Rookie of the Year (Screen Directors Playhouse)

10th episode of the 1st season of Screen Directors Playhouse

"Rookie of the Year"

Screen Directors Playhouse episode
Episode no.| Season 1
Episode 10
Directed by| John Ford
Written by| Frank Nugent
From a story by
W. R. Burnett
Featured music| no music credit
Cinematography by| Hal Mohr, A.S.C.
Production code| 010
Original air date| December 7, 1955 (1955-12-07)
Guest appearances

* John Wayne
* Vera Miles
* Ward Bond
* and introducing Pat Wayne

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"Rookie of the Year" is a 1955 half-hour baseball drama directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, and Patrick Wayne, all of whom Ford would direct in The Searchers the following year. This film was an installment of the television anthology series Screen Director's Playhouse.

A sportswriter (John Wayne) realizes that a talented young rookie (Patrick Wayne) is the son of a former Chicago White Sox player (Ward Bond), who was banned from playing Major League Baseball for life because of his participation in the 1919 World Series scandal, a.k.a. the Black Sox Scandal. All the characters in this story are fictional, but the character played by Ward Bond is strongly suggestive of the real Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Patrick Wayne would later play a similar role in a 1962 television drama, also directed by John Ford, called Flashing Spikes, starring James Stewart and featuring John Wayne in a lengthy surprise appearance for which he was billed as "Michael Morris."

## Plot

[edit]

Sportswriter Mike Cronin discovers rookie baseball player Lyn Goodhue is the son of former major leaguer, Buck Garrison, who was banished from baseball following his participation in the infamous Black Sox Scandal. He intends to reveal this in his newspaper column, but is threatened at gunpoint by Ruth Dahlberg who wants to kill the story. In a flashback, it is revealed that Cronin's investigation led him to a man named Larry Goodhue who lived with his son, Lyn, next door to Lyn's girlfriend, Ruth Dahlberg. Ruth takes Cronin to a local baseball field where Larry is coaching young boys. Cronin recognizes Larry as Buck Garrison, surprising Ruth. Unhappy with being recognized, Garrison tells Cronin he can't prevent him from running his story, and leaves dejected. Back in the present, Ruth tells Cronin that running the story will hurt Lyn, who has done nothing to deserve the it. Cronin decides not to run the story, and throws a baseball through the window of his newspaper office as he departs.

## Cast

[edit]

* John Wayne as Mike Cronin
* Vera Miles as Ruth Dahlber
* Ward Bond as Larry Goodhue/Buck Garrison
* Pat Wayne as Lyn Goodhue
* James Gleason as Ed Shafer
* Willis Bouchey as Cully
* Harry Tyler as Mr. White
* William Forrest as Walker
* Robert Leyden as Willie
* Tiger Fafara as Bobby

## External links

[edit]

* "Rookie of the Year" in the Internet Movie Database
* Senses of Cinema: Flashing Spikes

* v
* t
* e

Films by John Ford

Silent films|

* The Tornado (1917)
* The Trail of Hate (1917)
* The Scrapper (1917)
* Cheyenne's Pal (1917)
* The Soul Herder (1917)
* Straight Shooting (1917)
* The Secret Man (1917)
* A Marked Man (1917)
* Bucking Broadway (1917)
* The Phantom Riders (1918)
* Wild Women (1918)
* Thieves' Gold (1918)
* The Scarlet Drop (1918)
* Hell Bent (1918)
* A Woman's Fool (1918)
* The Craving (1918)
* Three Mounted Men (1918)
* Roped (1919)
* The Fighting Brothers (1919)
* A Fight for Love (1919)
* Rustlers (1919)
* Bare Fists (1919)
* Gun Law (1919)
* By Indian Post (1919)
* The Gun Packer (1919)
* Riders of Vengeance (1919)
* The Last Outlaw (1919)
* The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1919)
* Ace of the Saddle (1919)
* Rider of the Law (1919)
* A Gun Fightin' Gentleman (1919)
* Marked Men (1919)
* The Prince of Avenue A (1920)
* The Girl in Number 29 (1920)
* Hitchin' Posts (1920)
* Just Pals (1920)
* The Big Punch (1921)
* The Freeze-Out (1921)
* The Wallop (1921)
* Desperate Trails (1921)
* Action (1921)
* Sure Fire (1921)
* Jackie (1921)
* Little Miss Smiles (1922)
* Silver Wings (1922)
* The Village Blacksmith (1922)
* The Face on the Bar-Room Floor (1923)
* Three Jumps Ahead (1923)
* Cameo Kirby (1923)
* North of Hudson Bay (1923)
* Hoodman Blind (1923)
* The Iron Horse (1924)
* Hearts of Oak (1924)
* Lightnin' (1925)
* Kentucky Pride (1925)
* Thank You (1925)
* The Fighting Heart (1925)
* The Shamrock Handicap (1926)
* 3 Bad Men (1926)
* Upstream (1927)
* Four Sons (1928)
* Strong Boy (1929)

Sound films|

* The Black Watch (1929)
* Men Without Women (1930)
* Born Reckless (1930)
* Up the River (1930)
* Seas Beneath (1931)
* The Brat (1931)
* Arrowsmith (1931)
* Air Mail (1932)
* Flesh (1932)
* Pilgrimage (1933)
* Doctor Bull (1933)
* The Lost Patrol (1934)
* The World Moves On (1934)
* Judge Priest (1934)
* The Whole Town's Talking (1935)
* The Informer (1935)
* Steamboat Round the Bend (1935)
* The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
* Mary of Scotland (1936)
* The Plough and the Stars (1936)
* Wee Willie Winkie (1937)
* The Hurricane (1937)
* Four Men and a Prayer (1938)
* Submarine Patrol (1938)
* Stagecoach (1939)
* Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
* Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
* The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
* The Long Voyage Home (1940)
* Tobacco Road (1941)
* How Green Was My Valley (1941)
* They Were Expendable (1945)
* My Darling Clementine (1946)
* The Fugitive (1947)
* Fort Apache (1948)
* 3 Godfathers (1948)
* She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
* When Willie Comes Marching Home (1950)
* Wagon Master (1950)
* Rio Grande (1950)
* The Quiet Man (1952)
* What Price Glory (1952)
* The Sun Shines Bright (1953)
* Mogambo (1953)
* The Long Gray Line (1955)
* Mister Roberts (co-d, 1955)
* The Searchers (1956)
* The Wings of Eagles (1957)
* The Rising of the Moon (1957)
* Gideon's Day (1958)
* The Last Hurrah (1958)
* The Horse Soldiers (1959)
* Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
* Two Rode Together (1961)
* The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
* How the West Was Won (1962)
* Donovan's Reef (1963)
* Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
* 7 Women (1966)

Television|

* "Rookie of the Year" (1955)
* "The Colter Craven Story" (1960)
* "Flashing Spikes" (1962)

Productions|

* The Iron Horse (1924)
* The Blue Eagle (1926)
* Mother Machree (1928)
* Hangman's House (1928)
* Riley the Cop (1928)
* Salute (1929)
* Flesh (1932)
* The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938)
* Young Cassidy (1965)

Documentaries
and training films|

* Torpedo Squadron (1942)
* Sex Hygiene (1942)
* The Battle of Midway (1942)
* December 7th: The Movie (1943)
* Undercover (1943)
* This Is Korea (1951)
* Korea: Battleground for Liberty (1959)
* Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend (1970)
* Vietnam! Vietnam! (1971) (produced and co-wrote)

Related|

* Directed by John Ford (1971 documentary)
* Five Came Back (2017 documentary)

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