I first heard about Bill Veeck watching White Sox games on cable TV in the 1970s, when my Tigers would play the ChiSox and Tigers announcer George Kell would talk about Veeck and how much he had done for baseball.
William Louis Veeck, Jr. was born on February 9, 1914, in Chicago, Illinois.
Bill worked for his Father, who was the President of the Chicago Cubs in the 1930s, became the Cubs treasurer after the death of Bill, Sr, and in 1937, Veeck stamped his name in Cubs lore by painting the outfield wall and planting the now famous Ivy in Wrigley Field.
What I remember most about Bill Veeck...
...those unusal but fantastic uniforms the 1976 White Sox wore, including softball shorts...
....the ridiculous Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park in 1979...
...and watching Bill Veeck sitting in the outfield bleachers at baseball games...shirtless, drinking a beer wigh fans , and putting his wooden leg up on a seat, or the outfield wall...Veeck had lost his leg serving in World War II.
Bill Veeck passedaway on February 2, 1986, just a week away from his 72nd Birthday.
Bill Veeck certainly made baseball fun for the fans of the teams he ran, from the American Association Milwaukee Brewers, to the 1948 World Series Champion Cleveland Indians, the St. Louis Browns, the 1959 American League Champion Chicago White Sox, and then with the ChiSox one last time in the 70s.
In 1991 Bill Veeck was posthumosly inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Today we say Happy Baseball Birthday! to the one and only Bill Veeck.
PLAY BALL!
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