The Day Bill Dickey Slugged the Senators’ Carl Reynolds, Breaking His Jaw!

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Bill Dickey Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to see photos in full size and to start Photo Gallery:

: Carl Reynolds at the late

: Carl Reynolds with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig

: Carl Reynolds

: Old-TImers’ Game: Herb Pennock, Bill Dickey, Wally Schang

: Lou Gehrig talks to Yankee teammates, including Joe Gordon, Lefty Gomez, andBill DIckey

: Bill DIckey ready to tag out Johnny Pesky

: Yankees George Selkirk, Tommy Henrich, Babe Dahlgren, Joe Gordon, Joe DiMaggio, Bill DIckey

: Bill Dickey at the unveiling of plaque for Lou Gehrig

: Bill DIckey with brother George Dickey

: Bill Dickey beaned at the plate on June 20, 1935. Catcher is Mickey Cochrane, umpire is Harry Geisel

: Classic All-Star pic, 1937

: Bill DIckey with financee Violet Arnold,, 1932

: Joe Gordon, Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, Bill Dickey

: Bill DIckey speaks at ceremony to unveil plaque to Lou Gehrig

: Bill Dickey with Spud Chandler

: Yankees Frank Crosetti, Bud Metheny, Billy Johnson, Charlie Keller, Bill DIckey, Nick Etten, Joe Gordon, Johnny Lindell, Spud Chandler

: Bill Dickey with Babe Ruth and actor Harry Harvey, who played Joe McCarthy in Pride of the Yankees.

: Great Yankee catchers

: Red Ruffing and Bill Dickey

: Bill Dickey mentors a young Yogi Berra on the fundamentals of catching

: Bill Dickey, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Tony Lazzeri

: Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra

: Bill DIckey

The Day Bill Dickey Slugged the Senators’ Carl Reynolds, Breaking His Jaw!

“Bill Dickey is the best catcher I ever saw… He was as good as anyone behind the plate, and better with the bat.”–Bob Feller

“I owe everything I did in baseball to Bill Dickey. He was a great man”- Yogi Berra

Off the field, Bill Dickey was known for his calm, even tempered demeanor, universally regarded as a great teammate. But once he crossed the “white lines” and the game was underway, things changed. The easy-going persona was left behind in the dugout, and he became a fierce, relentless competitor. So it was just a matter of time until the conditions were ripe for a Bill Dickey eruption…

And so it happened on July 4, 1932, 86 years ago this summer, in a game between the Yankees and the Senators played at Washington’s Griffith Stadium. In the bottom of the seventh in the first game of a double header, Bill Dickey landed a hay-maker smack dab into the jaw of the Senators’ right-fielder, Carl Reynolds, breaking it in two places.

Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Bill Dickey

Here’s how the unfortunate incident unfolded:

Apparently there had been bad-blood brewing between the two teams for some time. All these years later, who can say why. Carl Reynolds was perched on third, hoping for a chance to score. Following a failed suicide bunt and a botched play at third, he raced home and barreled into catcher Bill Dickey. A violent collision ensued, with Dickey apparently getting the worst of it. (Need I say this was a good two generations before the Buster Posey rule? But we’ll save that topic for another day…) After Reynolds got up and started walking away, he suddenly reversed course and returned to the scene to be sure he touched the plate.

Meanwhile, Dickey, dazed from the collision, at first thought Reynolds had deliberately tried to hurt him with the hard slide. He now suspected Reynolds was returning to continue the altercation…and maybe to even get another piece of Dickey. At least that’s what went though his mind. So Dickey reacted reflectively and struck first, sucker-punching Reynolds right in the kisser.

The aftermath did not go Dickey’s way. American League president Will Harridge levied a $1,000 fine and a 30 day suspension. Yankees’ general manager Ed Barrow appealed the harsh punishment but to no avail. Washington owner Clark Griffith complained that Dickey should be suspended for at least as long as Reynolds was unable to play. As it turned out, Dickey missed 31 games. He returned to the Yankee lineup on August 4, $1,000 poorer.

Baseball fights and brawls have been part of the game forever. What makes this one unusual was Dickey’s remorseful recollection of the incident:

“I never was so sorry about a thing in my life. It seems that the Senators had shouted to Carl to return and touch the plate. In my dazed state, I thought he was coming back to strike me. I struck first. That tells the whole story. I felt terrible about what I’d done and deserved the punishment, which was considerable.”

Bill Dickey’s Career

Noted for his offensive production, his great arm, and his ability to handle pitchers, the Bastrop. Louisiana native played 17 seasons in the major leagues (1928-’43, 1946). Over his career, the 11-time All-Star hit .313, with 202 home runs, 1209 RBIs, .382 on-base percentage, and .486 slugging average. He reached double digits in home runs nine times, the 100 RBI mark four times, and batted better than .300 11 times. In 38 post-season games, he hit .255 with 24 RBIs and five home runs.

Other career highlights include:

As a player, manager, and coach, he was a member of 14 World Champion teams.
In the late 1930s Dickey posted some of the finest offensive seasons ever by a catcher, hitting over 20 home runs with 100 RBI in four consecutive seasons, from 1936 through 1939.
His 1936 batting average of .362 was the highest single-season average ever recorded by a catcher, until Joe Mauer hit .365 in 2009.
The 1941 season marked Dickey’s thirteenth year in which he caught at least 100 games, a major league record.
In 1999, he was named to The Sporting News list of Baseball’s Greatest Players, ranking number 57. His Number 8 has been retired by the Yankee. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1954.

Cut from the same cloth as many of the game’s greatest offensive catchers, including Johnny Bench, Roy Campanella, Josh Gibson, Yogi Berra, Thurman Munson, and Mike Piazza, I think we can overlook this one blot on Bill Dickey’s otherwise stellar career!

Gary Livacari

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Photo Credits: All from Google search

Information: Quotes from Bill Dickey SABR biography by Joseph Wancho https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/25ce33d8 ; Excerpts edited from the Bill Dickey Wikipedia page.

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