Many can identify Chuck Connors as the “The Rifleman” but perhaps not nearly as many know he was once a Dodger and always remained a Dodger in his heart.
Chuck Connors, christened Kevin Joseph Aloysius Connors, was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 10, 1921. His parents of Irish descent, Allan and Marcella Connors, had emigrated to the United States from what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland and now the Province of Newfoundland in Canada. Chuck had a sister Gloria who early on learned he did not like his first name. As he got older and taller he looked for a nickname, trying “Stretch” and “Lefty” but those didn’t really seem to fit. While playing first base, he would always yell, “Chuck it to me, baby, chuck it to me!” to the pitcher. The rest of his teammates and fans soon caught on and he became “Chuck”.
Chuck Connors grew up loving the Dodgers even though they were somewhat less than successful in the 1930s. Realizing he had athletic abilities he dreamed of the day he would be a Dodger. Those abilities earned him scholarships to Adelphi Academy, a private high school, and then to Seton Hall, a Catholic college in South Orange, New Jersey.
He left Seaton Hall after two years to join the army in October of 1942. He served primarily as a tank warfare instructor stationed at Camp Campbell and lastly at West Point. He was honorably discharged in 1946 and began to forge what he hoped would be a career in the world of sports.
He became a two-sport professional athlete specializing in basketball and baseball, one of a handful to ever play both sports professionally. In 1946 he played for the newly formed Boston Celtics of the Basketball Association of America. Trying to earn a living by playing two sports he would leave early in the spring for baseball spring training.
Perhaps his only claim to fame as a basketball player was that he became the first player to break one of the new glass backboards being used for the first time in professional basketball. The damage was not caused by a vicious slam dunk. He explained: “During the warm-up, I took a harmless 15 to 20 foot set shot, and crash, the glass backboard shattered.” Connors played with the Celtics during the 1946 and 1947 seasons. He then turned his attention to his first love – baseball – and his goal of becoming a Dodger.
Initially signed by the New York Yankees he was waived in 1946. He then wrote to the Dodgers asking them to acquire him. Branch Rickey agreed to sign him and he became a spring training teammate of Jackie Robinson and also his teammate for a while with the Montreal Royals before being assigned to the Newport News Dodgers. With Newport, he hit .293 with 19 stolen bases and a Piedmont League-leading 17 home runs.
In 1947 Connors helped the Mobile Bears to their first Southern Association title in 25 years while homering 15 times, six behind teammate George “Shotgun” Shuba. The following season he hit .307 with the AAA Montreal Royals with 36 doubles,17 home runs and 88 runs batted in.
The Rifleman’s dream came true in 1948 as he had made the Dodgers roster, unfortunately, it was as a first baseman behind Gil Hodges. He sat on the bench until May 1, 1949, when manager Burt Shotton called on him to pinch-hit for Carl Furillo. The story should end with a shot heard around the world. In fact, Chuck Connors said he knew he was going to crush it as he gripped the bat so tightly he was almost reducing it to sawdust. He did hit the ball hard but right back to pitcher Russ Meyer who started an inning-ending double play. That would be Connors only at-bat as a Dodger.
Shortly after that he was returned to Montreal and finished the season with the Royals hitting .319 with 20 home runs and 108 RBIs. He played with Montreal again in 1950 where his production decreased and his realization he would never be a Dodger increased. He asked for a trade. His request was granted when he and Dee Fondy were traded to the Chicago Cubs for Hank Edwards and cash. Connors could not have guessed that he now would be in competition with Fondy for the first base position with the Cubs.
During the first half of the 1951 season with the Los Angeles Angels, the Cubs top farm club, Connors excelled compiling a .321 batting average in 98 games, with 22 home runs and 77 RBIs. He was called up to the Cubs in July but hit only .239 in 66 games with just two homers and 18 RBIs. That was to mark his last appearance at the major league level as he was again assigned to the Los Angeles Angels following the season. In the meantime, Dee Fondy went on to play five years as the Cub first baseman.
Chuck Connors was soon to find his real niche in life. Hollywood came calling and he answered the call. He retired from baseball following the 1952 season and devoted his life to acting. The rest is history and Chuck Connors became synonymous with Lucas McCain, “The Rifleman.” Connors loved acting but never lost his love for baseball or the Dodgers.
