Following a formula that worked well for them before, the Cardinals went looking for an old pro who was trying to cap his career with a championship. The character they found was as charismatic as he was competent.
Ninety years ago, on Feb. 8, 1933, the Cardinals acquired pitcher Dazzy Vance and shortstop Gordon Slade from the Dodgers for pitcher Ownie Carroll and infielder Jake Flowers.
Vance was a strikeout artist who dominated National League batters in the 1920s with a fastball the New York Times described as on par with Walter Johnson’s in the American League.
Though a month away from turning 42 when the Cardinals obtained him, the club was hoping Vance could replicate the success achieved from the acquisitions of pitchers Grover Cleveland Alexander, 39, in 1926 and Burleigh Grimes (nearly 37) in 1930. Alexander helped the Cardinals win two National League pennants (1926 and 1928) and a World Series title (1926). With Grimes, the Cardinals won two more pennants (1930 and 1931) and another World Series crown (1931).
Worth the wait
Dazzy Vance was born in Orient, Iowa, a town that also was the birthplace of Henry Wallace, vice president of the United States during the third term of President Franklin Roosevelt.
Reports vary about whether Vance was named Arthur Charles Vance, Charles Arthur Vance or Clarence Arthur Vance. When he was 5, he moved with his family to Nebraska and eventually settled in Hastings, according to the New York Daily News. As a boy, Vance got his nickname because of his mimicry of a neighboring plainsman who pronounced “Daisy” as “Dazzy,” the New York Times reported.
He was 21 when he entered pro baseball in 1912 with the York Prohibitionists of the Nebraska State League. Vance got to the majors with the Pirates in April 1915, pitched in one game and was sent to the Yankees. He appeared briefly with them but spent much of the next seven seasons in the minors until he was acquired by the Brooklyn Dodgers.
A right-hander, Vance was 31 when he got his first big-league win with the Dodgers in April 1922. Manager Wilbert Robinson, the convivial former catcher, “doted on big pitchers who could throw hard. The Dazzler qualified,” the New York Times noted.
“When he pitched, he kicked his leg high in the air and leaned back as far as possible, then released either a fastball or a hard curveball, with the same motion, making it next to impossible for a batter to ascertain which was bearing down on him,” David Hinckley wrote in the New York Daily News.
“He wore a chopped up undershirt under his uniform, and its tatters would flutter as he threw. In that same spirit, his favorite day to pitch was Monday, when the housewives in the apartment houses behind Ebbets Field hung out the wash and provided one more waving white element to camouflage the ball.”
Vance was the National League strikeout leader seven straight seasons (1922-28). In 1924, he topped the league in wins (28), ERA (2.16), strikeouts (262) and complete games (30). Rogers Hornsby hit .424 for the Cardinals that year, but Vance beat him out for the National League Most Valuable Player Award and, according to The Sporting News, the $1,000 in gold that went with the honor.
In a game at Brooklyn in 1925, Vance struck out 17 Cardinals, including Hornsby and Jim Bottomley three times each, hit a homer and drove in the winning run.
Described by the New York Times as a “hard and shrewd businessman” and “one of baseball’s most stubborn (contract) holdouts,” Vance negotiated a 1929 salary of $25,000, the highest paid a pitcher.
Dazzy with daffies
The Brooklyn ballclub sometimes was known during Dazzy’s days there as the Daffy Dodgers. The New York Times described them as an “assortment of crackpots,” but pointed out that Vance “was not a screwball.”
Vance was “a natural schmoozer and raconteur,” David Hinckley observed.
Arthur Daley of the New York Times described him as “a whimsical, homespun philosopher with the dry wit of a Will Rogers.”
On Aug. 15, 1926, at Ebbets Field, the Dodgers loaded the bases against the Braves. With Hank DeBerry on third, Vance on second and Chick Fewster on first, Babe Herman smacked a ball to deep right. Vance and Fewster hesitated, making sure the drive wasn’t caught.
