The weather is perfect on this spring evening at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock. Before going in for an Arkansas Travelers game, I look at plaques outside the ballpark honoring the four men for whom the facility was named.
Bill and George "Skeeter" (sometimes "Skeets") Dickey worked with Witt and Jack Stephens at the Stephens Inc. investment firm after the Dickey brothers' professional baseball careers ended. The name of the stadium, where I spend so much time on these spring evenings, is a mix of business and sports, which so often intersect in this small state.
Jack Stephens had far more sports involvement through the years than his older brother. Witt preferred talking politics, and did so with gusto during the luncheons he hosted each Monday through Friday. The guest lists and topics varied. The one thing for certain was that the famous Stephens Inc. cornbread would be on the menu. Witt's weekends were usually spent on the family farm at Prattsville in Grant County.
Jack, meanwhile, was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 for his many contributions to advancing the state's sports culture. He became only the fourth chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia in 1991 and served in that role until 1998. He had become a member in 1962 and joined the executive committee in 1975. In November 1999, Jack Stephens made a $5 million gift to First Tee, a national youth golf organization.
The younger Stephens brother also gave $20.4 million to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to build Stephens Center, the university's on-campus basketball complex that's still among the finest facilities of its kind in the country.
With all due respect to former Baltimore Orioles' great Brooks Robinson, Bill Dickey just might be the best baseball player to have come from Arkansas. Dickey was a member of the inaugural class of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1959. The other members of that first class were Lonoke native and New York Giants football player and coach Jim Lee Howell, Hendrix College coaching legend Ivan Grove, women's basketball star Hazel Walker and University of Arkansas football All-American Wear Schoonover.
Some baseball historians consider Bill Dickey the best catcher in the game's history. Sportswriter Dan Daniel once said: "Bill Dickey isn't just a catcher. He's a ballclub."
Dickey wasn't born in Arkansas, but he always considered himself an Arkansan. He was born near the Arkansas line at Bastrop, La. When he was 3, the Dickey family moved to Kensett in White County, a community that produced another noted Arkansan, Congressman Wilbur Mills, longtime chairman of the powerful U.S. House Ways and Means Committee.
The Dickey family moved to Little Rock when Bill was 15. He played baseball for Little Rock College, a Catholic school, and also played for a semipro team at Hot Springs. A scout for the St. Louis Cardinals was sent to sign Dickey.
"The scout's car had a flat tire," writes Arkansas baseball historian Bob Razer. "The delay allowed Lena Blackburne, manager of the Little Rock Travelers, to sign Dickey before the scout arrived. This was an era when any team--not just major league teams--could sign players to contracts. Dickey split the 1926 season between the Class C Muskogee Athletics in the Western Association and the Class A Southern Association's Travelers. In 1927, the Travelers lent the catcher to the Jackson Senators, a Mississippi team in the Class D Cotton States League.
"Because the Little Rock club had a working agreement with the White Sox, most major league teams assumed Dickey had signed a contract that gave the White Sox the option of buying it. Such arrangements were common during much of baseball's history. But Dickey hadn't signed such a deal, and Chicago failed to press any advantage it might have had. A New York Yankees scout wasn't so hesitant. After watching Dickey play, the scout urged his bosses to buy Dickey's contract, saying, 'I'll quit scouting if this boy doesn't make good.'"
The scout needn't have worried. Dickey was assigned by the Yankees to the Travelers for the 1928 season and moved to New York later in the year. He became the Yankees' regular catcher in 1929 and batted .324. His longevity from that point forward was amazing. Dickey played for the Yankees until 1946. He was an All-Star in 1933, '34, '36, '37, '38, '40, '41, '42, '43 and '46.
Dickey hit more than 20 home runs with more than 100 RBI in four consecutive seasons from 1936-39. Dickey's lifetime batting average was .313. He struck out just 16 times in 1936.
"While Dickey excelled at two of the skills desired in a catcher--durability and hitting--he was equally known for his defense, throwing arm and the art of knowing how to pitch batters to get them out," Razer writes. "In 1931, he became the first catcher in history to go an entire season with no passed balls."
Dickey's best friend on the Yankees was Lou Gehrig. Dickey was the only Yankee teammate invited to Gehrig's wedding and the first teammate Gehrig told of the disease that would end his life. Dickey played himself in the movie "Pride of the Yankees," which starred Gary Cooper.
Dickey's brother "Skeeter" played for the Boston Red Sox in 1935-36 as a backup catcher. He also was a backup catcher for the White Sox in 1941-42 and 1946-47. His best season was 1947, when he appeared in 83 games while hitting .223 with one home run, six doubles and 27 RBI. He had a career average of .206 in six major league seasons.
Senior Editor Rex Nelson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.