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- Source: Death on the Diamond
Death on the Diamond is a 1934 comedy-mystery film starring Robert Young. It was based on the novel Death on the Diamond: A Baseball Mystery Story by Cortland Fitzsimmons, directed by Edward Sedgwick and produced and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Plot
The film opens with Pop Clark, owner and manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, talking to newspaperman Jimmy Downey. His team was a favorite to win the pennant this season, but they have been performing poorly. Pop tells Jimmy he's signed star pitcher Larry Kelly in order to try and seal the deal.
Kelly then arrives and flirts with Pop's daughter, Frances, who works in the front office as team Secretary, and then suits up for practice. At the practice, catcher Hogan argues with umpire O'Toole and taunts him with his nickname, "Crawfish." Jimmy meets his teammates and fellow pitcher Higgins and star hitter Spencer. During practice, Pop chases off two former players with ties to organized criminal gambler trying to find players to bribe. Pop tells them he only runs a clean game and to leave his players alone.
Pop tells the team to avoid the gambling crowd and that he'll kick out anyone with ties to gambling or criminals. He then reveals to Frances that if he doesn't win the pennant, he'll lose the franchise to Henry Ainsley, and that he borrowed all the money he could just to hire Kelly.
Reporter Downey spots criminal Karnes in the stands and asks him why he's hanging out at baseball practice. Downey threatens to print a story about Karnes hanging out with a "tail-end ball club," and Karnes threatens him.
Karnes gives a ride to Kelly on the way to a team dinner, and asks him to visit him on his yacht, but Kelly tells him he has to train with the team. When Kelly arrives at the team dinner, Downey finds him and tells him that Karnes is one of the biggest gamblers in the country. Right after that, Mickey comes in to tell the team that he discovered that someone has put a chemical on the gloves in the clubhouse, and that it was intended to incapacitate players who wore the gloves. The players become suspicious and want to find the perpetrator. Meanwhile, Hogan continues to torment Crawfish, and says his presence around the team is suspicious when there are no regular season games yet. Spencer accuses Kelly of being the guy who doctored the gloves, but Frances forces the two to make up.
At the team's next home game, Ainsley taunts Pop, telling him the team will be Ainsley's by October. Meanwhile, Karnes and his men watch from the stands, confident that they can turn the tide and get the team to lose. Kelly pitches masterfully, and the Cards win on a walk-off hit by Spencer.
With the cards now in 2nd place, Karnes meets with other gamblers, who reveal that they promised great odds to gamblers betting on the Cards, and that they stand to lose a fortune if St. Louis wins the pennant.
In his hotel room, Kelly finds an envelope with $10,000 in cash and a note telling him that a "friend" hopes he will lose the next game. His teammates are suspicious, but they, along with Downey, agree to try to find the criminals behind the money and note.
The next day, pitching again the Reds, Kelly again pitches while Karnes and his men watch. In the 9th, with St. Louis up 1-0, he strikes out the last batter to complete a no-hitter. Karnes and his men are furious. As Kelly and Hogan ride a taxi back to the hotel after the game, one of Karnes's men shoots their tire out with a rifle hidden in the door of a nearby car, and they crash. Kelly is injured, and has to sit out for two weeks. In the hospital with Kelly and several of his teammates, Doc says he intends to send Kelly home to recover. Suddenly, Downey rushes in to tell them all that police discovered a bullet hole in the tire of their taxi.
Despite Kelly's absence, the team plays beautifully, and after 151 games moves into first place in the National League. With 3 games to go, they need to win two of their next three to win the pennant. On the train on the way home, Kelly and Spencer quarrel about Frances. On the same train, Ainsley privately and cryptically tells one of his men to get off the train in Springfield, with no explanation.
During the next game, against theChicago Cubs, the teams are tied in the 6th 3-3 when Karnes motions one of his men to go perform some unknown order. Later, in the bottom of the 8th, with the Cubs leading 6-4 with 2 outs and 2 men on base, the Cardinals get a huge hit from Spencer. Two runs score, and as Spencer rounds 3rd and heads for home, a rifle shot fells Spencer, he is tagged out, and the Cardinals lose the game.
The police question everyone, and focus on Kelly not only being absent, but also quarreling with Spencer on the train. Kelly admits that he was not present because he did not want to see Spencer "taking a bow" for being the hero of the game.
Later, several people and a policeman spot a stranger skulking out on the field in the dark, and thinking it might be the killer, jump him only to discover it's Crawfish, the umpire. O'Toole admits he was in the stadium to recover a lost bottle of eye drops, and because he's an umpire, he was reluctant to have anyone know he takes drops for his eyesight.
