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Vern Law oral history interview

Date1993 January 22

DescriptionAn interview of Vern Law that was conducted by Larry Moffi most likely in Provo, Utah on January 22, 1993. Content of the interview include: Side One -- Track 1 - (Conversation starts up in the middle) On the owners not being interested in signing 35-36-year-old players, even Harold Baines having a hard time getting signed, but these are journeyman ballplayers who can do the job for you, they don't make mistakes; Baines proved himself as one of the better gloves in the League, one of the better arms in the League, improved his hitting by going to hitting camp and changing one thing about his hitting, and now he's hitting the pitches that he missed before, but they wouldn't even give him an opportunity, a guy with his talent, skill and knowledge of the game should get the chance to play; maybe we should do what they do in Japan, and only allow two foreign players per team, we're spending millions of dollars on foreign players when there are plenty of good U.S. players; Baines has 10 years in; on Harold Reynolds; a lot of ballplayers are only interested in their stats, get upset with the way the owners are working today, will spend millions of dollars on one player, when they could get a whole group of guys and get more production than that one guy; the owners are ruining the game today, cheating baseball; a lot of guys in the '50s, '60s and '70s worked their tails off making the game what it is today; everybody is upset with baseball because of the salaries; can't understand why the focus is on the big-name ballplayers; Jim Leyland is one of the better managers in baseball, can lose a (Barry) Bonds or a (Bobby) Bonilla and still win, knew how to develop the other players; owners today are businessmen with no knowledge of the game; people should sign Vance (Law? His son?) but maybe they hold it against him that he served on the pension committee and been a spokesman for the game; not many of the older players are still in the game, most of us are on the outside looking in; the way the Pete Rose situation was handled, he paid his dues, and where there's smoke there's fire, but Pete basically is a great guy, so why doesn't he deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, let Pete get on with his life; there are guys in the Hall of Fame who have done worse things than Pete, he wrote two letters to the Commissioner's office, but never got an answer, he's just a nobody, in spite of his many years in the game; not made like some of these guys today who are in it for the money; in 1960 when they won the World Series, there was hardly a night that he was home because he was out speaking to groups and promoting baseball, they all did that for nothing, but today's players wouldn't do that unless there is money involved; spoke to Little Leaguers and to a lot of churches; did a lot to promote the game, the guys today don't do that; some are involved in charitable activities; the Alumni Association puts on clinics to promote baseball, and help different organizations, to help lung cancer, cleft palette, burn centers, eye banks, hospice, DARE program, try to put back into the community to give baseball a decent name again; on signing autographs and baseball cards; on modern players turning their back on the history of the game; on tickets being sold out and unaffordable, fans changing and not being involved in the games (00:00:00 to 00:17:27) Track 2 - On Bing Crosby being a part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates when he signed, (John) Galbreath came in and took over the club, he was a people person, a wonderful man, gave the janitors tickets to the game, took care of everyone in the organization (00:17:27 to 00:18:32) Track 3 - On a senator from Idaho (Walker) seeing Law play in a tournament, he was a lawyer at the time and was a friend of Bing Crosby's; Law was pitching in the tournament and the score was 0-0 in the latter innings of the ball game, and the opposing team was trying to get on base and they sent in a midget, a guy about 3 feet tall; his brother, the catcher, came out and asked what they were going to do, and he threw three straight strikes and struck him out; then he got a double and his brother drove him in and they won the game; the lawyer sent out scout Babe Herman to check him out and they wanted to sign him, but he had to graduate high school, after graduation day, he had 9 different organizations there wanting to sign him; each scout would come in smoking a cigar, and his dad didn't believe in alcohol or tobacco in the house, they didn't make a very good impression on his parents; the last one to come in was the scout for the Pirates, and they came in with a box of chocolates and roses for his mother, and then Bing Crosby called on the phone, and so his parents decided he should sign with the Pirates; his record probably would have been better with the Yankees or the Cardinals, but he had some glory years with the Pirates, and enjoyed it; he talked to Bing Crosby years later, and he said Babe Herman and Senator Walker knew about the habits of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) so they bought a box of cigars and passed them out to all the other scouts so that they would not make a good impression (00:18:32 to 00:23:43.4) Track 4 - On his father serving in the church in different positions, all of them do their part, not a paid ministry; on the nickname "Deacon" coming from the fact that he didn't smoke or drink, and did a lot of speaking to other churches and youth groups, he was an Elder at the time, but they people in the East didn't understand what an Elder was, but they knew what a deacon was (00:23:43.4 to 00:24:59) Track 5 - On spending his first year in Santa Rosa, CA, Class D; the next year he was in Davenport, IA, the Three III League, Class B, a full year there; he and pitcher Bob Purkey both had the identical ERA, he won 18 and lost 9, and Law won 9 and lost 18, he didn't have any support; next year he went to Double AA ball in New Orleans, and then they called him up after he won 6-7 in a row; he replaced Bob Chesnes, who had to quit because of a bone spur (00:24:59 to 00:26:17) Track 6 - On his family being sports-oriented, his father being a good ballplayer and playing semi-pro ball, so they were pleased that he became a ballplayer, they didn't like Sunday baseball, but that was part of the contract, so it was his job to play on Sunday; justify it by looking at the farmers who have to get up and take care of the animals; his father was a machinist, during World War II he worked on submarines in California and after the War they moved to Idaho and he became a mechanic in an auto shop (tape runs out) (00:26:17 to 00:28:22)

Object numberBL-2000-02292-015

Artist, Creator, or Manufacturer Moffi, Larry

Attributes

Classificationsaudio/visual materials

Collection NumberBA RMA 002 Larry Moffi oral history collection

Dimensions00:28:22|1 of 4

Copyrighthttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/

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RestrictionsDue to copyright restrictions, this interview can only be listened to at the Giamatti Research Center at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.