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Lunatic? As famed as his pitching prowess are the eccentricities which are the result of Dizzy Dean's semi-illiteracy and shrewd self-aggrandizement. When he first joined the Cardinal's he squandered his money so foolishly that he was put on an allowance of $1 per day. He registered at three hotels, slept in whichever one he was nearest when he felt tired. In Houston he met Patricia Nash, asked her to marry him at the home plate under floodlights. (The ceremony was held elsewhere.) Grown less capable of unconscious buffoonery, Dean has lately been smart enough to live up to his most famed characteristics. On a blistering day in St. Louis last year, he lit a bonfire in front of his team's dugout, wrapped himself in a blanket, pretended to be an Indian. Most famed Dean trait is an arrogance characteristic of all superior athletes. His boast a year ago that he and Paul would win 45 games was one of many which he later justified. Equally amazing, though he just missed fulfilling it, was his prediction to the Press last September that he and his brother would pitch one-hit and no-hit games against Brooklyn on the same afternoon. Brooklyn got three hits against Dizzy, none against Paul.
Almost as able a pitcher as Dizzy, Brother Paul Dean is equally ignorant but more subdued. He was bought by the St. Louis Cardinals two years ago when Dizzy Dean assured President Sam Breadon that young Paul was a better pitcher than himself. He acquired his nickname of "Daffy" not on the field but from reporters who, terrified by their good fortune in having two such characters to write about, feel obliged to treat both Deans, with tedious regularity, as lunatics. Both Dizzy and Daffy are sane. Their older brother, Elmer, is a lack-wit.
Five years ago, when all four Deans were on the move, a long freight train separated the car in which Dizzy, Daffy and Albert ("Pa") Dean were riding from the farm truck which Elmer was driving. When the train had passed, Elmer did not catch up. He remained lost to his family until last summer, when, after seeing his brothers' exploits mentioned in a headline, he turned up in the St. Louis grandstand selling peanuts.
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