Flashing Spikes

John Ford assembled a few of his stock company regulars for this fine Alcoa Premiere story about a young ballplayer accused of throwing a game in the World Series. The proof, that star rookie first baseman Patrick Wayne was seen taking an envelope from former star player James Stewart who back in the day was banned from baseball for doing just that.

Stewart's character is based on Shoeless Joe Jackson of the infamous Black Sox and debate rages to this day just what and how much Jackson did to throw the 1919 World Series. In fact he led both teams in batting, hit the only home run in the series, and made no discernible bad plays. He did however except money from the gamblers.

Most of the story is told in flashback at an emergency hearing the Commissioner of Baseball played by Jack Warden is holding. I'm glad that Ford documented the barnstorming that players used to do in the off season for extra money. This was in the days of the reserve clause and many Major League players including lots of stars as gate attractions played in these pickup games. Like the one you see here where Pat Wayne's high school championship team meets some oldtimers like Stewart. These things were beyond the control of organized baseball, Shoeless Joe Jackson and other banned players played on these barnstormers and in 'outlaw' leagues. That's all in the past.

Edgar Buchanan has a nice role as a sportswriter and the game's official scorer and Tige Andrews does well as Wayne's manager. The one to really look out for is Carleton Young playing a bottom feeding sportswriter. I believe he's based on one Dave Egan who was a sportswriter in Boston who was known for riding both Casey Stengel and Ted Williams in his columns.

And you can also see John Wayne in a brief cameo appearance. You'll have to spot him. Have fun trying, he's a figure of authority.

This is such a great piece of television history that has all but been forgotten. It is the only thing that John Ford ever directed for television! It is 50 minutes of fun starring Jimmy Stewart, Tige Andrews, Jack Warden and a whole list of others including a cameo by John Wayne. Fred Astaire was in it too and narrated it. Baseball legends Don Drysdale, Vin Scully and Harry Carry Jr. were also in it.

It is a fun tangential story about the famous incident in baseball history that "almost destroyed the game of baseball." One of the players who was accused of throwing a world series (Jimmy Stewart, playing Slim Conway) is banned from all baseball stadiums in America! He still loves baseball and played on a team called the wanderers who went around playing other minor league teams. He meets and befriends Bill Riley (Patrick Wayne). He likes his potential and tells the famous Gabby La Salle (Tige Andrews) to give him a chance in spring training.

Gabby is the flamboyant, once player now manager who is characterized after a famous Giants manager. The season is interrupted by the war, and gets back on track after. Find out what really happenned with one of baseball's biggest controversies as this tangential story enfolds. A great, great show

Tailor-made material for director John Ford, "Flashing Spikes" presented in 1962 on TV's "Alcoa Premiere" is pure Americana, a heartwarming and dramatic story about the national pastime, Baseball. The script even manages to integrate a subplot about the Korean War, also right up Ford's alley considering his World War II fiction and documentary films.

James Stewart, starring in Ford's classic "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" the same year as this show, is great casting as the disgraced major leaguer who was banned after being accused of taking a bribe, who ends up becoming an arm's-length sort of mentor for a new hot prospect played by Patrick Wayne. The story concerns an evil sportscaster (flamboyantly and hissably played by Carleton Young), who accuses Wayne many decades later of the same crime leading to a government hearing presided over by Jack Warden to get to the bottom of the matter.

Ford elicits lively performances from a very fine cast and directs the show with verve, pacing and spirit reminiscent of some 1930s movie, in a way more Capra-esque than Ford, befitting the material.

Watching the show for the first time over 60 years after broadcast, I was thrilled by the overdose of pure nostalgia. Young back then, Vin Scully on screen as the baseball announcer during the show, now has a career that is part of history just as the careers of Ford and Stewart are. And who better to host the show than Fred Astaire, in the status of a fan, but a fan who brings with him a legacy in many ways even greater than his colleagues.

"Flashing Spikes" is a fine, rare John Ford-directed TV gem. Jimmy Stewart (soon to appear in Ford's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance") gives a fine performance as a disgraced ex-baseball player who finds redemption after befriending a young protégé, played by Patrick Wayne. It is not, however, Ford's only TV work.

On the same DVD with "Flasing Spikes" that I acquired via EBay, there's a Ford-directed 30-minute anthology short story from 1955 called "Rookie of the Year." John Wayne, Pat Wayne (again), Ward Bond, Vera Miles & other Ford Stock Co. types are in the cast. Good, although "Flashing Spikes" is better.

IMDb.com also lists Ford directing a Jane Wyman-hosted anthology show episode, of which I'm not familiar. Poignantly, Ford also directed an episode of "Wagon Train" from 1960 with his old friend Bond. Bond died of a heart attack on Nov. 5, 1960, and the Wagon Train episode aired on NBC apx. 2 weeks after Bond's death. Hopefully that episode is available somewhere.

Again, EBay has the DVD of the two baseball stories available on a regular basis. Not top-shelf material like "Stagecoach" or "The Searchers," and they don't have to be. Good TV's worthy of Ford's "second shelf," trust me. :-)