New role for Cooter: Cardinals great Dizzy Dean

<p>Long before he played good ol' boy mechanic "Cooter" on television's "The Dukes of Hazzard" or served as a congressman from Georgia, Ben Jones was a fan of baseball's St. Louis Cardinals and their zany pitcher, Dizzy Dean.</p><p>Now, Jones is combining his acting and writing abilities with his affinity for baseball with "Old Diz," a one-man play Jones wrote and performs about the most outrageous and colorful member of the "Gashouse Gang."</p><p>"He had such a knack for making people like him," Jones said of Dean, who was born Jerome Herman Dean but came to be known as "Dizzy" during a Hall of Fame career. He enhanced his fame as a down-home style broadcaster on baseball's "Game of the Week."</p><p>Jones, who lives near Sperryville, got the idea for the play when he saw one on another Hall of Famer. He did extensive research on Dean, interviewing everyone from the flamethrowing pitcher's nephews to sportswriters and old golfing buddies.</p><p>The first act of the play centers on Dean's early life and his professional baseball career, which was cut short by an injury in the 1936 All-Star game in Washington. The second act focuses on the star's life after his playing days.</p><p>Jones, 62, performed the play a the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y., last October and will do a repeat performance on June 18, Dizzy Dean Day at the hall.</p><p>Dean, who died in 1974, was once criticized by a St. Louis schoolteacher for saying "ain't" on the air during his broadcasting days. Dean responded by saying, "There are a lot of people who don't say ain't that ain't making the money I am," Jones said.</p><p>"The man had an enormous zest for life," Jones said. "He used to tell people that he learned to pitch by killing squirrels for supper by throwing rocks at them."</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/4/170205