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“Norman Rockwell and Baseball” Photo Gallery
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What Inspired the Famous Norman Rockwell Painting, The Three Umpires?

I’ve posted this iconic Norman Rockwell painting The Three Umpires before, but I never knew what rainy-day incident served as the inspiration for the painting. Was it based on something historic? Or did the famous artist just make it all up?

I discovered today that the idea for the painting was an actual incident from a real game. According to the National Pastime website, it was inspired by the conditions that existed at Ebbets Field on Tuesday, August 19, 1941, eighty-two years ago today. The game, the second of a double header between the visiting Pirates and the home-team Dodgers, was played under a steady rain that increased in intensity as the innings went by. Pirates’ manager Frankie Frisch apparently thought that the conditions were so bad that the game should be called — or at least halted — as the soggy playing field was unsafe for the players.

The volatile Frisch let home plate umpire Jocko Conlan hear about it. I haven’t found any explanation for why Conlan felt that the game had to continue under such harsh conditions. Finally, in the bottom of the sixth inning, Frisch had enough. He sauntered onto the field carrying a fully extended umbrella over his head! It was his way of protesting playing baseball in a near downpour.

That had to be a first among a long list of goofy, childish managerial stunts that goes all the way back to the inception of the game. Especially considering the fact that the quintessential umpire baiter — and Jocko Conlan nemesis, Leo Durocher — was perched across the diamond on the Dodger bench. The two had been teammates on the great Cardinal team of 1934, the Gashouse Gang; and so Frisch was well acquainted with Durocher’s antics. He had learned from the master how to get under the skin of umpires. Not only that, as he walked to the pitcher’s mound, he turned to Jocko and barked out for all to hear:

“All my players are going to get pneumonia because of you Jocko – you haven’t got the guts to call this game!”

Well, needless to say, Jocko wasn’t pleased. He was being “shown up” — as we say in baseball — by Frisch and his bush-league theatrics. Jocko promptly gave Frankie the old “heave-ho”; or, in wonderfully descriptive baseball parlance, he was “given the thumb,” and told to “go take a shower.”

I thought it would be fun to check out the box score for this game, won by the Dodgers 6-2, and see what exactly was going on that day in Brooklyn. First of all, I was able to confirm that Frisch was ejected by Conlan, as this is what I found on Retrosheet:

Ejections: PIT Manager Frankie Frisch by Jocko Conlan [Bringing umbrella to protest weather]

In addition to Conlan, the three-man umpiring crew consisted of Larry Gertz and Beans Reardon, both of whom are depicted in Norman Rockwell’s painting (along with Lou Jorda. Actual home plate umpire Jocko Conlan is not in the painting). The game was played in 2:01, in front of a sparse crowd of only 9,372 fans, which is surprising because the Dodgers were a fine team just six weeks away from clinching the National League pennant, finishing with an outstanding 100-54 record.

Dodger manager Leo Durocher’s lineup was full of stars, including future Hall of Famers Billy Herman, Joe Medwick, and Pee Wee Reese; plus standout players Pete Reiser, Cookie Lavagetto, and Dolph Camilli. Catcher Mickey Owen would soon make a rather dubious name for himself with a passed ball in the upcoming 1941 World Series.

The Pirates were a good team that year too, eventually finishing in fourth place with an 81-73 record in the eight-team National League. Their lineup included eventual Hall of Famer Arky Vaughan, plus star third baseman Bob Elliott. Other familiar names included Vince DiMaggio and Al Lopez.

As for Rockwell’s famous 1948 painting, it appeared on the April 23, 1949 cover of The Saturday Evening Post. The original is in the collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. It’s also known by other names: Game Called Because of Rain, Tough Call, and Bottom of the Sixth.

Adding to the confusion about the painting is that although it was inspired by this 1941 game described above, the details on the scoreboard actually describe the first game of a Dodgers-Pirates double header Rockwell attended on Tuesday, September 14, 1948; although it’s actually more likely a conflation of events from games played on both September 13 and 14 that year. In other words, we now know Rockwell took ample “artistic license” with the painting.

Of course, all this assumes that the information on the National Pastime website is accurate and that this 1941 game played in the rain at Ebbets Field was indeed Rockwell’s inspiration for the painting he produced in 1948. We’ll just have to take their word for it. A few years ago, I did a detailed analysis of the painting, providing many previously unknown details. You can read about it here.

I hope you enjoyed this little excursion into baseball’s past. It’s always fun to examine a particular game “close-up.” Invariably, we nerdy baseball history fans find something of interest in the obscure details…and this game, played on August 19, 1941, is certainly no exception!

In the photo gallery above, I’ve assembled other famous Norman Rockwell paintings associated with baseball.

Gary Livacari 

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