Knothole gangs came about long before Happy Felton formed his in Brooklyn. The term came from a time when baseball fields had wooden fences. Kids who could not afford the price of a ticket found they could watch the game for free when knots in the fence fell out, creating a knothole. Naturally, gangs of kids would gather around these to watch the games.
The first actual knothole gang came about in the late 1800s, probably about 1889, when New Orleans Pelicans owner Abner Powell promoted the first knothole gang when he allowed kids to watch for free if they showed good behavior. Another good example was the Columbus Redbirds of Columbus, Ohio. If kids decided they wanted to sign up, they would do so, and if they got good grades, they would be admitted free to any home game except the playoffs and All-Star games.
The Brooklyn Dodgers handed out over 2 million free passes to kids in the 40’s and 50’s. Kids used to lie down to peek under the center field gate at Ebbets Field. From 1962-1965 the Colt 45’s called their knothole gang the Six Shooter Club.
Historically, the St. Louis Cardinals are recognized as sponsoring the first Knothole Gand Club. In Baseball Through a Knothole, a St. Louis history by Bill Borst, he tells the story. William Edward Bilheimer, a St. Louis insurance man, introduced the idea of a “Knothole Gang.” With every 50-dollar purchase of stock in the Cardinals, one bleacher seat was opened up free of charge for the city’s youth. This was the beginning of the 1917 season and came about as part of the plans when Mrs. Helen Britton sold the Cardinal club to a fan syndicate from the city’s prominent businessmen that formed an army of stockholders. Executive Branch Rickey formed the idea.
Francis J. Felton was born in Pennsylvania on November 30th, 1907. He would go on to work in Vaudeville, be a bandleader, and host children’s programs. He was known as Happy. After his graduation from college, he played drums in a circus, worked in a medicine man show, sang in the Four Ambassadors Quartet, and performed in Vaudeville with Adele Jason and the Boys. He was also a headliner in Vaudeville, including being held over as head of Loews State Theater Vaudeville show in August of 1943.
Following those activities, he formed and led an orchestra that played in nightclubs and hotels around the United States for ten years. He left the orchestra to go to Broadway, where he replaced Chic Johnson in Hellzapoppin, a role that lasted 14 months. He went on to appear in comedic roles in touring companies of Broadway shows and appeared in a few films. A Guy Named Joe, a WWII picture starring Spencer Tracy, Swing Shift Maise with Ann Southern, and one of my favorites, Whistling in Brooklyn with Red Skelton. He also made a short film called Music with a Smile, the Happy Felton Style. In 1947 he formed Happy Felton Music, a publishing company.
In April of 1950, the Happy Felton Knothole Gang debuted on WOR.TV in New York. The show started 25 minutes before each Brooklyn Dodgers home game. Felton and three youngsters would be in the Ebbets Field bullpen in right field. The kids would be evaluated by a Dodger player on their fielding ability, speed, and baseball competence. All three would receive baseball equipment, and the winner would get to return the next day to chat with his favorite Dodger. Boy, would kids today love that?
Boys on the program were initially recommended by the league in which they played. Those nominees were then screened by the American Legion, the Catholic Youth Organization, and the Police Athletic League to determine the final participants. It was initially sponsored by Tidewater Oil Company and the Studebaker Dealers Association of New York.
A review in the New York Times of June 3, 1955, episode described the show as ” a valuable service for youngsters interested in baseball.” Critic J.P. Stanley noted that Felton “knows how to talk to youngsters without making them feel hostile or foolish.” He also praised Jackie Robinson and Carl Erskine for their contributions to the workout and interview portions of the show.
In March 1952, Loews Theaters and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer concluded a deal that had the two companies sponsoring Knothole Gang broadcasts. The arrangement also included using Loew’s theaters for ” movie meetings on Saturday mornings” with special programs for the children and plans for special events at Ebbets Field. On the first Saturday of the program, 50,000 youngsters registered (free) in 35 theaters, and more registration cards were requested. Each theater included the showing of a baseball-related film and opportunities to ask questions of a baseball player. And a chance to win prizes. Felton would appear live at one theater each week, while others had a Felton film in the place of a personal appearance.
Felton added a second program in 1951, a Talk to the Stars post-game show. He was the master of ceremonies in a question-and-answer show featuring a Dodger player and a member of the opposing team. Initially, questions were called in by fans, but the popularity of the show brought a change of having questions submitted by postcard. They averaged 5.000 a week. Felton had other pursuits and shows on TV throughout his affiliation with the Knothole Gang. One was based on his old Vaudeville act. The Knothole Gang itself was active until 1958, when the Dodgers moved west.
