Dizzy and Patricia Dean
1934
Mrs. Dean may have been Baseball’s first unofficial spousal MLB player contract agent.
Many of you already know that Dizzy Dean‘s wife, Patricia Dean, handled the money in the Dean household and that she also served as his – and her own – negotiable interests speaker on any contractual matter involving Dizzy and any of his employers, long before players had agents. Her knowledgeable and active style even allowed her to negotiate subsidy for her own travel with her husband’s ball clubs – and also later with his broadcasting employers and sponsors during his post-player media career. In the 2016 book “Dizzy: Dean of Baseball and My Podnah'” by Gene Kirby, an anecdote unfolds about how Dizzy still had not signed away his right to express quotable words on any contract discussions that were not working out right away as he thought they should – and at the money level he had in mind.
This example is quoted from the book. It occurred at some unspecified time during Dean’s broadcasting career – when Falstaff Beer was both his telecast sponsor and employer:
“One year, holding out for $100,000 a year and a long-term contract, Dean threatened to quite the baseball broadcasts and the brewery if he didn’t get what wanted. Broadcast contracts always were haggled out with the advertising agency which then got Falstaff’s approval. Agency people were tougher to deal with – which made Ol’ Diz much more obstinate.
“These folks had been going on for a long time They not only involved more money but also deferred payments, personal appearances, vacation time during baseball season, and Patricia Dean’s travel expenses. Unusual for the day, she went along with Dizzy on almost every trip.
“Finally, Dizzy had enough of all this bickering and made a suggestion. ‘I’ll work for one year for just $100,000,” he stated, ‘but I want all my money in cash and in one lump sum!’
“At this point, Patricia came into the conversation. ‘Why, Jay, that’s crazy!’ she shouted. ‘In that case you’ll have to give most of the money toe government! Why not spread the payments out?’
” ‘I don’t care,’ Diz countered. ‘Tel you what I’m going to do. I’ll take the 100,000 bucks, go back home to our ranch in Texas, buy $100,000 worth of cow manure, and spread it over our 140 acres.
” ‘Then I’m gonna call the Internal Revenue Service in Washington and tell ’em to go ahead and take whatever I owe ’em right out of it!’
“Needless to say, Mrs. Dean was unmoved. As was so often the case, she eventually won out and the Dean couple opted for the more traditional way of getting paid.”
~ excerpt, “Dizzy: Dean of Baseball and My Podnah'” by Gene Kirby, pp. 46-47.
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Publisher, Editor, Writer
The Pecan Park Eagle
The Pecan Park Eagle 
January 25, 2017 at 7:05 pm |
Lol, besides being a character he was a pretty good ole country ballplayer. …Nellie Fox just slud into 3rd, Buddy B.