The ball crashed against the fence, and DeBerry scored easily. According to the New York Daily News, Vance rumbled around third, then turned back. Vance slid into the third-base bag as Fewster arrived there from first. Herman, running full steam, slid into third, too. Ed Taylor, the Braves’ astonished rookie third baseman, tagged “everyone in sight, including the umpire,” the New York Times reported.
Vance was ruled safe, but Fewster and Herman were called out, resulting in Herman having doubled into a double play. Boxscore
A month later, against the Cubs, Vance became the first National League pitcher to strike out the first five batters in a game, a feat later matched by the Cardinals’ Bob Gibson. One of Vance’s strikeout victims that day was slugger Hack Wilson, “the Dazzler’s favorite pigeon,” the New York Times reported. Wilson whiffed 45 times in his career versus Vance. Boxscore
Veteran presence
After the Cardinals acquired Hack Wilson from the Cubs in December 1931, they attempted to flip him to the Dodgers for Vance or pitcher Watty Clark. When the Dodgers balked, the Cardinals sent them Wilson for cash and a prospect.
The next winter, the Cardinals again shopped for Vance. Max Carey had replaced Wilbert Robinson as Dodgers manager in 1932 and was willing to deal Dazzy, who, at 41, was 12-11 that year.
After Vance was traded to St. Louis, published reports predicted the Cardinals would send him to the Giants before spring training. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the Giants agreed to pay $15,000 for Vance, but then called off the deal.
Cardinals manager Gabby Street didn’t want Vance either. “I figured he’d be a terrible load on my team and I was eager for a trade that would get him off my squad,” Street said to the Post-Dispatch.
However, Cardinals executive Branch Rickey told the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, “If Dazzy Vance shows that he wants to pitch for us to the best of his real ability, we’ll keep him. I think he’s still a great pitcher.”
The relationship teetered when the Cardinals asked Vance to accept a $5,000 salary. “I wrote Branch Rickey that I couldn’t be bothered with any $5,000 offer,” Vance told the Post-Dispatch.
When he finally signed on March 17, terms were not disclosed.
The addition of Dazzy gave the 1933 Cardinals a colorful cast that included a Dizzy (Dean), a Ducky (Medwick), a Pepper (Martin), a Rajah (Hornsby), a Flash (Frankie Frisch) and a Rip (Collins).
Vance, 42, also joined a pitching staff that would come to include two others who turned 40 during the 1933 season, Burleigh Grimes and Jesse Haines.
Gabby Street soon changed his mind about Vance. “There ain’t a man on the club with a better spirit … He’s worked as hard as any man on the roster,” Street told the Post-Dispatch. “He’s done everything he’s been asked to do and a lot more.”
Dazzy delivers
Vance got a mix of starts and relief stints with the Cardinals, even though, as the New York Times noted, “he abhorred” pitching in relief. In August, he pitched a four-hitter against the Reds. Boxscore In September, he struck out nine in a complete game against the Cubs, fanning his former Dodgers crony, Babe Herman, three times. Boxscore
In 28 appearances, including 11 starts, for the 1933 Cardinals, Vance was 6-2 with three saves. Despite his distaste for the role, he was quite good as a reliever (3-0, 2.97 ERA).
The Cardinals, who finished fifth in the league at 82-71, placed Vance on waivers after the season and he was claimed by the Reds. The Cardinals got him back in June 1934 and he contributed to the pennant-winning Gashouse Gang, posting a 1-1 mark and a save. The win was a complete game against the Braves in which he retired the last 10 batters in order. Boxscore
At 43, Vance got to pitch in a World Series for the only time in his 16 years in the majors, appearing in relief in Game 4 versus the Tigers. Vance is one of five players 40 or older to appear in a World Series for the Cardinals.
Vance, 44, went back to Brooklyn for a last hurrah with manager Casey Stengel’s Dodgers in 1935. His final win, No. 197 of his career, came against the Cardinals, a relief stint in which he allowed one run in 5.1 innings. Boxscore
Vance was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955.
RetroSimba 
The “Prohibitionists.” Not a name that rolls off the tongue. Perhaps they should have went with “Pious Oppressors.”
Stupid jokes aside, this was another great piece Mark.
The “Prohibitionists” would have been hell on a headline writer, especially when tasked with a one-column story to highlight.