Happy Felton was married in 1942 to composer, Vi Brantley. They had two daughters. Happy passed away on October 21, 1964, at Mt. Sinai Hospital at the age of 56. In my first game at the Coliseum in 1958, we sat in the Knothole section down the right field line.
Just wanted to let you know that researching this was a fun read. Happy was a very talented man.
Thanks Bear. Interesting read. I never heard of the guy. A knothole section down the right field line? Never heard of that either.
I belonged to a version of that gang. My parents were not church goers when I was young, but they wanted me to go to Sunday School so they would drop me off in front of the church and come back an hour later to pick me up. There was an open field with a cow grazing in it across the street from the church and after my parents drove away I would meet Richie, who had a bat and ball, and a few other friends for 55 minutes of our favorite game. I was back on the church steps before the services ended. When my parents asked me what I learned in Sunday School I told them “Well, the Pasture said “Don’t go Over The Line”.
Why am I telling you this? Because we called ourselves The Not Holy Gang.
Some of that is true.
I lived in a home for kids in Highland Park at the time. The free tickets they used to get for underprivileged kids were called the knothole section. Way down the RF line at the coliseum beyond where the RF fence was. Players looked like ants.
That’s a Badger story if I ever heard one. Thanks for the early morning chuckle.
Speaking of chuckles, today is Bob Uecker’s 89th birthday. One of the funniest guys to ever put on a baseball uni.
Welcome. Old guy story.
Catcher in the Wry.
On warm summer evenings a couple of friends and I would occasionally walk to and watch movies through a chain link fence at a local drive in. Our small town didn’t have a baseball team.
I thought Bear left.
If he did then I’m certain this one was on a calling and it’s also why he’s writing. It’s clear he is appreciated here and has things to share.
Nope, never left. I am also writing on Jeff site.
No, he is just writing for Jeff too.
Bear is not leaving until they pry the keyboard and mouse out of his cold, dead fingers, which I have upon good authority; that is going to be when he hits 100!
Bear hit 100 in Little League. That’s why he picked up a guitar.
Sorry to disappoint you. The only year I played little league, I was 11. I went 15-21, which comes to .714. I only struck out 3 times and had one homer which was an inside the park thing since we did not have any fences. At that age, I could flat out rake. Lowest BA I ever had in slo pitch was over .600.
It. Was. A. Joke.
I know, just yanking your chain. By the way, I did not start playing the guitar until I was out of the Army.
The Indianapolis Indians have a Knot Hole Club:
https://www.milb.com/indianapolis/tickets/knot-hole-kids-club
Thank you Bear
I love your stories about the Dodgers in the 50’s and 60’s. They are like a Time Machine that bring up so many memories for me. With all the crap in our world today I miss that simpler, slower paced life. Not saying it was perfect back then, but in many ways It was much better than what we have today.
Thank you thank you thank you Bear – Gold Medal
To you Gerald, and Spokane Bob, you are welcome. I love baseball history and Dodger history in particular.
I remember watching on Channel 9.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we hear Danny Duffy signing a minor league contract with invite to ST right about the time pitchers and catchers report to CBR.
It seems AF always has a surprise or two as I recall a couple of
years ago it was Jimmy Nelson who signed and was announced by a reporter who saw his name plate above locker before it was announced by the team.
The only move that would totally surprise me would be a major trade before spring training. Not something AF does.
Feb 10, 2020 – Dodgers trade for Mookie Betts
No, it doesn’t happen often, but it has happened.
That is true, but Betts is a special case. And that deal had been rumored for more than a month. They spent most of that time working out the details. Remember, Graterol was supposed to be part of that trade, the Bosox did not like his medicals, so the trade was revised. That took time. Original trade was worked out in January. And that is the one and only time it has happened on his watch.
You old guys would know this. Back in the New York Giants days and Brooklyn Dodgers the reason why there was so many good pitchers is because the pitchers hit and pitches and there was like only maybe 13 palyers on a team. That’s why you see no hitters one hitters. Baseball was baseball everyone played. And the two guys on the bench were usually subs to play anywhere in the field. Alot if times they ball players would drive from one city to the next on a bus or take a train. And they drank heavily so most games they players were hung over. My great great grandfather said Babe Ruth would show up skunk drink and throw like a one hitter and hit two homers. Can you imagine in today’s game a player showing up with a whisper of alcohal on his breath and they wouldn’t start him because it be bad press coverage. I used to work in single A baseball and I was around the palyers age. When we went out after the games the only rule the manager and organization had. Was don’t show up drunk to the ballpark the next day. Man those guys would drink until four o’clock in the morning because well they don’t have to be back to the ball park until 500 the next day. But that was the only rule. And if they chewed tabacvo make sure fans didn’t see them take a dip. It was when baseball was doing the know tabacco policy. If they fans saw you and complained you would why fined for it. So what did the guys do. Took a dip in the clubhouse before going out on the field. Or say they had to go use the restroom. As long as the fans didn’t see them. Just some baseball jabber thought was fun to talk about the best part of going to college hanging out at the ballpark with the players and after the game.
