It's Good to Be Fred

[Edgy MD]

Headline I stumbled across wile reading an old issue of The Sporting News

Angels Present Lifetime Pass to Actor Bill Frawley

I know, it's the Angels, but still!

[Guest d'Kong76]

From Wiki --

Frawley was reputed by fellow actors to be cantankerous and difficult, likely exacerbated by a drinking problem. His bad temper led to problems with producers; he was once fired for punching another actor on the nose. When he got the call offering him the part of Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy, Desi Arnaz told him he would only get three chances before getting fired.

[Edgy MD]

He was fired mid-season from My Three Sons because he was too expensive to insure. He was, like, the Robert Downey of the sixties.

[Guest d'Kong76]

I never would have guessed, he was so jolly haha...

[Guest 41Forever]

Here's the real reason no one liked him:

An avid New York Yankees baseball fan, Frawley had it written into his I Love Lucy contract that he did not have to work during the World Series if the Yankees were playing. The Yankees were in every World Series during that time except for 1954 and 1959. He did not appear in two episodes of the show as a result.[10]

[Guest cooby]

Great story!

[Fman99]

He was always the funniest character on that show, to me.

[dinosaur jesus]

I did a few minutes of digging on this. The Wikipedia page on Fred Haney, the Angels' first GM, has a photo of Haney presenting Frawley with the pass. Frawley was on This Is Your Life, and the episode aired in January 1961, shortly before the Angels' first season. Frawley was on the Angels' advisory board, which I imagine just means he was one of the celebrities signed up by the Angels to promote the new team. But I'm also guessing he was a friend of Gene Autry's; they'd both been part-owners of the old Hollywood Stars (along with everyone else in Hollywood) going back to the thirties.

[Guest d'Kong76]

I feel like a small piece of my I Love Lucy soul has been stomped on. Fred
was a Yankee-loving douche bag.

[Edgy MD]

I got nothing against the fans of the 1950s Yankees. It's not really an issue with me until the Mets come into existence, and more particularly, after the arrival of Steinbrenner.

William Frawley as Cubs manager "Cap" in 1935's Alibi Ike.



With Joe E. Brown in Alibi Ike



Bill joined by fellow actor George Raft and Tigers batboy Joe Roggin before game one of the 1935 World Series. Everything about his face tells me Fred had a bet down.



Kicking back with The Sporting News, possibly reading about his lifetime pass.



As "Bill Turner," with Ralph Houk, in Safe at Home (1962)

[fimg=500]http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/baseball-closeup-of-new-york-yankees-manager-ralph-houk-with-actor-picture-id511331044[/fimg]

Sharing a baseball-themed birthday cake (and showing the world how to wear pants) with child actor Bryan Russell:



Joining Mantle and Maris for batting instruction, Safe at Home:



I feel like I've finally figured out what the Internet was invented for.

[G-Fafif]

Bob Hope, as himself, appeared on I Love Lucy at MFYS I watching his Tribe beat the MFYs of the 1950s while Lucy pretended to be a hot dog vendor. That wasn't bad.

Bill Demarest, Bill Frawley's successor on My Three Sons, interrupted Johnny Carson to let him know he had to use the bathroom and walked off the set. Both Johnny and I were left speechless.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Edgy MD wrote: I got nothing against the fans of the 1950s Yankees. It's not really an issue with me until the Mets come into existence, and more particularly, after the arrival of Steinbrenner.

Geez, I don't either. I was making a CPFesque YLDb funny.

[G-Fafif]

d'Kong76 wrote: I was making a CPFesque YLDb funny.

As would have our forebears on the Don Mueller Literal Bulletin Board or Gene Hermanski Scrap of Paper That Gets Passed Around.

[Lefty Specialist]

Sharing a baseball-themed birthday cake (and showing the world how to wear pants) with child actor Bryan Russell:

Can't stop giggling at this.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Let's hope belly pants are never a thing again.

[Guest cooby]

yeah his pants were always a hoot!

And I loved Ethel so could never understand why she was with him...

[Guest d'Kong76]

That was a thing with Vivian Vance, she didn't like being cast married
to a man much her senior looking.