relates a joke about a student drawing a picture of God) (00:34:02 to 00:35:54) Track 22 - On Waite Hoyt, he helped Ruffing with his pitching, he doesn't know it, he would talk to him with Freddie Hofmann, and Hoyt would talk a lot and Ruffing listened and learned; Hoyt always called Ruffing the best pitcher the Yankees ever had; they went to Hollywood to make a half-hour program "The Way It Was" all about the day Babe Ruth pointed the run, Curt Gowdy was the announcer, and they asked Ruffing about it, and he said Ruth definitely pointed, but didn't know if he pointed at the stands or at the pitcher; Hoyt used to talk about how he pitched, and Ruffing would try it and it helped (00:35:54 to 00:39:02) Track 23 - On Lefty Gomez; being "Goofy," they were in Cleveland one day, in the hotel, and a cripple came in and called Gomez "Goofy," he used to do funny things on the mound, one time in Boston, a storm was coming up with lighting, and Gomez ran into the dugout saying "he's after me;" one time in Detroit, Pete Fox and Jo-jo White had a rundown and the pitcher isn't supposed to get into a rundown, and they threw the ball to Gomez, and he didn't throw the ball to anyone, he handed the ball to Lazzeri, saying we all read about how smart Lazzeri is, and (Joe) McCarthy was pulling his hair out (contains profanity) (00:39:02 to 00:41:47) Track 24 - On McCarthy as good and tough manager, smart and knew how to handle men well, always thinking, he knew what was going on (00:41:47 to 00:42:40) Track 25 - On Ruffing calling the catcher, Freddie Hofmann, out to ask what city they were in; they were playing against the Yankees, and they had three men on, and the next ones up were Babe, Gehrig and Meusel; Ruffing struck out all three of them on 10 pitches, (Bob) Meusel got a foul ball, but he struck out Ruth and Gehrig on three pitches each (00:42:40 to 00:43:25) Track 26 - On Joe Sewell, a hell of a hitter and a terrific guy (contains profanity) (00:43:25 to 00:43:40) Track 27 - On being able to get Ruth out by throwing the ball by him, up a little, had more trouble with Gehrig; Edd Roush being a pretty good hitter, hitting line drives; didn't play much with Dixie Walker; on (Frankie) Crosetti being a good shortstop, hated to see the Yankees get more than one or two runs off of him (tape runs out) (00:43:40 to 00:45:18) Cassette 1 Side TwoTrack 1 - (conversation picks up in the middle) On experimenting on the mound; not many pitchers experimenting today, or having fun (00:00:00 to 00:00:33) Track 2 - On Burleigh Grimes, "Stubblebeard," he'd knock anybody down, would knock his mother down; Ruffing never knocked anyone down because he was afraid of hitting someone; threw at the hitters' feet to make them dance; you were allowed to throw at the hitters back then, but not today; Ruffing beat (George) Earnshaw over at A's Park, when they came to Yankee Stadium, Ruffing was coming up the stairs and Earnshaw was coming down, and grabbed him by the chest and asked who was pitching, and Ruffing said he was, and Earnshaw said "you son of a bitch, you won't be out there long," and hit him right in the back of the neck; Ruffing threw at (Al) Simmons and (Jimmie) Foxx, the good hitters; Earnshaw was nasty and a big bastard 6'5", terrific curve ball and fastball (contains profanity) (00:00:33 to 00:03:10) Track 3 - On the A's having a good ball club; Foxx as a hitter, could hit Ruffing, but he didn't mind a good hitter getting a hit off him; hated it when the .200 hitters got a hit off him; Foxx was a strong man, big arms, they tell a story about Foxx walking behind a plow on the farm, and some guy wanted to know how to get to a certain town and Foxx picked up the plow and pointed; a shame he was an alcoholic (00:03:10 to 00:05:10) Track 4 - On the Yankees doing a lot of drinking; he would drink to be sociable, but never went back for a second one; he had a job to do, and would never want to let it affect his performance; not right for him or for the owners (00:05:10 to 00:06:54) Track 5 - On Simmons being a great hitter, his left foot stepped away, but he leaned into the pitch; Mickey Cochrane could hit Ruffing as well, was good behind the plate and could run, had a lot of speed for a catcher; most catchers wear out their legs and can't run (00:06:54 to 00:07:58) Track 6 - On Johnny Allen, "Red Tail," he hated umpires, so when he was through with baseball, they had an old-timers game at Cleveland stadium, and Ruffing asked him what he was doing, and he said he was an umpire (00:07:58 to 00:08:53) Track 7 - On George Selkirk, "Twinkle Toes," he used to take out his false teeth and put them under the bag whenever he got in a fight (00:08:53 to 00:09:14) Track 8 - On Joe DiMaggio as a rookie, a quiet fellow, minded his own business, did a good job, a good hitter, could do everything; he showed right away that he was going to be a good ballplayer, good arms (00:09:14 to 00:10:10) Track 9 - On Tommy Henrich, a good fastball hitter, good player (00:10:10 to 00:10:27) Track 10 - On having