THE STORY OF A HUNDRED DOLLAR BET
Have often been asked, “How come that one so long identified with baseball, – as a pitcher,
coach, and then named 'Clown Prince of Baseball,' became a restaurant owner ?”
Well, soon after the start of the 2nd World War, Tom Farley, brother of James Farley, asked
me what I would do since the restrictions on gasoline, tires, etc. would make it practically impossible
to meet the entertaining engagements at the far-flung baseball parks, especially since the automo-
bile is my sole mode of travel. I answered, “Well, since I love people and love to meet them, I'll open
a restaurant.”
He laughed and bet me a hundred dollars I would not. Then when I returned in 1942 for the
All-Star Game, Art Flynn and I dropped into a small restaurant, where I overheard the owner say
he would like to sell because of a draft-call. Here was my chance to win my bet and I took it. I
asked my brother, a designer and a sceptic, to redesign the place with a baseball atmosphere. He
did, but like many others, stayed a sceptic for some time. However, I knew that good food served to
good judges would not let my reputation as a clown prevent success. I won that bet too. Proof was
that growing success unmade my brother as a sceptic and he then designed the present place I am so
proud of, in the buildings I then bought for the purpose. And that is why I say,
“When It Comes To Food I Am Not Clowning”
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al Schaet's
Ranchores
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