DONLIN & CONNORS....from BB to Actors....any others ?

[tedzan]

Here we have two well-known personalities, approx. 50 years apart, who started in major league BB and
went on to the Hollywood scene. Who knows what their sports careers would have been like....had they
taken them more seriously ?

"Turkey (trot) MIKE" DONLIN......
could have been one of the greatest hitters in BB. The more AB's he had in a given season....the higher
his BA.
Example......1905 he had 606 AB's with 216 Hits for a .356 BA. Donlin's lifetime career BA = .333

However, he preferred to be a dashing and flamboyant figure in the NY Showbiz scene with his actress
wife (Mabel Hite) during the years he was with the Giants. In 1914 he went to Hollywood and appeared
in many silent movies. A heavy drinker, one of Donlin's great friends and drinking buddies was renowned
actor John Barrymore.









KEVIN JOSEPH ALOYSIUS (CHUCK) CONNORS......

An all-sports athlete, Chuck had a taste of MLB (Dodgers and Cubs)....the NBA (Celtics)....the NFL (Bears).
However, he found his calling in Hollywood (when he was playing BB in the PCL); and, the rest is history.

I met Chuck at a BB card show in 1989. We talked BaseBall and Movie stars for about an hour. A really fine
gentleman with a great sense of humor.







So, can you come up with other BB players, who went on to other successful non-sports careers ?

Do tell or show us of them ? ?


TED Z

[milkit1]

Here is turkey mike in The General. Ernie Orsatti did stunt work for Buster Keaton including some fancy motorcycle work in Sherlock Jr. There is a cast and crew picture from Free and Easy that shows him with Buster but I cant seem to find it



gen-table.jpg

[BobC]

You've missed probably the best known of all ballplayers to also work as actors. Johnny Berardino is the only player to have won a World Series (Tribe in '48) and also have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Besides being in various movies, bit parts in various early TV shows, and even supposedly being in some of the Little Rascals shorts prior to his playing days, Berardino is probably best known for his 33 year stint as Dr. Steve Hardy on the soap opera General Hospital (1963-1996).

[prewarsports]

Walter Rehg was an actor after his career. He was a great PCL player who also had some time in the majors who loved Hollywood so much he stayed there after his playing career and appeared in several movies. After his looks and fame faded he stuck around and did the lighting for movies as an electrician for the studios until his death.

Rhys

[kcohen]

I believe that Cap Anson toured on the Vaudeville circuit for some time after the conclusion of his playing days.

[tedzan]

I didn't miss Johnny B....I just didn't want to monopolize this thread with all my posts.

"Here's Johnny"......from the 1948 Cleveland Indians team photo pack.





Thanks for your post.

Best regards,

TED Z

[Jay Wolt]

If allowed some latitude, here are 2 Presidential letters sent to Chuck Connors that I have.

[tedzan]

Thanks for posting your 1952 MC Chuck Connors card. I have many of the cards in this issue,
but the Connors card has eluded me.

And yes....Cap Anson was probably one of the first BB players to seek the lure of the footlights.
Anson made his theatrical debut in 1895 while in the twilight of his BB career. His first vaudeville
show was a "flop". And, I don't know how well he fared in his subsequent gigs.

Best regards,

TED Z

[glynparson]

Appeared in a play entitled The College Widow.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

There was a guy named Cy Malis who did some bit acting. He pitched one game for the 1934 Phillies. Besides that, he founded Narcotics Anonymous. Not a bad career!

Jophrey Brown became a Hollywood stuntman.

A guy named James Donaldson Brown apparently acted in some silent films.

An even more obscure player named George Crable was on the Vaudeville circuit.

I think Hal Chase might have done some Vaudeville as well.

[tedzan]

Thanks for sharing your Presidential letters written to Chuck Connors with us.

If you have any more Connors related stuff, please post it.


TED Z

[Jay Wolt]

Ted, not much else to show except an auto 8 x 10

[T206Collector]

Of course Bob Uecker, if we were getting more recent.

But for vintage, the following is from my Rube Marquard article, which was printed in SGC Collector Magazine a few years ago and is available on my website:

As was not entirely uncommon for baseball players in the early part of the 20th Century, Marquard spent three years on the vaudeville circuit. In fact, he was once married to famed vaudeville singer Blossom Seeley. And Marquard also starred on the silver screen. In 1912, Marquard was featured in a movie with Alice Joyce entitled Rube Marquard Wins. According to a review from Motion Picture World dated August 24, 1912 (available on-line at http://www.stanford.edu/~gdegroat/AJ...ts1912.htm#rmw), Joyce, playing herself in the movie, helped foil a plot to imprison Marquard in order to prevent him from pitching in a decisive game.

From Autographed T206

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Some of the more obvious "actors": Babe, Mickey, and Roger.

[tedzan]

Part of my conversation with Chuck (20 years ago), we talked about one of my favorite Western movies, "The Big Country".
He played a real bad dude in it; and, he told me of some great stories regarding the filming of it.

I have a favor to ask of you....when you get a chance, please email me at......tedzan11@comcast.net

Thanks,

TED Z