The Pride of St. Louis

The Pride of St. Louis is a 1952 biographical film of the life of Major League Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean. It starred Dan Dailey as Dean, Joanne Dru as his wife, and Richard Crenna as his brother Paul "Daffy" Dean, also a major league pitcher. It was directed by Harmon Jones. Guy Trosper was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story. Much of the plotline is reasonably close to the facts of Dizzy Dean's life and baseball career; however, the climax is fictionalized, based on an on-air comment he made regarding his use of the word "Ain't": "A lot of folks who ain't sayin' 'ain't,' ain't eatin'. So, Teach, you learn 'em English, and I'll learn 'em baseball." The story arc covers Dean's rise to pitching superstardom, the early end of his career, and his redemption through radio broadcasting. The screenplay was the last by Herman J. Mankiewicz, who earlier had co-written the script for the Lou Gehrig biography, The Pride of the Yankees.