I was listening to MLB. Radio a couple of days ago, and Ryan Spilborghs, who played in MLB for parts of 7 seasons, said that if he had played in the early part of last century, he would have been the best player on the field. They didn’t train, drank all night, smoked, chewed tobacco, and had horrible diets. He says that many oldtimers tell him that today’s players are so much better. Then came the era of specialists – relief pitchers. He said that Babe Ruth and Ted Williams both faced about 400 different pitchers in their careers.
Gary Sheffield faced almost 1300!
The 25 man roster was around since the early 1900’s. There were not just 13 players. There were four starting pitchers, and maybe 6 or 7 arms in the pen in the old days, usually older guys on their way down. You had 8 starters since the pitchers hit, but most teams carried a spare catcher, a couple of infielders and spare outfielders. Pitchers usually finished what they started back in those days. As for Ruth, he was known to have a drink or two, but he rarely if ever showed up drunk. He also was noted for eating as many as 6 hotdogs before a game and washing them down with a bunch of cokes. No disrespect intended to your great great grandfather, but Ruth never pitched a one hit shutout in which he hit 2 home runs. Babe pitched four shutouts in his entire career, one of which was a one-hitter. That came against Detroit in 1917. He pitched a two-hitter against the Tigers in 1916. Tobacco became a big no no when many former players began dying from cancer. And when photos of how they looked after chewing for several years were published, it was clear that MLB should say something about it.
Don’t know if any of you remember or were part of the Jr Dodger club from 1971-1973. Think the max age was 12 – but membership was $6 you would get 6 tix games, tshirt,pennant,club card. Best deal in world for 6 bucks !!
Bring back games on channel 11 KTTV w Vinny,Jerry Doggett.
Need those days back !!
I was too old for that. But I remember it well. KTTV. 11 games a year, all from San Francisco. Vin and Jerry with Jerry doing the third and seventh innings just like on the radio. Saturday game of the week, that was all the baseball we saw on TV back then.
Also Mel Allen narrating ‘This Week in Baseball’ wouldnt miss it every Sat. Bear you mentioned those SF games – old Candlestick got soooo windy was crazy with all the flying paper everywhere. Good memories !
I remember Stu Miller getting blown off of the mound once, and the strangest game delay ever, a game delayed because of fog. Howard hit a popup no one saw that landed behind second base and he got a double.
I kind of remember the same thing, so I did a little research and here it is:
Did Stu Miller Really Get Blown Off The Mound at Candlestick Park?
Jon Brooks
Jan 8, 2015
Retired San Francisco Giants’ All-Star pitcher Stu Miller threw out the first pitch at the team’s home opener in 2007. Wind was not a factor.
Anyone who is a student of our national pastime, San Francisco or meteorology knows that a gust of wind blew scrawny yet effective junkball pitcher Stu Miller off the mound during the 1961 All-Star Game at Candlestick Park. That highly localized squall resulted in perhaps the most famous balk call in baseball history, contributing to a game-tying ninth-inning rally by the American League.
Miller, in the midst of a great year in relief for the Giants, eventually got the win, along with a (literally) blown save.
The Stu Miller incident remains in that hazy realm where memory, exaggeration and the desire for the best possible story come together to forge baseball lore.
But while he was never perceived as the protagonist of a Grade A baseball tragedy in the manner of Ralph Branca, Bill Buckner and Johnny Pesky, the image of Miller being whipped about by Candlestick wind pixies, a veritable plaything of the elements, was forever cemented in the public’s imagination. And though Miller twice led the league in saves and ended his 16-year career with a stingy 3.24 ERA, there was never any doubt that upon his passing, the Candlestick incident would feature prominently in any obituary.
And so it was on Monday, when news came that the 87-year-old had died at his Sacramento-area home. The headline in the New York Times was typical:
“Stu Miller, All-Star Who Committed a Windblown Balk, Dies at 87.”