Those that played with Chuck Connors remember him as much for his sense of humor and zest for life as his baseball accomplishments. On more than one occasion he was creative in running the bases following a home run. It was not unusual for him to do a cartwheel as part of his home run trot or to slide into a base, He especially loved to bait umpires and during his arguments with them, he would often use memorized passages from Shakespeare. One of his favorite passages seemed to be: “The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune I can take, but your blindness is ridiculous!” Needless to say, the surprised and perhaps confused umpires often would respond with: “You’re outta here, Connors.”
During his career, Connors was eager to bargain for what he felt was a fair wage. He didn’t always win but was not the least bit hesitant to bargain for a better deal. Tommy Lasorda who spent a number of years with Connors in the minors recounts an exchange between Connors and Branch Rickey. Rickey cautioned Connors: “Young man I don’t want you telling anyone how much money the Dodgers are paying you this year.” The young man replied: “I don’t blame you Mr. Ricky and you don’t have to worry. I’m just as embarrassed with the contract as you are.”
His negotiating skills were developing as a young man and demonstrated in 1947 when he played hard-to-get with Boston Celtics owner Walter Brown. He convinced Brown he had a deal to be a player-coach with the Birmingham team in the new Southern Basketball League. Celtics owner Brown eventually caved into Connors’ contract demands.
Dodger fans will remember the holdout by Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale at the beginning of the 1966 baseball season. Most of us didn’t know that Chuck Connors played an off-field role by helping to end the celebrated holdout when he acted as an intermediary during negotiations between the team and the players. In an Associated Press photo, he can be seen with Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax and Dodgers general manager Buzzie Bavasi announcing the pitchers’ new contracts.
The Rifleman died in 1992. Before his death, he was to have said he would rather have been Gil Hodges than Lucas McCain.
Biographer David Fury wrote that his stationary even said “Go Dodgers”, and you’d invariably find Chuck at Dodger Stadium on opening day and as often as he could make it to a ball game. The Dodger logo is etched on his tombstone as are the logos of the Cubs and Celtics.
Gun nickname trivia: On May 1, 1949, Chuck Connors (“The Rifleman”), Carl Furillo (“The Reading Rifle”) and George “Shotgun” Shuba all had plate appearances with the Dodgers. Connors and Shuba were hitless as pinch hitters and Furillo was hitless in three plate appearances. Former Dodger “Pistol” Pete Reiser was a member of the Boston Braves on that day but did not play.
Discussion (78)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Just another thought about Lou Diamond Phillips in Longmire. He did not speak in contractions. Instead of “I can’t” or I didn’t or I’m”, he always said, “I can not, I did not or I am.” Wonder if he talked like that all the time, or it was in the script written that way. Quite refreshing though.
On another note, my neighbor’s mother was Doris Baker in the “Cinder Ellers” (way before my time). Anyways, at the beginnings of The Virginian, there was a scene where a bunch of babies were laid on a bed. He was one of them. Not in the credits, but a claim to fame.
By the way, Connors baseball cards are not cheap. Most start around 10 bucks and go up.
2 that I almost forgot and were very funny movies. Shanghai Noon, and Shanghai Knights. Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson. Both were really well done, and the out takes at the end of the movie were hilarious. It is a wonder Chan was not injured more seriously.
I really liked Randolf Scott & Joel McCrea in their westerns.
https://www.mlb.com/dodgers/news/connor-joe-has-surgery-for-testicular-cancer
You all covered the good stuff very well. I want to make my nomination for all time worst western movie: Pocket Money, starring Paul Newman and Lee Marvin. I guess I should apologize for bringing it up.
Ranking the Top 10 MLB Lineups:
https://www.mlb.com/dodgers/news/top-lineups-in-mlb-2020
Hint: Dodgers are #1
We watched Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin in Paint Your Wagon yesterday. Saturday is often Cowboy day.
Not a cowboy series but one we liked was Justified. Lacked horses but otherwise cowboy like.
They call me Trinity
The Quick and the Dead
310 to Yuma
Quigley Down Under
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmOLJERZPa4
Blazing Saddles.
Silverado is a classic that is often missed. Also, a big fan of My Darling Clementine as well as any many made by John Ford, especially the original Stagecoach with the Duke.