Downey talks to the chief detective and tells him he has a hunch, and asks for permission to pursue the story on his own. Then Downey confronts Karnes in his office and mockingly asks him to give him the "inside scoop" on which player is going to be killed next. Karnes threatens him, and Downey talks his way out of it.
The next day, as players head for the game against the Cincinnati Reds, their wives and girlfriends beg them not to play, worried about the danger. In the clubhouse, security have to chase off Karnes' crooked men. As Higgins warms up to pitch, Hogan passes on a message to Higgins that he has a phone call. Higgins goes inside the clubhouse to take the call and does not return. Pop orders backup pitcher Warmack into the game, and goes to search for Higgins. As Pop, Frances, and Kelly search for Higgins, Kelly discovers Higgins' body in a locker. A doctor pronounces him dead and says he was strangled. Pop hides the murder from the team until after the game.
Warmack pitches well, and going into the bottom of the 9th, the Reds lead 4-3 when Hogan wins the game with a 2-run inside-the-park home run. Afterwards, Hogan is celebrating by eating his usual hot dog when someone shoots off a loud firecracker outside the clubhouse, distracting everyone. While they are distracted, a mysterious hand replaces the mustard jar, and Hogan returns to the clubhouse, puts mustard all over his hot dog, and falls ill. As he grimaces in pain, the detective asks him who told him that there was a phone call for Higgins, but he raises his finger and dies right before he can point to anyone. Downie watches and becomes suspicious about someone.
In a meeting that night in the National League offices, the commissioner and the police meet. As they are about to cancel the game, Pop gives an impassioned speech and persuades them to let the game happen. They agree, and right before Pop goes in to tell the team the game is on, he tells Frances he plans to pitch Kelly the next day. Frances tries to talk him into pitching Eddie Vernon instead of Kelly due to the danger, admitting that she loves Larry, and he agrees.
Pop tells the team that Vernon will pitch, and they react angrily. With Kelly and Frances present, Downey then corners Pop and convinces him that they need Larry to pitch in order to get the criminals to show up, basically using Larry as bait. Downey lays out his plan.
The final game, against Cincinnati, starts off a bit rough, but the team settles down and Kelly assures Pop he'll pitch his best. With Kelly pitching, the mysterious hand reappears to place something in the pocket of Kelly's jacket hanging in the dugout. From the mound, Kelly spots the hand and throws into the dugout, hitting the mystery person and knocking them out. Pop reaches into the jacket pocket and discovers a pocket watch with a bomb, and throws it high in the air before it detonates harmlessly.
On the floor is Patterson, the trainer, groggy from the pitch to his head. He reaches for a policeman's gun, but is overpowered before anyone is hurt. He admits he was jealous of Pop, angry that he was a groundskeeper, and hoped to become manager if the Ainsley took control.
The game continues, and is tied at 2 in the bottom of the 9th. Pop goes on a hunch and lets Kelly hit. He drives the first pitch over the outfielder's head for an inside-the-park home run, and there's a close play at the plate. "Crawfish" O'Toole correctly calls Kelly safe at home, and the Cardinals win 3-2, clinching the pennant.
Pop confronts Ainsley and says he'll turn him over to the police for promising to make Patterson the next manager. In the clubhouse, Downey explains to Kelly and Frances that he suspected Patterson because when Hogan was about to point out the person who had told him there was a phone call for Higgins, Patterson turned "white to the gills," and when Hogan died, Patterson looked relieved. Kelly gives Downey a look that tells him to leave the room, and Kelly and Frances kiss as Downey tells him not to strain his arm before the World Series.
Cast
Robert Young as Larry Kelly
Madge Evans as Frances Clark
Nat Pendleton as Larry "Truck" Hogan
Ted Healy as Terry "Crawfish" O'Toole
C. Henry Gordon as Joseph Karnes
Paul Kelly as Jimmie Downey
David Landau as Pop Clark
DeWitt Jennings as Mr. Patterson
Edward Brophy as Police Sgt. Grogan
Willard Robertson as Police Lt. Luke Cato
Mickey Rooney as Mickey
Robert Livingston as Frank "Higgie" Higgins
Joe Sawyer as Duncan "Dunk" Spencer (as Joe Sauers)
Production
Appearing uncredited in the film were a number of ex-Major Leaguers, including Bob and Irish Meusel, Ping Bodie, Ivan Olson and Pat Flaherty, plus one player who was still very much active, slugger Wally "Red" Berger.
Reception
Leonard Maltin described the film as an "absurd crime tale" while giving it 2 out of 4 stars.
See also
List of baseball films
References
External links
Death on the Diamond at IMDb
Death on the Diamond at the TCM Movie Database
Death on the Diamond at AllMovie
Death on the Diamond at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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