acquaintances, not friends in baseball (00:11:27 to 00:11:15) Track 11 - On winding up in Cleveland, his wife liked it there and Ruffing worked for Hank Greenberg when he was general manager of the Indians; on it being a wealthy suburb, he paid $27,000 in 1956, now going for around $80,000; predominantly a Jewish neighborhood (00:11:15 to 00:12:52) Track 12 - On pitching in nine World Series, won seven and lost two; got $5000 to $6000 bonus for the World Series; much less than the $30,000 they get now; on reaction to Ruth making the last out of the series trying to steal second base; Ruffing did that one time, playing in St. Louis, he got on base and saw (Don?) Heffner was on second base and (John?) Beradino was at shortstop, so Ruffing got on first base, and Heffner and Beradino were playing way out of position, he said to (Art?) Fletcher that he can steal the base, Fletcher told him not to, because (Joe) McCarthy would go nuts if he got thrown out, he went for it anyway; the next pitch, (Frankie) Crosetti was the hitter and the pitcher, (Jack?) Cramer, threw a wild pitch, and Crosetti hit a long fly to center field and Ruffing scored the winning run, they won 1-0, and McCarthy didn't say a word to him (00:12:52 to 00:16:35) Track 13 - On fining ballplayers infrequently; disciplining ball players, have to know who you could bawl out and who you couldn't; couldn't yell at (Lou) Gehrig; no one yelled at Babe Ruth; Ruth thought he was going to get the job as manager, but McCarthy got the job, it was like sticking a knife in his heart; Miller Huggins fined Ruth $5,000; players making more than managers makes it hard to discipline the players; on modern players making million-dollar salaries; asking DiMaggio about what would have happened if Steinbrenner had tried to sign him, and he said "tell Steinbrenner you have a new partner (00:16:35 to 00:19:58) Track 14 - On Johnny Murphy, had a good curveball, one of the first short relief pitchers; on being expected to pitch nine innings, increase of relief pitchers and "savers," if he saves 7-8 games, they give them a $50,000; other relief pitchers were Wilcy Moore, Joe Page (00:19:58 to 00:21:34) Track 15 - On Joe Gordon, a good second baseman; today balls drop behind second base that Gordon would eat up; good hitter (00:21:34 to 00:22:25) Track 16 - On Charlie Keller, was raising trotter horses, named them after the Yankees; Ruffing called him "King Kong" because he was a strong guy; hit a long ball in Shibe Park; Ruffing hit a home run in Shibe Park into the center field bleachers; Connie Mack told him he should have been an outfielder; thought Mack was terrific, but never had any money, was paying people good salaries, Simmons made $100,000 for three years, Foxx and Cochrane made good money, but you can't pay those salaries if no one comes to see the games; if you don't take it in, you can't spend it (00:22:25 to 00:25:29) Track 17 - On catcher Buddy Rosar, not sure if he died or not (00:25:29 to 00:26:00) Track 18 - On Stuffy Stirnweiss, won the batting championship by beating out (Tony) Cuccinello with a low batting average (.309;) not sure where they nickname came from; on Ruffing not chewing tobacco, it made him dizzy, he chewed gum (00:26:00 to 00:27:40) Track 19 - On outlawing spitballs, he had tried it, but wasn't successful; never discussed spitballs with other pitchers; can't do anything with just saliva, need slippery Elm; other spitball pitchers were Jack Quinn, (Red) Faber (00:27:40 to 00:29:32) Track 20 - On having one good pitch, his fastball; had good control and a good change-up; today he gets a kick out of the timer, 90 mph or 93; rather have a ball that did 70 mph and moved; threw his fastball as hard as he could; always threw the ball the same way, at the tip of his fingers and across the seams (00:29:32 to 00:30:58) Track 21 - On retiring after 1947 season with the White Sox; he suffered from a broken kneecap after being hit by a line drive by Hank Majeski of the A's; Ruffing said it was his fault because he didn't put anything on the ball and it headed back at him like a bullet, cut his knee cap right in half (00:30:58 to 00:32:49) Track 22 - On never having a job outside of baseball; after he retired he worked for Hank Greenberg as a coach for the Indians; never got involved in youth baseball, but is interested in watching baseball today (00:32:49 to 00:33:52) Track 23 - On playing ball during military service, played for the 7th Air Force team with other Major League players Harry Danning, catcher; Max West; Nanny Fernandez; they hardly ever lost (00:33:52 to 00:34:51) Track 24 - On greatest day in baseball when he made it as a pro being sold to the Boston Red Sox, and then being traded to the Yankees; on first World Series in 1932, striking out 10 men (00:34:51 to 00:36:03) Track 25 - On Ruth's pointing out the home run, Ruffing said he went to center field where he pointed; when he hit the ball, there was a lot of cussing going back and forth on the team; Ruth was giving them a good going-over, they had