Harry "The Horse" Danning

One afternoon at my home in L.A., the doorbell rang and standing there was 88-year old, Harry "The Horse" Danning, former, four-time all-star catcher with the New York Giants of the 1930s (they were World Champs in 1933 and National League Champs in '36 and '37, with players such as Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, Bill Terry and Travis Jackson). Harry had written a letter for one of my "Baseball Letters" books and promised to drop by when in L.A. (his hometown).

He came in my house --this hulking guy – and sat down in my big, red retro-60s chair. I asked if I could film his reminiscences. I had a ton of questions, loving baseball history as I do. He said "sure."

Harry then proceeded to talk of being the man behind the plate when Lou Gehrig hit his final World Series home run and when Joe Dimaggio hit his first one. He was also behind the plate when Ted Williams won the 1941 all-star game with a towering blast (he was still upset that pitcher Claude Passeau didn’t throw the pitch Harry wanted him to!).

He told personal stories of Jimmie Foxx and Dizzy Dean and his colorful Gas House Gang Cardinals and poor Willard Herschberger, who took his own life three days after one of Harry’s home runs beat Hershberger’s Reds.

He described card games on the long, yet relaxing train rides and being one of four Jewish players on the Giants in those years and how he didn't even know his own real last name!

It was an amazing afternoon -- an old guy telling a young guy the "way it was". The capper was when I showed Harry his jersey from 1941 that I had in my collection. He signed it Harry "The Horse" Danning.

A few years later, I opened the New York Times to see that Harry had passed away at the age of 93. I realized then that he was the last Giant from those 1930s championship teams to pass away. I remembered the footage I took of him and started to re-watch it. I decided to make it into a small movie as a memento of that afternoon and something I could give to Harry’s family. I interspliced some rare photos and films of Harry taken during his playing days, along with Al Jolsen’s version of “I’m Just Wild About Harry”.

I titled the short film "The Last Giant". Incredibly, it was just chosen as a Finalist for the D.C. International Film Festival to be held in March, 2007.

As a collector of historic baseball memorabilia, I love being around all-things historic when it comes to the game of baseball. And I certainly was when I was fortunate to spend a few hours with “The Horse”, Harry Danning.