BUMPER
TO BUMPER
My First Car
Joe Garagiola Sr.
Joe Garagiola is a former Major League Baseball catcher turned broadcaster. He
called St. Louis Cardinals radio broadcasts from 1955 to 1962 and spent almost
30 years with NBC television and radio calling World Series, All-Star, and National
League Championship Series games as lead play-by-play announcer. He hosted NBC’s
Today show from 1967 to 1973 and again from 1990 to 1992. He also hosted the
games shows He Said, She Said; Sale of the Century; To Tell the Truth; and Strike
it Rich. Joe has lived in Arizona for more than 30 years and can still be heard
performing color commentary duties for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in an all Italian-American neighborhood
known as The Hill. Yogi Berra lived across the street and we grew up together.
“In 1946, I joined the St. Louis Cardinals. Not only wasn’t I the best catcher
in the Major Leagues, with Yogi, I wasn’t even the best catcher on my street!
“My first car was a Nash and it has a very special meaning to me. The people
from my neighborhood were so proud that ‘one of their own’ made it to the big
leagues that they secretly collected the money and surprised me with the car.
“Back then things were much different for professional athletes than they are
today. After baseball season, during the winter, I had to work. I sold cars at
Feld Chevrolet in St. Louis. I was the rookie so they put me on the used-truck
lot rather than the new-car showroom.
“I learned lots of lessons like, don’t judge how much money a person has by how
they look. I sold four vehicles to a farmer who looked like he couldn’t afford
one.
“Later I got a call from Bob McCurry, a former football guy who was working for
Chrysler and he asked me if I would do some advertising work for them. At the
time, the economy was bad, real bad, and nobody was buying cars.
“I went to Detroit and they took me for a helicopter ride over Chrysler’s Willow
Run auto plant. I saw acres and acres of unsold new cars just sitting. We went
into their corporate offices and saw that lots of people were getting let go.
Something had to be done.
“We came up with an advertising campaign where I told people to go out and make
the best deal you can make with your dealer and then Chrysler will send you a
check. It was really the start of factory rebates and worked well. It seemed
I was on television every two minutes with the ad. Let’s just say the car business
was very, very good to me.
“Today I drive a Cadillac DTS and before that a Cadillac Escalade. Back in the
neighborhood, driving a Cadillac was a big thing but I was working for Chrysler
at the time.”
Speaking of the neighborhood, in case you’re wondering, yes, they bought a car
for Yogi too.
— Jim Prueter
Photo courtesy of Joe Garagiola
