cheech

Hemingway vs. Casey

Ah, I got one of my baseball books today and immediately found one of the stories I was looking for! I'd thought it was in Leo Durocher's book, but not, it's in Billy Herman's section of Baseball When the Grass Was Real, and concerns an incident in Cuba, where the Dodgers were having spring training in 1942:

You know, Ernest Hemingway lived in Havana at that time, and I spent a night with him Ill never forget. Hemingway liked to hang around with ballplayers, and one day he invited a few of us out to the gun club where he and his wife were members. Hemingway took a lot of pride in all this manly stuff, guns and boozing and fighting, things like that. He was a big, brawny man, and when hed had a few drinks he got mean, real mean.
So he invited Hugh Casey, Larry French, Augie Galan and myself out to the gun club. Believe me, this was no Coney Island shooting gallery. It was a real fancy place. You had a guy with a portable bar following you around. Youd get up, take your shots, and thered be a drink ready for you. This went on from 3 oclock in the afternoon until dark. At that point, Hemingway said, Ah, the hell with this. Come on up to my house and lets have a few drinks.
So we all went up to his house. He had a big, beautiful home. He took us into a huge dining room/ living room combination, with all terrazzo floors, and told us to make ourselves comfortable while he went and got the drinks.
He came back with an enormous silver tray, with all the bottles, the mixers and we started drinking. Hemingway was a real great host. He couldnt do enough for you. He gave us each an autographed copy of For Whom the Bell Tolls
We talked a lot about the war. The war had just started in December, and this was in March. Hemingway started talking about the Japanese and how far they were going to go. And you know, events proved him right. He said they were going to go down the Malay Peninsula, that they were going to take Burma, and this island and that island. Hed been a foreign correspondent in different parts of the world and knew a hell of a lot about things, and it was fascinating.
We had quite a bit to drink; then he laid out some food. After we ate, we had a few more drinks. It was getting pretty late now, and Mrs. Hemingway excused herself and went to bed. Hemingway was good and loaded by this time.
Now Hugh Casey was a very quiet man and he wasnt saying much. Hugh never said much. But he was a drinker. Id say that of everybody in the room, Hugh and Hemingway were feeling the best. But everything was still serious, with talk about the war and one thing and another. Then out of a clear blue sky Hemingway looked over at Casey, sort of sizing him up. Hemingway had this funny little grin; I assumed it was friendly, but then it might not have been.
You know, Hugh, he said, you and I are about the same size. Wed make a good match.
Casey just grinned.
Come on, Hemingway said, Ive got some boxing gloves. Lets just spar. Fool around a little bit.
Casey grinned and shrugged his shoulders. Hemingway went and got the boxing gloves. He came back and slipped on a pair and gave Casey the other pair. As Hugh was putting his gloves on, Hemingway suddenly hauled off and belted him. He hit him hard, too. He knocked Casey into the bookstand and there goes the tray with all the booze and glasses smashing all over the terrazzo floor. It must have echoed all through the house because Hemingways wife came running in.
What happened? she asked.
Oh, its all right honey, he said, Hughie and I are just having a little fun. You go on back to bed.
She looked at him, looked at Casey, looked at the mess on the floor, then went back to bed.
Casey didnt say anything about the sneaky punch. He just got up and finished putting his gloves on. Then they started sparring. Hemingway didnt bother to pick up the tray or anything, and they were moving back and forth across the broken glass and you could hear it cracking and crunching on that terrazzo floor whenever they stepped on it.
Boom, Casey starts hitting him. And hitting him. Then Casey starts knocking him down. Hemingway didnt like that at all. Then Casey belted him across some furniture, and there was another crash as Hemingway took a lamp and table down with him. The wife came running out again, and Hemingway told her it was all right, to go back to bed, that it was all in fun. She went away, but this time she was looking a little bit doubtful about the whole thing.
Hemingway was getting sore. Hed no sooner get up than Hugh would put him down again. Finally he got up this one time, made a feint with his left hand, and kicked Casey in the balls.
Thats when we figured it had gone far enough. We made them take the gloves off. Then everything was all right.
Lets have another drink, Hemingway said. But it was getting very late now; we had to be back at the hotel at 12 oclock. We told him that.
Well, he said, Im too drunk to drive you back to Havana. Ill have my chauffer drive you.
As we were going to the door, he grabbed Casey by the arm.
Look, Hemingway said, you stay here. The chauffer will take them. You stay here. Spend the night. Tonight were both drunk, but tomorrow morning well wake up, well both be sober. Then you and me will have a duel. Well use swords, pistols, whatever you want. You pick it. And hes dead serious about it. He wanted to kill Casey. Hughied gotten the better of him, and Hemingway wanted to kill him.
Unh-unh, Casey said, shaking his head. He didnt want any part of it. So we left.
The next day, Hemingways wife brought him down to the ball park. You never saw a man so embarrassed, so ashamed. He apologized to everybody. Dont know what got into me, he said. Well, I can tell you what got into him. About a quart.
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One of the supreme ironies is- both men later shot themselves. Hemingway you knew, but Hugh Casey got depressed in his later years (There is some speculation that it was due to losing a 1941 World Series game. Casey threw a low pitch for strike three on Yankee Tommy Heinrich in the last inning... but catcher Mickey Owen missed the catch, and Heinrich took first base [a batter can run if strike three gets by the catcher]. The Yankees rallied to win the game, and the Series. People speculated that Casey had thrown an illegal sinking spitball; he denied it, but was blamed by many regardless.) and shot himself with a pistol.