Miller Responds
The best description of Miller I ever read comes from “The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book,” by Brendan C. Boyd and Fred C. Harris:
Stu Miller thew the ultimate banana ball. You had time for a Coke and sandwich while waiting for his fastball to arrive. His pitches took so long to get up to the plate in fact that they occasionally even appeared to be going backward. Watching him from behind the third base dugout was guaranteed to make your palms itch and your seat squirm. You wanted to hightail it on down to the bat rack and have a rip at the little guy yourself. It was all an optical illusion of course. You couldn’t have hit him and neither could very many real ballplayers. His pitches may have looked like custard pies on the way up to the plate but they had a tendency to disappear when they arrived.
It all caught up with him in the 1961 All-Star Game, though.
While pitching into the aberrated air currents of San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, he became the first pitcher in modern baseball history to be blown off the mound by a gust of wind. Stick that in your old ephus ball Stu. You little bundle of meaningless motions.
Miller, needless to say, grew tired of such ribbing, and the fact that entire generations of baseball fans were going to picture him being lifted off the mound like “The Flying Nun.” In 2007, when the All-Star Game returned to San Francisco for the second time since 1961, the 79-year-old former hurler attempted to set the record straight. From the Associated Press at the time:
A calm day had turned windy, some of the harshest gusts Miller saw in the three years that Candlestick was his home park while he played for the Giants. He remembered Harvey Haddix chasing his hat as it was buffeted around the infield and the flags nearly blowing off the poles.
“Just as I was ready to pitch, an extra gust of wind came along and I waved like a tree,” he said. “My whole body went back and forth about 2 or 3 inches. The AL bench all hollered balk. I knew it was a balk, but the umpires didn’t call it at first. I went ahead and threw the pitch and [Rocky] Colavito swung and missed. The umpire then took off his mask and motioned the runners to second and third.”
In an article about the incident on the Giants’ website, Miller minimizes the effect of the wind even more:
“Before I threw a pitch, I went into a stretch position and then there was an extra gust of wind and I just wavered a bit,” Miller said. “… I don’t think any of the fans knew what happened. They were probably wondering why the hell did those runners move up.”
Miller told AP that the event was decidedly overblown. Uh, underblown….
The next day in the paper there was a banner headline: ‘Miller Blown Off Mound,’ ” he recalled. “They couldn’t have made it any bigger. They made it out to be like I was pinned against the center-field fence. It wasn’t about Mays scores winning run but ‘Miller Blown Off Mound.’ ”
The Elusive Truth
But Don Zimmer, who also played in the game, remembered it differently:
“(Miller) was a little guy. He might have been lighter than a guy like [Greg] Maddux. I remember him going backward to throw a pitch and he just kept going. With the wind, Candlestick could do that to you.”
I don’t know about you, but one of my first uses of the greatest information tool ever known to humankind was to type “Stu Miller Candlestick wind video” into a search engine. Alas, as it turns out, the game wasn’t televised, resulting in an inconvenient lack of visual evidence.
In 2005, in an attempt to get at the truth, blogger and author Jay Roberts researched the incident. He wrote that the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner accounts of the game credit Miller himself with the explanation that the balk resulted from the wind blowing him off the mound. Per Roberts:
“‘The wind blew me off the mound,’ Miller declared,” wrote Charles Einstein of the Examiner.
“Even Miller of the hometown Giants, explaining a late inning balk, said he was actually blown off the mound,” noted Art Rosenbaum of the Chronicle.
It should be mentioned here, however, that a New York Times account of the game that is almost entirely devoted to the effect of the wind on the players made no mention of the balk.
So would anyone have even noticed the wind’s contribution to the infraction had Miller not talked about it himself?
Blogger Roberts went so far as to purchase the radio broadcast of the game, called by Jimmy Dudley and Jerry Doggett. He writes the exact play-by-play description of the balk:
“Miller out of the stretch. And now takes a long look and delivers. Time has been called as the batter swings on and missed. Sam Landis called time. He might have called a balk. Landis called a balk on him. Miller had hesitated in his swing and a balk is called.”
No mention of the wind. No description of Miller being moved off the mound like so many discarded candy wrappers.
So the Stu Miller incident remains in that hazy realm where memory, exaggeration and the desire for the best possible story come together to forge baseball lore.
Miller was philosophical about his place in history and the fact that he’d forever be remembered not for a great pitching career, but as a symbol of the ferocious Candlestick winds.
“I guess that’s better than ‘Stu Who?’ ” he said in 2007. “I’d rather be remembered for something.”
I remember Miller for one other reason, during the 1966 season, he was a member of the Orioles bullpen during their championship run. It was also said and claimed that he once called China and ordered Chinese food from the bullpen.
