Search This Blog

37-02-01 Rush Determined To Save Tatman's Vacant Lot

STARRING: ART VAN HARVEY AND BILL IDELSON
Vic arrives home to find Rush phoning the Mayor to check on a rumor that a building will go up on Tatman's vacant lot, his gang's last strong-hold for baseball.   The gang has elected Rush to reason with Mayor Mills before it's too late. 
 
___________________
TRIVIA:

+ Rush explains there used to be a Williams' vacant lot, which was made into a playground for little kids.  Later, they played at Seymour's vacant lot until a gas station was built on the site. Tatman's vacant lot is their last refuge.  The gang will have to go to the corner of Sangamon Street and Warner Avenue – at least four miles away "an' they got a tough crowd of individuals over there. Just as soon break both your legs as look at ya."

+ Rush: "Why Uppy Doyle that plays quarterback for the Peoria Panthers is 48 years old.  He's got a son 26 that preaches religion in a church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin… Smitty Johnson, left-end for the Cincinnati Cyclones is bald-headed.  Graduated from Knox College before the World's War.  Fat Swilly, the best drop-kicker in the league is going on 50, an' I read by yesterday's paper he's been signed up again this year with the Syracuse Steam-Engines."  Vic stops protesting.  Rush: "You certainly threw the tomahawk at the wrong redskin when you said baseball an' football were boyish pastimes.   

Drop-kicking pretty much died in the NFL by 1941.  According to Wikipedia, only one successful drop-kick has occurred since that year.

And the answer is: 29.1 years old...
+ Rush: "Why, take baseball. Do you know the average age of the players on the Chicago White Sox pitching staff?"

Thanks to the millions of baseball geeks on the internet, that information is readily available.
LABELS , , ,

2 comments:

  1. Sarah ColeSeptember 6, 2012 at 10:29 PM

    Rush's determination is to be admired! Judting from later episodes, he succeeded in his defense of "Fort Tapman" because references are made to the vacant lot throughout the run of Vic and Sade episodes. By now, the lot may be a place of memory, and the local ball teams as well; but Knox College of Galesburg, Illinois, is still going strong. http://www.knox.edu/

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousApril 26, 2015 at 6:55 PM

    THIS should be on the top 20 list of all-time great episodes. Rush has real passion, and for a good cause! Nice that pre-WWII innocence is alive and well. I wish this episode were available! I can imagine Rush trying for a half Nelson and getting an Ozzie Nelson instead.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)