knocked him down and hit him on the arm; he sat next to Ruffing on the bench, and he asked Ruth what he would have done if he struck out, and Ruth said "Well, then I'd have been the goat, wouldn't I?" That's all he said (00:36:03 to 00:37:46) Track 26 - On Mickey Owen's dropping the third strike, the ball just got away from him, and (Tommy) Henrich looked around and saw it go back, so he ran to first base (00:37:46 to 00:39:17) Track 27 - On Yogi Berra, not knowing him (00:39:17 to 00:39:36) Track 28 - Ruffing had two brothers, he was the middle child; his younger brother Heinie/Henry played in the Northern League; his older brother went to work in the mines; not really close with his brothers, hasn't seen them since he had two strokes nine years ago; he had his first stroke and it affected his right side; but the second one hit his left side and it affected his whole body; on working his muscles (00:39:36 to 00:42:20) Track 29 - On his knee injury cutting his career short in 1946; he went to California to meetings and met Ted Lyons of the White Sox, who asked him to join the club; Lyons hired him to pinch hit, not as a pitcher, but he wound up pitching a few games (00:42:20 to 00:43:56) Track 30 - On never wondering about playing first base; he'd have hit.300; his career average was .280-something, one year he had a .358 average pinch hitting; he could hit pretty well; to be successful you have to work at it; he worked hard, and loved the game (tape runs out) (00:43:56 to 00:45:20) Cassette 2 Side OneTrack 1 - (Interviewer talks about other interviews) Ruffing on always liking baseball, never playing other sports, nothing else was popular, not basketball or football; never played in school; used to make baseballs out of string and a small rubber ball wrapped in friction tape (00:00:00 to 00:02:43) Track 2 - On not spending long in the Minor Leagues, only one year (interviewer talks about Edd Roush) (00:02:43 to 00:03:19) Track 3 - On changes in the game in the ‘50s; he always would have liked to manage a Big League club, no one thought he could manage; all about politics and who you know; he managed in the Minors for the Muskegon Clippers and a Class D team in Daytona, they lost the pennant by half a game because they got rained out the last day of the season; a lot of headaches in D ball, getting kids right out of school, have to be there mother and everything; the kids didn't listen or understand what he was talking about (00:03:19 to 00:07:07) Track 4 - On his wife liking baseball, meeting in his home town of Nokomis, a local girl (00:07:07 to 00:07:38) Track 5 - On having a lot of time on his hands, he was a show nut, would go to as many shows a day as he could; double features, as many as he could go to in a day; Babe Ruth said it was bad for the eyes, but it never bothered Ruffing; he always sat in the back, still loves movies, especially Westerns and shoot-em-ups; liked Gary Cooper, Randolph (Scott?), William S. Hart, Tom Mix; can't find any good Westerns today; one time he and (Tony) Lazzeri were going to the ball park, walking through the theater district, and he said "Dago, let's go see a movie," and Lazzeri said they were going to the park, but Ruffing insisted that they had time, so they went to the movies (contains profanity) (00:07:38 to 00:10:41) Track 6 - On roommates, on trying to put people together that get along; one time he roomed with Paul Schrieber, batting practice pitcher, he got along with anyone because he was never in the room, he always went to the movies (interviewer talks about Stan Coveleski filling the tub with minnows) Ruffing said he got along with everyone (00:10:41 to 00:11:58) Track 7 - Ruffing didn't gamble, they played Hearts, the managers didn't let the players gamble because it caused too much friction (00:11:58 to 00:12:44) Track 8 - On being close with Frankie Crosetti and his wife, but never friendly enough to borrow $100 (00:12:44 to 00:13:42) Track 9 - He stayed in a hotel in Boston, the Putnam, that had a rope for the fire escape; ate out at restaurants, it was fairly cheap then; they gave him $2 a day for meals; in the ‘30s it got up to $4, now they get $32 a day (00:13:42 to 00:15:53) Track 10 - On being lonely; read books, especially Westerns, he knew more about Wyatt Earp then he did; just read a bestseller, "Kane and Abel" and one called "The Snake," never liked snakes (interviewer talks about Coveleski) Ruffing never missed a show, no one wanted to spend the money to go to the movies with him, cost 75 cents and that was a lot of money for some people (00:15:53 to 00:19:02) Track 11 - Wrapping up, taking pictures, discussing cameras, Nikons, on his son living nearby, working in the steel industry; getting a lot of mail asking for autographs, can be a pain in the neck, but if you have the time you do it; kids often forget to send stamps, or forget to address the envelope (tape ends) (00:19:02 to 00:30:01)" 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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