Dazzy Vance: Late Bloomer

Charles Arthur Vance was born March 4, 1891, in Orient, Iowa. His father was Albert Theophilus Vance, a farmer, and his mother, Sara Elizabeth; He was their fifth child. When he was young, they moved to a farm in Pleasant Hill Township. Located in Webster County, Nebraska. Webster County is very near the Kansas state line. Vance attended high school but made his baseball reputation pitching for a semi-pro team near Hastings. He married Edythe Carmony, daughter of a railroad worker, and they set up their home in Hastings. They would live there until 1925. Their son Bob was born there in 1918, and a daughter came along a few years later.

Vance, 6’2″, 200lbs, broke into professional baseball in 1912 when he joined the York Prohibitionists of the Class-D Nebraska League. Vance was known for his fastball at the time, and he slowly moved up the ladder. In 1914 he split time in two leagues, winning 26 games, but he strained his arm, pitching four games in six days. After that, his arm usually gave out early in the season, and he was sent to another team. ” Something went wrong with my arm. I could no longer throw hard, and it hurt like the dickens every time I threw,” he said.

In 1915, his contract was purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He lost his MLB debut on April 16th and was promptly traded to the New York Yankees. He lost all three of his decisions there. He was sent to St. Joseph and once again had arm trouble. The Yankees got him treatment, and he got another shot in 1918, and it did not go well. The Yankees would send him out on options, and he bounced around in A and AA ball for the next few seasons. In 1920, he found himself in New Orleans.

While pitching in New Orleans, he was playing poker one night when he banged his arm on the table raking in a pot. He immediately felt intense pain. When it had not gone away the next morning, he went to see a doctor. This doctor found what the previous ones had missed. No one knows exactly what the surgeon did, but Bill James speculated that he removed bone chips and debris from Vance’s elbow. That explanation makes a lot of sense.

After the surgery, Vance found that he no longer experienced pain when he pitched, and his fastball was Dazzling again. Owner Charles Ebbets sent a scout down to New Orleans to scout a catcher they wanted, Hank DeBerry. DeBerry could be purchased, but they wanted Brooklyn to take a pitcher, too, and that pitcher was Vance. Ebbets balked and said no. He could have had Vance earlier and passed. New Orleans replied, no Vance, no DeBerry. Just as Ebbets was about to say no to the whole thing, the scout, Larry Sutton, told him he had talked to DeBerry, and he said he was playing well because Vance was making him look good. According to DeBerry, Vance was the best pitcher in the league.

So, Brooklyn acquired 31-year-old Dazzy Vance and catcher Hank DeBerry. At an age when most pitchers begin to slow down, Vance was making his start toward the Hall of Fame. He was impressive in spring training and made his debut with the Dodgers on April 13. He pitched a complete game with DeBerry catching but lost to the Giants, 4-3.

He won his first major league game on April 26th in Boston, beating the Braves 10-1. He also had three hits in the game and drove in two runs. He won 18 games in each of his first two seasons with the Robins and led the league in strikeouts in both years. Those two were the first of seven straight seasons leading the league in whiffs. Although he was known for his fastball, he also had a devastating curveball.

He had his best season in 1924, leading the league in the mythical triple-crown categories of wins, 28, ERA, 2.16, and strikeouts, 262. He also had 15 straight wins at one point and 30 complete games. He won the NL’s Most Valuable Player award. He was the only NL pitcher to cop that award until Carl Hubbel did it in 1933. Instead of a trophy, they awarded him $1000.00 in gold coins. He set the league record for strikeouts in a 9-inning game by fanning 15 Cubs on August 23rd. One month later, he came back and struck 3 Cubs in order on nine pitches. He and teammate Burleigh Grimes became the only teammates to rank 1-2 between 1905, Mathewson-Ames, and 1960, Koufax-Drysdale. On July 20, 1925, Vance struck out 17 Cardinals in a 10-inning game.

They were quite a pair, Vance and Grimes. They were both great pitchers, but they had little else in common. Vance was a fun-loving flake, and Grimes was dour and dead serious on the mound. Uncharacteristically, Grimes joined Vance and a couple teammates for an after-midnight episode, not out on the town, but in a Pullman car. After finishing a series with the Giants, the Dodgers took the train out of Flatbush and found out the Braves, who had just finished a series with the Phillies, were also on the train.

The miscreants cut eyeholes in pillowcases and invaded the Braves’ sleeping car. Announcing that they were the Ku Klux Klan, they awakened the Braves players and dragged some of them out of bed. When they found Braves catcher Mickey O’Neil, they demanded to know what his signs were. The catcher, who was totally terrified at this point, eventually told them.