Clu Gulager, who is now 91, was also in a western called, The Tall Man where he played Billy the Kid. I can recite the lines from a lot of westerns. I have well over 5000 DVD’s and blu rays. There are some other made for TV westerns that were never released on the big screen that were pretty good, Lonesome Dove is a great example, but they did all of the McMurtry novels pretty much, including one where Garner takes over Tommy Lees role. But there was The Sacketts, Selleck and Elliot with Ben Johnson along for the ride, The Shadow Riders. Elliot made some pretty good movies for TNT including Conager, You Know My Name, true story of Bill Tilgman, and the Quick and the Dead. Selleck did the same with Last Stand At Saber River and Monte Walsh. As for movies, to me the best western ever made was The Searchers. Shane and High Noon were close, but the intensity of The Searchers was a standout. But I also love Tombstone, The Unforgiven, and True Grit, the original not the remake….Mr. Rat, I have a writ here that says you are to quit eatin Chen Lee’s corn forthwith, now it’s a rat writ writ for a rat and this is lawful service of same….see….they never listen, BAM=== Wayne kills the rat. Oh yeah, a couple of more old TV series you might have forgotten, The Cisco Kid, Buffalo Bill Jr. The Roy Rogers show, with Pat Brady and Nellebelle.
Wow, maybe for the first time since I joined this blog family, I have absolutely zero to contribute to the topic at hand! (of course, some here would argue that I already contribute zero)
Wow, that was impressive AC. Did you actually do that without going to Google for any of it or did you have to cheat a little? I agree, Tombstone was great.
Darryl Hickman – was he Dwayne Hickman’s brother (Dobie Gillis)?
Anyone here watch Yellowstone (on the Paramount network, starring Kevin Costner)? If so, what do you think of it?
Okay, now we are talking about one of my all-time favorite topics…TV Westerns. Bear already discussed some of my favorites; Lawman (John Russell and Robert Fuller), Have Gun Will Travel (Richard Boone), Wyatt Earp (Hugh O’Brien), Yancy Derringer (Jock Mahoney). SoCalBum added Wanted Dead or Alive (Steve McQueen), and Rawhide (Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood). And DBM added Death Valley Days (Ronald Reagan), Virginian (James Drury, Lee J. Cobb, Clu Gulager, Doug McClure). The Virginian had that great cast and was 1 ½ hours. Others picked the three big classics, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and Wagon Train.
Because these are brain games that I like to play, from memory some of my other favorites.
High Chaparral – Leif Erickson, Cameron Mitchell, Henry Darrow, Linda Cristol, Mark Slade (Yes a big time favorite)
Bat Masterson (Gene Barry)
Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett – Both starring Fess Parker
Wild Bill Hickock – Guy Madison
Cheyenne – Clint Walker
Rebel – Nick Adams as Johnny Yuma
Laramie – Robert Fuller
Sugar Foot – Will Hutchins
Tall Man – Barry Sullivan and Clu Gulager (Billy the Kid)
Wild Wild West – Robert Conrad and Ross Martin
Zorro – Guy Williams
Guns of Will Sonnett – Walter Brennan – No brag, just fact (and spit)
All the Mavericks – James Garner, Jack Kelly, Roger (James Bond) Moore
Cimarron Strip – Stuart Whitman (who just died at 92)
Big Valley
Texan – Rory Calhoun
Laredo – Neville Brand, Peter Brown, and Philip (Granny Goose) Carey
Americans – Darryl Hickman (Cheating – Civil War)
I can still sing the song for Tombstone Territory – “Whistle me up a memory, Whistle me back where I want to be, Whistle a tune that will carry me, to Tombstone Territory.”
Of course, the silly ones like F Troop.
And a couple as I grew older – Alias Smith and Jones (Pete Duel and Ben Murphy)
The Quest – Kurt Russell and Tim Matheson
How The West Was One – James Arness and Bruce Boxleitner
All Time Classic – Lonesome Dove with a couple of super stars in Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones and a youngish Ricky (Silver Spoons) Schroeder.
I am going to have to start on my Western Movies memory. It starts with no matter where I am or how many times I have seen it…Tombstone. I can practically recite that movie.
If you ever watched any old westerns and TV series’ you saw Bing Russell. He was in everything. Much like John Dehner, Bing was not a star but played a million supporting roles. Maybe his most recognizable role was Deputy Clem Foster on Bonanza. Bing was the unofficial Yankee’s mascot as a kid growing up by their training camp in St. Pete.
I played A ball against his son Kurt Russell who played 2nd base for the Bend Rainbows, owned at the time by the AAA Hawaiian Islanders. In the late 70’s, Bing owned the famous independent franchise in the Northwest League, The Portland Mavericks.
Bing was another actor with strong baseball ties.
