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| Bert Moser (left) with Ben Cantwell at the Joe Stripp School of Baseball |
Many Depression-Era teenagers woul d open a winter edition of their Sporting News to read the advertisement "Learn Baseball in Florida at the Joe Stripp School of Baseball." With instructors such as Van Mungo, Joe Tinker, Babe Phelps and others, Stripp’s school offered to "start your baseball career" by the end of the term with tryouts in organized ball, if qualified of course.
Bertram Moser turned Stripp’s promise into an adventure that would be the envy of anyone who has ever loved baseball. After all, what baseball enthusiast wouldn’t want to take off on a cross-country road trip with the only purpose being to play the game?
Bert’s decision to break into professional baseball through the Stripp school was not made on whim. Born on August 6, 1918 in Cedarhurst, Long Island, he got an early start shagging flies as a kid during batting practice of a very good local Cedarhurst semi-pro team. According to Bert, they played some of the best teams in their class such as the Bushwicks, House of David, Detroit Clowns, Black Yankees or Giants, Cuban All Stars and Springfield Grays. He would stand out there with a little mitt on Sunday afternoon catching balls, and when the game started sneak up into the stands or sell peanuts.
At 5`10" and 156 lbs., Bert traveled down to Florida in 1937 where he had his first encounter with the Stripp school and tried to get on the Miami Beach Flamingos, but it didn’t work out. From there he took off north and stopped in Ft. Pierce where they had a team, to no avail. He then hitchhiked through Jacksonville and then went west up to Americus, Georgia, for try- outs with again no luck. He then traveled to Spartanburg, SC but was unable to latch onto a team. "I had my baseball glove, which I held over my wrist while I was standing there on the side of the road with my thumb out," recounted Bert, "And it worked, I got plenty of rides."
Even though his initial attempt at breaking into professional baseball was a strike-out, undaunted Bert set his sights on the following season, which is where our interview with him picks up in this round of the SABR Nine.
1. What attracted you and your friends to journey all the way from Long Island to Orlando for the Joe Stripp Baseball School in 1938?
I grew up in Cedarhurst, Long Island about 20 miles out of the city. We had met each other the year before [1937] at the [Joe Stripp] school and kept in touch. They were from Catskill, New York. The next year we decided to all go down together so I bought a 1929 Chrysler from a friend named Wilbur Combs for $75 and we drove down in that. I was 19 at the time. It took a couple of days…we drove down the Delaware peninsula to the Cape Charles ferry. However, long about nearly dark as we approached the ferry, the lights went down in the car and we stalled right in front of it [the ferry]. The car behind us had to push us on. They then pushed us off, of course after we arrived and we got the car repaired. I think it was the generator or the armature or something like that. But we made it all the way to Florida in that car. We all wanted to make a career in baseball and we felt like this was a great stepping stone.
2. What were the facilities like when you arrived?
It was okay for a bunch of guys. We used the Washington Senators spring training clubhouse. I was assigned a locker, then we were sent to a boarding house. A big house run by a very nice lady who rented out rooms and served us meals. It was something like $7 dollars a week. It wasn’t bad, considering we were 19 and whatever.
3. At the school, you were roommates with Cy Block, who played briefly with the Cubs and was a promising rookie in 1942. What was he like?
Cy Block from Brooklyn, New York…he was an aggressive guy on the field. He did have a problem with sweating too much. We used to tease him about that. Aside from that, he was a good hitter, greater fielder and he caused a lot of attention.
4. What were your impressions of Joe Stripp and other coaches like Ben Cantwell, Joe Tinker and Van Mungo?
Joe Stripp did not mingle much, he depended on his assistants. He was pretty hard-nosed, but a decent guy and a real professional. I mean, you could see that. He was a good administrator for what he did. Ben Cantwell took a personal interest in me. No more than maybe any of the other pitchers there. But he did spend time with me and he checked out my pitching form…my delivery and my follow-through, showing me the right ways. He then helped me with a wind-up…which I used. It was a simple wind-up, arms over the head. And he helped me to understand that I needed to have control. Joe Tinker was not a well man, he was pretty quiet and he didn’t do too much from what I could see. He did coach some of the games at first base. In fact, in one game there where he coached, a real important game for whoever was picked, I pitched to a catcher by the name of Evans, who later I understand went up to the Washington Senators. He was a terrific catcher…made me hit the corners. I pitched beautifully that day. There was a runner at first base with Joe Tinker coaching and I picked him off. That was a big deal. Anyway, Mungo wasn’t around very much, not in my area. He was probably instructing a group of other pitchers. The only other notable person I remember was Jimmy Jordan, an infielder with the Brooklyn Dodgers, who took care of the infielding group.