According to baseball-reference.com, the other teams in the 1912 Nebraska State League were the Columbus Discoverers, Fremont Pathfinders, Grand Island Collegians, Kearney Kapitalists, Hastings Third Citys, Seward Statesmen and Superior Bricklayers.
I am glad you enjoyed the story. It was a fun one to research.
Great read, Mark. Learned a lot.
I am glad you liked the story, Bruce. Dazzy Vance was a writer’s dream because he was such a character and a vivid storyteller.
One of his favorite stories was about the time he intentionally hit a batter with a pitch to keep a run from scoring. On Sept. 16, 1930, the Cardinals’ Bill Hallahan and Vance were in a scoreless duel at Ebbets Field. In the sixth, the Cardinals’ Sparky Adams was on third base with two outs and Chick Hafey at bat. Adams suddenly dashed for the plate. “Sparky would have stolen home,” the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported, “but Vance’s pitch hit Hafey in the thigh. Umpire Bill Klem ruled it a dead ball and waved Adams back to third.” Hafey was awarded first base, but the next batter, George Watkins, popped out to catcher Al Lopez, ending the threat. Vance told The Sporting News he hit Hafey on purpose when he realized Adams was likely to steal home. The Cardinals won, 1-0, with a run in the 10th, but the play involving Adams and Hafey added to the legend of Dazzy Vance. https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1930/B09160BRO1930.htm
As always, Mark, I had a great time reading this post and doing a little research. You will have to tell me though, if there’s any truth to the poker game story and getting his sore arm straightened out. I was surprised to see that Dazzy Vance still ranks 4th all time wins and innings pitched for the Dodgers. And,while I’m by no means an expert on advanced stats, Dazzy Vance has the 2nd highest WAR all time among Dodgers pitchers. I also noticed that both Roger’s Hornsby and Jim Bottemley suffered a second 3 strikeout game compliments of Dazzy Vance.
Thanks for noting that Dazzy Vance ranks 4th on the Dodgers’ career list for wins and innings pitched, Phillip. The New York Daily News in 1999 called Vance the greatest Dodgers pitcher during the franchise’s time in Brooklyn. Those stats support that claim. For the record, it might interest some to know that the Dodgers’ career leaders in wins are Don Sutton (233), Don Drysdale (209), Clayton Kershaw (197) and Dazzy Vance (190).
I cannot corroborate the SABR researchers story you cite about how a New Orleans doctor discovered the source of Dazzy Vance’s arm ailment.
Some of the best-written research on The Dazzler was done by David Hinckley in the New York Daily News. Here’s one you might enjoy: With the windfall from a three-year, $47,500 contract Dazzy negotiated after his MVP season, “he and his wife purchased land in Homosassa Springs, Fla., which he converted into a hunting and fishing lodge where for the rest of his life he welcomed not only all former teammates but other adventurous sporting spirits. Dazzy’s place was a regular stop for early aviators who made it to Florida in their flying machines.”
Seven years in the minors for a future hall of famer! Remarkable. I took a quick look at his minor league numbers and they were pretty good. I wonder why it took so long for him to get the call up?
I loved learning about Vance, one of my favorite details was that part about wearing a chopped up undershirt and liking to pitch on Mondays because of the “waving white element.” That’s using the elements. Another great job Mark.
I am delighted you appreciate the details of the elements _ the tattered undershirt and the laundry in the nearby apartment houses. You have a storyteller’s eye.
Dazzy Vance suffered an injury to his right elbow and that’s what led to his long stint in the minors. According to multiple reports, he could pitch effectively at times but not for long stretches.
There are various accounts of what the injury was and how it healed. The pain “was like a knife blade thrust right through the arm at this place,” Vance told the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, pointing to his right elbow. “It hurt so bad I nearly fainted.”
Vance said a family doctor in Hastings, Neb., told him he had inflamed and strained cartilage in the elbow.
The elbow got better while Vance was pitching for New Orleans, just before the Dodgers acquired him. There are some reports he had surgery. In other reports, he credits the New Orleans manager for not overusing him.