Eddie Gaedel
Sportsman’s Park, St. Louis
August 19, 1951
An E-mail notification from President Tom Keefe, Eddie Gaedel Society, Spokane Chapter # 1:
11/21/14
Bill:
Having exercised my considerable executive authority as founder and president of the Eddie Gaedel Society, Spokane Chapter #1, it is my great honor to notify you that your classic song, “The Ballad of Eddie Gaedel” has been adopted as the official ballad of the Eddie Gaedel Society, and has been scheduled for a public performance at O’Doherty’s Irish Grille & Pub in Spokane, WA, at the 5th annual meeting of the Eddie Gaedel Society next August. A barbershop quartet that includes a gentleman who was there at Sportsman’s Park on Eddie’s big day, as a guest of Bill Veeck, will perform, as will the soon to be formed Eddie Gaedel Choir, made up of club members and O’Doherty’s regulars, some of whom claim to be actually capable of carrying a tune. In addition, Spokesman Review columnist Doug Clark, who plays a mean guitar when he is not writing about the Eddie Gaedel Society and other important civic events in Spokane, will provide accompaniment. We are planning on having the performance professionally audio and video recorded with the intention of uploading it to the internet, where your great contribution to the Gaedel Saga will itself be “safe for all eternity!” Hopefully, it will then be close enough to the gates of Heaven that our hero, Saint Eddie the Little Walker, will be able to sing along with a smile.
Regards,
Tom Keefe, President
Eddie Gaedel Society
Spokane Chapter #1
Our Pecan Park Eagle Response:
11/21/14
I am humbly honored by this wonderful news of my song becoming Eddie’s anthem. It’s object for years always was to keep little Eddie Gaedel’s name and accomplishment alive – and now your energy and the very much living Eddie Gaedel Society and the formulating choir are about to lift that goal into the wild blue yonder of forever.
Let me know if you still would like to hear that key change in the last stanza over the phone – and my impression of how the “Hail, Eddie!” shout at the end adds a major punctuating send-off to the little big man’s crowning glory.
Have a nice weekend too! – Regards, Bill
The Ballad of Eddie Gaedel plays out as follows:
(Sung to the tune of “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer”)
By Bill McCurdy, 1999. (Final Version)
_________________________________________
Bill Veeck, the Brownie owner,
Wore some very shiny clothes!
And if you saw his sport shirt,
You would even say, “It glows!”
All of the other owners,
Used to laugh and call him names!
They wouldn’t let poor Bill Veeck,
Join in any owner games!
(Chorus) Then one humid summer day,
Bill Veeck scratched – his fidget!
Got an idea that stirred his soul,
He decided to sign a – midget!
His name was Eddie Gae-del,
He was only three feet tall!
He never played much baseball;
He was always just too small!
(Chorus) Then one day in Sportsman’s Park,
Eddie went to bat!
Took four balls and walked to first,
Then retired – just like that!
Oh, how the purists hated,
Adding little Eddie’s name,
To the big book of records,
“ Gaedel” bore a blush of shame!
Now when you look up records,
Look up Eddie’s O.B.P.!
It reads a cool One Thousand,
Safe for all eternity!
Hail, Eddie!
The Pecan Park Eagle 
November 22, 2014 at 3:32 pm |
Your poem on your found youth baseball, should also be enshrined.
November 22, 2014 at 4:05 pm |
I’m nominating Bill McCurdy as poet laureate of the State of Texas
November 22, 2014 at 4:21 pm |
Bill: Will you attend the festivities in Spokane next August? I think you should. Congratulations.
November 22, 2014 at 4:46 pm |
Its a clever song, Bill and a worthy honor. Congratulations I’ve heard you sing the song, I’ve seen pictures of Eddie Gaedel. And there you have the long and the short of it!
Mike
November 22, 2014 at 5:04 pm |
Robert Frost did some of his best work after 75…you’ve got a lot more ahead of you. Next: The Babe and his Called Shot? maybe?