Along with Rawhide, Gunsmoke and others, I also enjoyed Bret Maverick, Death Valley Days and The Virginian. One if the more current ones I loved was called Longmire but I do not think it was on regulator tv so do not know if anyone saw it. Lou Diamond Phillips was in it and he was wonderful.
There were so many westerns back then. Have Gun Will Travel. I had a Paladin holster set. Gunsmoke, Wagon Train. never was the same after Ward Bond died. Bonanza. The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp with Hugh O’Brien, who was in Wayne’s last film, The Shootist along with Richard Boone. Great memories.
I became a Dodger fan in the 50’s. I was raised on a farm. We worked 6 days a week and on Sunday we had chores that needed to be done. All we had was the game of the week on Saturday. The very first one I listened to was the Dodgers. Roy Campanella was my favorite. I was a catcher. Dad would get so mad at me because I would slip away whenever possible from work and go to the house to listen to the game.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_westerns_on_television
Thank you DC for the wonderful article about Chuck Connors. Loved his sense of humor and interesting how he got the name “Chuck”, always wondered.
The Rifleman and Dodger baseball! Thanks so much DC, this really brightened up my morning! Two of my favorite memories from my youth! Lucas McCain and Mark McCain were regular visitors into my living room as I watched their adventures on my round screen black and white television.
A Lucas McCain quote is timely today: “.a time a town or even a country is really lost is when the people who live in it get careless and stop paying attention to how it’s being run…”
My favorite cowboy show from that era was “The Range Rider” starring Jock Mahoney.
Chuck Connors. Loved The Rifleman. Was one of my favorite shows. In those days most of my favorites were westerns. The guy who played the marshal, Paul Fix, appeared in over 20 John Wayne movies. By far the Duke’s most prolific co-star. Ward Bond was right there with him. I took basic training with Johnny Crawford, yep, the Rifleman’s kid. Winter of 65 at Ft. Bliss Texas, He was not the only so called celebrity in our training unit. I do not know how many of you remember the roller derby, but the LA T-Birds player, Georgie Copeland took basic with us too. I also met John Russell, known to many as The Lawman. He was at a Dodger game at the coliseum about 2 rows from us. Nice guy. Among Connors movie credits is a rather comedic turn in a James Garner movie ” Support Your Local Gunfighter” Co- star in that was Jack Elam….it was a sequel to Support Your Local Sheriff. Both were pretty funny. Connors played the gunfighter Garner was impersonating.
Folks, I can only say that everyone be safe and avoid large crowds if at all possible. Was just wondering that if the All Star Game was not played this year due to Covid 19, I would hope that Dodgers would still host it in 2021 because in no way should we be passed over if it’s not played this year. I have cancelled my MLB Extra Innings due to this season postponement and anyone who has already paid for MLB.TV should make sure money is refunded until we know if and when the season will start. And if it does start in the middle of June, no way can an entire 162 game scedule could be played.
Dave De Busschere was another baseball and Basketball player. Won an NBA championship with the Knicks in the 69-70 season.
DC,
Great article. Have been a fan of the Rifleman and Chuck Conners for years. Conners also starred in a series called Branded and it is very good as well. Thanks for all of your hard work.
If you ever get caught short for a topic, I would love to read how you and all of the posters on this site became Dodger fans. I have an interesting tale on this topic and am sure that others do as well. Think it might be fun to take this time without baseball to share some personal Dodgers stories. Just a thought.
Thanks DC, your post filled in quite a few holes in my knowledge of Chuck’s story.
MLB Rumors listed Hernandez as one of 6 potential bounce back players.
Enrique Hernandez, UTIL, Dodgers:
“The versatile Hernandez was quite effective in 2018, during which he posted 3.2 fWAR, but that number checked in at a far less impressive 1.2 last season. The problem? A massive decline in offensive production. Hernandez’s wRC+ (88) represented a 30-point fall, while his OPS (.715; .237/.304/.411) lost 91 points. It didn’t help that Hernandez endured a 4-plus percent increase in strikeouts and a 3 percent decrease in walks.”
Love to read stories like this – thanks; it brings back many fond memories. I remember when 6′ 8″ pitcher Gene Conley ( Braves – Boston & Milwaukee, Phillies, and Red Sox) played for the Celtics winning three rings. Bill Sharman also played for Celtics, coached the Lakers, and was a Dodgers minor leaguer.
To me, the only thing better at 5 AM than an episode of the Rifleman would be an episode of the Beverly Hillbillies following at 5:30.
I appreciate all the writers on this website. I learn something new everyday. Thank you.