Brett Friedlander - Chasing Moonlight: The True Story of Field of Dreams Doc Graham

The True Story of
Field of Dreams
Doc Graham

B RETT F RIEDLANDER AND
R OBERT R EISING

FOREWORD BY DR. BOBBY BROWN

John F. Blair, Publisher
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Copyright 2009 by Brett Friedlander and Robert Reising

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address John F. Blair, Publisher Subsidiary Rights Department, 1406 Plaza Drive, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27103.

Manufactured in the United States of America
Originally published in hardcover in the United States by John F. Blair,
Publisher in 2009

FIRST JOHN F. BLAIR, PUBLISHER, PAPERBACK PUBLISHED 2011

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Friedlander, Brett.

Chasing Moonlight : the true story of Field of dreams Doc Graham / by Brett Friedlander and Robert Reising ; foreword by Dr. Bobby Brown.
p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-89587-369-9 (alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0-89587-369-9 (alk. paper)

1. Graham, Doc, 18791965. 2. Baseball playersUnited StatesBiography. 3. Field of dreams (Motion picture) I. Reising, Robert. II. Title.

GV865.G65F75 2009
796.357092dc22
[B]

ISBN 13: 978-0-89587-415-3 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978-0-89587-514-3

To Karen, Erika, and Paul, without whose love and encouragement the dream of this book would never have become a reality

To my wife, Judy, who has been my strength even when she hasnt always felt so strong

And to Veda, Ron, and all the other kind, generous citizens of Chisholm, Minnesota, who helped make it possible to bring Doc Grahams story to life

As a physician who also played professional baseball, I can relate to the story of Doc Graham from the movie Field of Dreams. He was certainly a memorable figure who inspired a lot of people. But he played ball during the summer when he wasnt in school, and that was a big difference from what I did. We had to play while we were in school. It wasnt a question of just playing during summer vacation. We started when the season opened and played until the season ended, then we caught up in med school. You either had to make up classes when you got back to school or stay longer in order to finish.

The one year I had that was very tough was when I went into my junior year, because I was six weeks behind the class. In the month of September, they all took what is called physical diagnosis. They learned how to take blood pressures, how to listen to the heart, how to examine patients, how to listen to the lungs, how to palpitate the abdomen, and so forth. When I got back, they were already into their clinical work and getting patients to work up and examine. I had to hire tutors to get me through that course while I was also in the regular class. It was a very difficult time for me. I had classes from eight in the morning until nine at night, then I had to do all the rest of the work after that. I finally caught the class at Christmas.

George Medich, an orthopedic surgeon who played 11 major league seasons from 1972 to 1982, had it a little easier because he was a pitcher, and it wasnt as difficult to stay in shape as it was for an everyday player. But he had a lot of the same problems I did. Im sure Moonlight Graham did, too.

The first two years are mostly the basic sciences. Youre taking gross anatomy, microbiology, embryology, biochemistry, pathology, pharmacologyall the courses. They give you the background to start seeing human patients. That comes at the beginning of the third year. The curriculum may be different now. They may have students start seeing patients sooner, but thats the way we did it when I was in med school.

I started in December 1944, during World War II. I was in the navy at the time, and they assigned me to Tulane. Thats how I got there. The big advantage I had is that Id already made it through my first year and was halfway through my second year when I signed with the Yankees in 1946. They knew I could do the work. It wasnt a matter of whether I could do it, because Id already passed. Still, there was a lot of debate when all this was going on. Nobody knew about Graham when I came along. As far as we knew, playing baseball while going to med school had never been done before. Fortunately, I had some of the faculty go to bat for me. I was a decent student, and since I was already almost halfway through the program, they decided to let me try to do both. The dean, Hiram Watkins Kostmayer, was very supportive. I couldnt have done it without him.

I also got a lot of help from my baseball coach at Stanford my freshman year. His best friend was the president of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and they had a 500-bed hospital for their 80,000 employees. He told me that if I wanted to intern there for six months a year, then go play ball, I could do it. I did that for two years. Because of my schedule, I never really had spring training. The year I signed, I got over there about the third week in March. In 47, I got there in time because I was able to complete my second year. From 48 on, I would get there somewhere between the first and the 15th of April.

The mental part of it wasnt so bad because once I left med school, got a bat in my hand, and saw that first curve ball, I knew where I was. There was no big adjustment. Its the same when I left baseball for school. I would be back in class in three days. Id get the homework assignments and forget very quickly that I was a ballplayer. There was no in-between. Physically, it was much tougher. I didnt have any baseball games under my belt. If I could get there 10 days ahead of time, I might get three or four spring games. But if I got there on opening day, I had to start right away from scratch. Thats the way it was most of my career.

After my first year, I realized that I couldnt stop playing. So when I got back to school, I would work out every day so that Id never get out of shape. I did something for at least an hour. I ran, threw a ball, swung a bat. I tried to get kids to throw batting practice for me. The problem was always getting my timing with my hitting, and you have to play games to get that. But it was a small sacrifice. Like Doc Graham, I was fortunate that I didnt have to choose between the two things I loved mostplaying baseball and studying medicineand was able to do both.

Whats so special about a half an inning that
would make you want to come all the way from