21 Days until pitchers and catchers officially show up. I know a lot of Dodgers players are showing up earlier.
I am eager to see what kind of infield alignment there is.
Same here. Probably if you listen to all the chatter, Freddie at first is the only lock.
Thank you soooo much for your fantastic story about Happy Felton and the Knot Hole gang. It brought back the days I lived in Brooklyn. Do you think you could do a piece on Hilda Chester ? I can still hear her yelling and the cow bell she rang.
Yea baby yea.I can’t wait.
That was a great story posted by Rata. Thank you!
Print the tickets:
Dodgers Sign Wander Suero To Minor League Deal
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/suerowa01.shtml
Baseball Prospectus says this about him:
“Low ¾ delivery with clean arm action; Average arm speed; Bends when he throws to create deception; Choppy throughout his throwing motion, has some quirks and stops to it; Closes shoulder before throwing, makes it difficult for RHH to pick up on his pitches; Finishes slightly off balance; Moderate effort.”
You never know.
Yes, you never know. Who here was expecting the Phillips would turn out to be such a find? Dodgers have found quite a few diamonds in the rough.
And maybe Kevin Gowdy is one.
He’s a young (23) reclamation project with an intriguing backstory: Showed so much in high school in Santa Barbara to become a 2nd round draft pick by the Phillies. I read or heard somewhere that he signed for an over-slot $3 million to pass on a UCLA scholarship. But later came injury and TJ surgery and his minor league numbers suck, with an ERA over 5 and a not-great K to walk ratio.
Dodgers are assigning him to Tulsa. Can the gurus get him to pre-surgery form?
Tis the season for prospects rankings. And the latest from MLB Pipeline suggests (of course) that the Dodgers are in fine form, ranking just behind the Orioles.
An excerpt from the story:
“We’ve been going off raw totals to honor the farm systems above, but here’s what happens when you break down the Top 5 by Prospect Points (i.e. 100 for No. 1 overall, 99 for No. 2, etc.):
1. Orioles, 398
2. Dodgers, 371
3. D-backs, 317
4. Guardians, 312
5. Reds, 252
“Arizona boasts arguably the best Big Four of any prospect group this year in Corbin Carroll (No. 2), Jordan Lawlar (No. 11) and Druw Jones (No. 15) and the reigning Minor League strikeout leader in Brandon Pfaadt (No. 59). That quartet represents the D-backs’ only Top 100 representation, but it’s enough to clear 27 other clubs in the Prospect Points ranks.
“The Reds specialize in infielders with their Top 100 foursome of Elly De La Cruz (No. 10), Noelvi Marte (No. 29), Edwin Arroyo (No. 44) and Cam Collier (No. 69). The last three were all acquired last year either via the Draft or the Luis Castillo blockbuster trade with the Mariners, giving Cincinnati a much-needed influx of talent at a time when it’s heading toward a certain rebuild.”
This list raises my usual kvetch an question…
First, the complaint: MLB Pipline, like other prospect rankings, leave Outman out. Again with the Dangerfield treatment. I get that Pages, being younger, may be considered a superior prospect over time–but Outman has a great shot at being on the OD roster and perhaps the starting lineup.
Outman also has a much better shot than Busch, who is also muchhighly rated, and about the same age as Outman. Unlike Outman, Busch does not win raves for defense–and there is no obvious fit on the Dodger roster. Perhaps what I’m looking for is a ranking for prospects most likely to make an impact this season.
So the exclusion of Outman really just further underscores how deep the Dodgers system is. A lot of these top 100 prospects may never make it to the majors–but Outman, unrated, has already played in the majors and should get a great shot this season.
These lists also leave me wondering whether the Dodger brass would trade from prospect strength to get appealing prospects.
Dodgers are shaky at SS, right? Lux is iffy, and Rojas is not young. Maybe this duo is only good for one season.
So what would it take to get top SS prospect Elly de la Cruz from Cincy, for example? If Cincy needs a catcher, would they take Rushing and a sweetener for de la Cruz?
Correction: Gowdy is 25, not 23, and signed out of high school for $3.5 million, not $3 million.
Even if the Dodgers can’t fix him, even if he flames out…. he still made $3.5 million.
Nice work if you can get it.
Great info Duke. Thanks.
We had a good run at SS. They are gone now. So are all the others we had a shot at. If Lux isn’t that guy, and it would appear most believe he isn’t, we need to add that star power at another position. The Dodgers have something only a handful of teams in the league have, and that is the ability to afford more than one $30+ million contract. We can go get a Betts, and still sign a Freeman. I’m waiting for the next star move. In the meantime, who is that we develop and control for 5 years?