Park scoreboard, died on June 12, 2010, after twenty years of dealing with the cancer that eventually took her life. Her obituary in the
Sun-Times
said, âAs a clinical psychologist, Juliana Veeck-Brosnan counseled some of the cityâs most troubled youthâadolescents others had written offâand helped them find a passage through the chaos of their lives.ââJuliana was probably one of the most gifted psychologists ever,â said a close friend and former colleague at Childrenâs Memorial Hospital, psychologist Sharon Berry, âand she worked with the hardest and most difficult situations.â Like her father, she had a quirky sense of humor. When she got married in 1989, she brought her black Labrador retriever, Raven, to the church. Raven sat in the back row, wearing a shiny new yellow collar. âIt was great,â her husband, Tom Brosnan, said. âI thought she was nuts at first, but it really worked well.â 6 Juliana and Tom have three children, Christian, Jack, and Olivia.
Christopher Veeck, who was born in Easton on June 19, 1962, died in 1995 at only thirty-two of a heart attack. At the time of his death he ran the concessions for two sports complexes in Houston and lived in Humble, Texas. He is survived by his companion, Ann-Marie Hewitt, and a son, Patrick. 7
ALTER EGOS AND CLOSE ASSOCIATES
Hank Greenberg died in 1986, the same year that Bill did, on September 4 in Beverly Hills after a thirteen-month bout with cancer. According to Mary Frances, Greenberg used to say to Bill, âIf you were as charming to the other owners as you are to cab drivers or doormen, theyâd be eating out of your hands.â 8
Ed Linn died on February 7, 2000, at his home in Spring Valley, California, at seventy-seven; the cause was cancer. Linn covered the trial of Jack Ruby for the
Saturday Evening Post
and worked with bank robber Willie Sutton on his autobiography,
Where the Money Was
(1976). But he was best known for sportswriting, having been a contributing editor to
Sport
magazine and coauthor with Veeck for
Veeckâas in Wreck
(1962)
Rudie Schaffer died on November 27, 2007, in Menlo Park, California, at the age of ninety-six. âHe really was [Bill Veeck]âs alter ego,â said Veeckâs widow, Mary Frances. âThey enjoyed a great relationship. They were the triumvirateâBill, [Rudie Schaffer], and Roland Hemond. The three ran the Sox.â
Larry Doby was at former Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Don Newcombeâs home near Los Angeles when he learned in March 1998 that heâd finally made it to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. âItâs kind of like a bale of cotton has been on your shoulders and now itâs off,â he told Hal Bodley of
USA Today.
âI canât tell you my feelings, but theyâre great.â He had waited thirty-six years, during which time he had also lobbied strongly for Veeckâs inclusion in the Hall of Fame. Doby died on June 18, 2003, at his home in Montclair, New Jersey. He was seventy-nine.
Acknowledgments
Bill Veeck was afraid for his old friend Casey Stengel in 1967 because a new biography by Joe Durso, a
New York Times
writer, was about to be published. âI was afraid it would be another paint pot glue job in which you read the clippings and put the book together,â he confessed on his syndicated radio show. Within this fear was another, deeper one: that Durso would opt to depict Stengel as a clown.
But then Durso, presumably with a wink and a nudge from Stengel, offered Veeck a chance to write the introduction and with it a chance to read the book in the form of uncorrected proof pages. âThe real Casey came through,â said Veeck. âDurso did him wellâmagnificent job.â He added that in Dursoâs capable hands Caseyâs life became a history of our times.
It is in this spirit that I attempt to bring Veeck into focus as neither a clown nor a heroâalthough
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