The Pride of St. Louis

The Pride of St. Louis
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Harmon Jones
Produced by	Jules Schermer
Written by	Guy Trosper (story) Herman J. Mankiewicz
Starring	Dan Dailey Joanne Dru Richard Crenna
Music by	Arthur Lange
Cinematography	Leo Tover
Edited by	Robert L. Simpson
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	1952
Running time	93 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.65 million (US rentals)

The Pride of St. Louis is a 1952 biographical film of the life of Major League Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean. It starred Dan Dailey as Dean, Joanne Dru as his wife, and Richard Crenna as his brother Paul "Daffy" Dean, also a major league pitcher. It was directed by Harmon Jones.

Guy Trosper was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story.

Much of the plotline is reasonably close to the facts of Dizzy Dean's life and baseball career; however, the climax is fictionalized, based on an on-air comment he made regarding his use of the word "Ain't": "A lot of folks who ain't sayin' 'ain't,' ain't eatin'. So, Teach, you learn 'em English, and I'll learn 'em baseball." The story arc covers Dean's rise to pitching superstardom, the early end of his career, and his redemption through radio broadcasting.

The screenplay was the last by Herman J. Mankiewicz, who earlier had co-written the script for the Lou Gehrig biography, The Pride of the Yankees.

A scout for the St. Louis Cardinals comes to a small town in the Ozarks to assess pitcher Jerome Herman Dean (Dailey). Dean, with an over-abundance of self-confidence, is certain that the club wants him to start immediately and is surprised that he is sent to the minor league Houston Buffaloes. Despite his obvious talents, Dean is teased about his rustic clothes and goes to a department store to buy new suits. He meets pretty credit officer Patricia Nash (Dru) and courts her with great vigor. At an exhibition between the Buffaloes and the Chicago White Sox, Dean is dismayed to see Pat with another man but pitches an almost perfect game. The White Sox players razz Dean, calling him "Dizzy," but he adopts the nickname, which is picked up by sports reporters. Dean asks Pat to elope, and although she is stunned by his proposal, agrees to marry him.