Born in Lucas, Arkansas. He was a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1930 to 1937, the Chicago Cubs from 1938 to 1941, and the St. Louis Browns in 1947.

Jerome Herman "Dizzy" Dean was that kind of player. After all, you'd have to be quite cantankerous to play, back to back, for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, considered by some to be the fiercest rivals in baseball history. The Cardinals had him first, from 1932 to 1937. During his time as their pitching staff's anchor, Dizzy earned four consecutive strikeout titles, was named League MVP in 1934, led the National League in complete games for four consecutive seasons and won two games in the world series. In a three-year stretch, between 1933 and 1936, Dizzy Dean won 106 games. He even struck out 17 Cubs in a single game in '33!

Dizzy wasn't the only Dean winning Major League Baseball acclaim. His brother, Paul "Daffy" Dean, joined him on the Cardinals pitching staff in 1934. That year, Dizzy predicted that he and his brother would win 45 games. It seemed an absurdly boastful prediction at the time. But actually, it turned out to be slightly conservative, as the Deans won 49 games that year--30 with Dizzy at the helm and 19 with Daffy. In 1935, they won 47.

Two years later, Dizzy wanted out of the All-Star game. After all, tireless victories sometimes take their toll, but at the urging of Cardinal owner, Sam Breadon, he played on. That turned out to be a career-altering idea, as he was struck by a line drive and broke his toe.

He returned to baseball prematurely, altering his pitching motion to take the pressure off his as yet unhealed foot, but this brought on a bout with bursitis in his pitching arm.

So, the Cardinals traded him for three Cubs players and $185,000 before the 1938 season opener. As the Cardinals may have presupposed, Dizzy's Cubs career wasn't nearly as stellar there as it was during his years in St. Louis. Over the next three years, he only appeared in 30 games, though the Cubs did garner an NL pennant during his stint.

Dean retired from the Cubs in 1941 to become a broadcaster for the St. Louis Browns. In 1947, after heckling the Browns all season, he reprised his record-breaking role--just to show them how it was done--and pitched a four-inning shut out.

In 1950, despite his utter disregard for grammar and formality, he asked to host a national television segment on baseball called Game of the Week and remained in broadcasting for more than 20 years thereafter. The wisecracking, World Series-winning down-homeboy was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1953.