5. What was the daily regiment like at the school?
We just went through the routine…the program set up there at Tinker Field. Be there at 9 o’clock in the morning. They put us through calisthenics and exercises to start off, and then divided us into groups. We played catch back and forth or pepper games. The instructors would come around, talk to us and give us advice. Of course there were batting practices, classes on how to steal bases and on how to bunt. Classes in all the different things. Later on, after a week or so, they started to have games. We finished the day running a loop around the field.
6. Describe the transition from the baseball school to the Palatka Azaleas. Was the competition a lot tougher?
Joe Stripp told me that he had arranged for me to go with Palatka class-D in the Florida State League. And that to go up there and meet with the Palatka officials on a certain date, which I did. I went up there on that date and signed up a contract to play for Palatka at their office in town. The owner of the Palatka team was there. I forget his name. And that was it. I went into spring training with the Palatka baseball team in Azalea Park. There were older players there, fellas that had experience. Some of them had been up in the upper grade minor leagues and were older now, and just playing to keep playing, you know. It was less personal in nature [compared to the school]. The competition was tough because the Palatka manager did not have the patience to deal with someone like me and stuck to his familiar veterans. He was prone to favor the older players.
7. According to minor league historian Ray Nemec, the first professional game you appeared in was on May 19, 1938 when you pinch ran in the 10th inning of a 9-7 loss to Sanford. What do you remember from that?
It is a blur now. I remember that it was a night game and they had the flood lights on, which were very weak. Terrible lighting. I was sitting there on the bench and the manager told me to warm up, that he was going to put me into the game. Then he told me to go pinch-run for a somebody, which I thought was pretty odd if he was going to have me pitch. It was a tight game. I ran into the third baseman, I think on a fielder’s choice, who I knocked flat. He came up boiling and so was everybody on his team. They were really sore at me because I was the rookie. Then I was put into pitch after that incident. I was upset about one thing or another and I really didn’t have control so I was pulled out. I don’t know how long I lasted, I can’t remember. But that’s about the way it was. I remember that I was really upset that they would put me in to pinch run before going in to pitch. What manager would do that?
8. Also according to Mr. Nemec, your next appearance was on May 21st as a relief pitcher where you pitched 1/3 of an inning. Was that the last game you played for Palatka?
Yeah, that was. I don’t remember much about that. I think I was let go the next morning. The manager told me I was released and to check out at the office. I decided to try and stay in the game but it didn’t work out. I went back home in the car and it didn’t have any brakes left by the time I got up to New York. I didn’t have a proper registration any more either. But I made it home. Shortly after that I sold it for $50. My family and friends were happy to see me and sorry that I didn’t make out. My brother was successful in the radio and appliance business and I went to work for him. That was okay with me and I pitched semi-pro ball in the area. I did pretty well and enjoyed it. Then I got with a team for a short while that was in the Queens Alliance. I pitched for them. That was the same team that Phil Rizzuto had played for. It was a pretty fair semi-pro league considering the area.
9. What are some of the more positive things you took from your brief stint in the minor leagues during that era?
It made me feel more mature…not so innocent. I saw a little of the seamier side of life and learned how to handle myself under all conditions. It made me a more rounded, complete person. I found out you had to be bigger and stronger than I was to make it professionally, but it didn’t take away my desire for the sport having not made out. I went to a Dodger tryout at the old Ebbets Field but got lost in the big turnout. I really liked the game and pitched semi-pro until I was drafted into the army in 1942. I appreciated having my chances. I followed the war with a career as a regional sales manager for Magnavox and Phillips Electronic Co. Now I am retired, enjoying life and the spring training games in Scottsdale, Arizona.
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