Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, “I Love Lucy,” the Cobb Salad and the Hollywood Stars (and Hollywood stars) captivated members at the February chapter meeting on Saturday, Feb. 20, as former award-winning baseball broadcaster Dan Taylor (pictured above) shared stories from his new book about the Hollywood Stars in the Pacific Coast League.
Eighteen SABR members and guests learned about the 20-year history of the Hollywood Stars, as told by Taylor, author of “Lights, Camera, Fastball: How the Hollywood Stars Changed Baseball,” due to be published next month.
Taylor told us about how Bob Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby restaurants and inventor of the Cobb Salad, purchased the team in 1939 and enlisted a number of Hollywood stars to join the ownership group. Others included Gene Autry, future owner of the Los Angeles Angels, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Cecil B. DeMille and William Frawley, who played Fred on “I Love Lucy.”
Taylor also shared a number of innovations by the Hollywood Stars that are still part of the game today. In 1940s, the team became the first to televise home games. Later, they added breaks during the game to groom the infield, giving players a breather and fans another chance to visit the concessions. As part of the Pacific Coast League, the Stars pushed to join the major league ranks (at a time when Major League Baseball was interested in adding a league rather than individual teams). The four areas in the league at the time – Los Angeles, the Bay Area, San Diego and Seattle – all added major league teams.
As Cobb was positioning to bring major league baseball to California, he scouted an area that he thought would be perfect for a new stadium. While he didn’t bring it to fruition, the Dodgers – newly relocated from Brooklyn to Los Angeles – built their stadium on the same location that Cobb identified – Chavez Ravine. Taylor said that Cobb’s grandson told him that the two words that could never be said in the household were “Walter O’Malley,” former Dodgers owner who brought the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
But still, Cobb supported the Dodgers and Angels, and as a good friend of Autry’s, held his allegiance for the Angels, Taylor said.
Jim Baker wanted to know the best players to don a Stars uniform. Taylor said that the team didn’t field many quality players, especially in its first 10 years, but noted that Hall of Fame players Bill Mazeroski and Bobby Doerr played for the Stars.
Published by Rowman & Littlefield, Taylor’s book is available for preorder on Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and the publisher’s website. The book will be published on March 17, 2021.
After Taylor’s presentation and lively question-and-answer session, chapter member Gary McIntosh presented his quiz drawn from his review of recently acquired Sporting News publications from the 1950s and 1960s. In the screen-grab below, Gary showed a page featuring articles about Babe Ruth published shortly after the Bambino died.
Cy Morong won the trivia contest with 12 points; Michael Bass was second with 8 points and Mike Dillon had 7 points.
Click here for the link to the quiz with answers:
Sporting News Trivia Quiz 022021
This was the 171st consecutive month the chapter has met and the eleventh monthly chapter meeting held via Zoom.
The next chapter meeting will be at 1 p.m. Central Time Saturday, March 13. SABR member Dan Levitt will be our guest speaker and give us a preview of his presentation, “Baseball’s First Drug Controversy,” which is scheduled for the 28th Annual NINE Spring Training Conference.
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