By the mid-20s, the team was referred to more often as the Dodgers instead of the Robins. A contingent of these players were also known as the Daffiness Boys. That nickname was cemented by the famous three men on third base adventure. Although not blamed for it, Vance was right in the middle of it. Vance was on second and Chick Fewster on first when rookie Babe Herman hit a long drive to right. As the kid rounded second, the coach yelled at him to go back since Fewster had not yet passed third, Vance, who was on his way home, stopped and went back to the bag because he thought the coach was yelling at him. Meanwhile, Herman kept on coming and to the delight of the fans in attendance, Brooklyn had three men on third. Fewster and Herman were tagged out. Vance, the legal resident, stayed. Herman had doubled into a double play.

Herman was supposedly the daffiest of the bunch, but Vance was right there with him. He even formed a 4-for-0 club. It was for his penchant for hitting four times and not getting a hit. According to Frank Graham, a writer, he even went so far as to have bylaws for the club, including, “Raise as much hell as you like, but don’t get caught.” Pitcher Jesse Petty violated that rule. He was caught coming into the hotel by the manager, Wilbert Robinson after a late-night party. Robinson fined him, and worse yet, he was expelled from the club.

When Petty asked teammates to intercede for him, they refused. He took his woes to baseball writer, Joe Gordon and asked him to write a letter for him apologizing and pleading for reinstatement. Petty copied the letter, signed it, and put it in Vance’s mailbox. That night he was summoned to Vance’s room for a hearing. “Did you write the letter?” Vance asked. Yes, was the reply. ” You are not only a big dope for being caught by Robbie, you are deceitful as well. There are words in this letter you can’t spell and don’t know the meaning of.“His expulsion was made permanent.

While he was pitching, Dazzy wore a sweat-stained tattered sweatshirt. Opponents claimed he cut the shirt into strips with a razor blade. The effect of his fastball coming out of fluttering pieces of flannel was disconcerting to hitters. Vance denied that he cut anything; he said the shirt was that way because it was wearing out. One opponent said if that is the case, he should buy a new one. Dazzy said, ” Oh no, this is my lucky shirt, I have had it since I was in New Orleans. I haven’t even washed it.”

John McGraw, the feisty Giants manager, complained to the league office and NL president, John Heydler. He told McGraw he could find nothing in the rule book against wearing a tattered sweatshirt. So Vance continued wearing the offending garment. He pitched well for Brooklyn throughout the ’20s. He pitched a no-hitter against the Phillies on September 13, 1925. His last season with 20 wins was in 1928. He never reached the lofty heights of 1924 again. In 1932, the 41-year-old Vance won 12 games. The 10th time in 11 years with Brooklyn that he posted double-digit wins.

At the start of the 1933 season, Vance was traded to the Cardinals. He won six games for the Birds, and after the season, he was claimed by the Reds. He pitched sparingly in Cincy and was sent back to St. Louis via waivers in August. The Cardinals won the pennant, and Vance got his first chance at pitching in the fall classic. He pitched one and 1/3rd innings against the Tigers, giving up two hits and no runs, striking out three, After the season, the Cardinals released him in the spring, and he was signed by the Dodgers for the 1935 season. Again, seeing limited action, Vance won 3 games and lost two. He pitched his last game on August 14, 1935. He faced two hitters, and they both reached base.

He retired after the season with 197 wins. He also won 133 games in the minors. So, over his 26-year career, he won 330 games. He was 44 years old. One hundred ninety-one of those wins came with the Dodgers. With Kershaw reaching 197 last season, Vance is fourth all-time behind Sutton, Drysdale and Kershaw.

In the mid-20s, Vance had moved his family to Homosassa Springs, Florida. He enjoyed hunting and fishing and immediately upon retiring, opened a hunting and fishing camp nearby. Later he owned the Homosassa Springs hotel for sportsmen. He spent his years promoting tourism and guiding guests on hunting and fishing trips.

In 1955, Dazzy was accorded baseball’s highest honor and elected to the Hall of Fame. He was told about the honor by Dodger owner Walter O’Malley. But he had suspected he was getting the honor when a highway patrolman pulled him over and told him a photographer was waiting for him at home. Dazzy passed away on February 16th, 1961, two weeks shy of his 70th birthday. His death came as a surprise. An avid outdoorsman, he seemed fit right up to the end. He had actually played an old-timer’s game a month before he passed.