MARCH 25-31, 2011 • THE SOUTH SHORE STANDARD •
The Last Dodger Doctor
BY JONATHAN WALTER STANDARD STAFF REPORTER
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o one in The Five Towns knows the inside scoop on what went down with the Brooklyn Dodgers like Lawrence resident Dr. Noel Kleppel. Sit down Kleppel for just an hour and he’ll regale you with first hand tales of Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Duke Snider, and many other Dodger greats. Kleppel served as team doctor for the Brooklyn and then Los Angeles Dodgers from 1957 until 1958, when he left to join the Air Force in 1959. A lifelong fan of both the football and baseball Giants (his late uncle Louis Kleppel was a close friend with New York Giants owner Wellington Mara), Kleppel, 79, was recommended by Dr. Herbert Fett Sr. to replace him as the team doctor. Fett was also the chief of orthopedics at Long Island College Hospital and was a professor at the university. Kleppel knew Fett from his time serving as one of his residents in the hospital. One day, after Fett had decided to step down as Dodger’s team doctor, he recommended Kleppel to team owner Walter O’Malley. “One day when O’Malley was at the hospital, Dr. Fett said “come upstairs and I’ll introduce you to O’Malley,” Kleppel said. “We talked for a bit and that was it.” The decision to move to Los Angeles when the team made its big move was easy for Kleppel. “I was young, single, and had nothing tying me down, so I tried it out,” Kleppel said. “I didn’t really like it out there,
Left to right: Coach Greg Muleavy, Kleppel Pee Wee Reese
but the baseball part was still the baseball part and I enjoyed that.” He lived well while serving as their doctor. O’Malley set him up with a large apartment identical to his own where his food was paid for, and he could have guests over at the Dodger’s expense so long as he didn’t overdo it. He was also paid $500 a week, a lot of money in those days. At the start of spring training, only the major league players would be at camp and a waitress served players. After a few weeks, the entire farm system would report, meaning hundreds in a dining room, so it became cafeteria style eating. “You’d grab a tray of food and I had to take a little of everything because if you didn’t eat it, the players weren’t going to eat it,” Kleppel said. “By the time I got to the end of the line, my plate was full of food. Baseball players burn five thousand calories a day, but I’m not a baseball player. I gained twenty pounds in a month.” He recalls being well liked
by the Dodgers because of his willingness to warm up with them. “I got along well with the players as a person relatively contemporary to them,” Kleppel said. “I would go out and play ball with them. Most of the doctors would sit up in their office and read a book, but I enjoyed playing ball. They would throw up ‘lollipops’ and give me a chance to hit something.” One year, during spring training in Vero Beach, a player approached Kleppel about obtaining some Vitamin E. Players, as they still do today, were always looking for ways to improve themselves physically and Vitamin E was rumored to have beneficial effects for athletes. “One thing that most people don’t know about baseball players,” Kleppel said, “is that they’re all narcissists and faddists.” Kleppel knew that Vitamin E had no effects other than to serve as a sterility drug for chickens, so instead of giving it to the player and having to suffer a bombardment
Legislative Roundup
Your Weekly Guide to How Our Elected Officials Are Voting and What They’re Voting On. CONTINUED FROM P. A4 Rise and Recommend that the Enacting Clause Be Stricken: H.R. 861 (Failed) Mar 16, 2011. This bill rescinds and cancels permanently all unobligated balances remaining
available, as of the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for assistance to states and local governments for the redevelopment of aban-
Properties Sold in the Five Towns since March 16 29 Park Cir, Cedarhurst. Split style with 11 rooms. Four bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and a half bathroom. Taxes: $8,700. Built in 1957. Lot Size: 60x100 Sold on 3/17 for $535,000 475 Arlington Rd, Cedarhurst. Colonial style with seven rooms. Three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and a half bathroom. Taxes: $8,875. Built in 1928. Lot Size: 50x100 Sold on 3/17 for $315,000 696 Wilson St, N. Woodmere Colonial style with ten rooms. Five bedrooms, three full bathrooms, and a half bathroom. Taxes: $11,200. Built in 1979. Lot Size: 67x104 Sold on 3/16 for $640,000 111 Barrett Rd, Lawrence Colonial style with ten rooms. Six bedrooms, four full bathrooms, and a half bathroom. Taxes: $20,665. Village Taxes: $2,777. Built in 1962. Lot Size 225x124 Sold on 3/17 for $965,000
Rabbi Gedaliah Oppen and Rebbezin Oppen opened their home to HAFTR High School students and families on Purim. The Oppens hosted two megillah readings followed by a beautiful breakfast sponsored by an anonymous donor. The boys participated in shacharit and a siyum on masechet megillah while the girls heard the second megillah reading and also recited the entire sefer tehillim.
doned and foreclosed homes and residential properties. Voted AYE on Passage of Bill H.Res. 170 (Passed) Mar 16, 2011. Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 839) to amend the Emergency Economic Sta-
of requests for the drug from the hundreds of other players at training camp, he instead pulled an old doctors trick and gave the player a dose methylene blue. The next day he came back to Kleppel and exclaimed “Doc! I’m pissing ink!” “Oh, you must have an allergic reaction to the Vitamin E, it’s a good thing it didn’t turn red though.” Kleppel said to the player, explaining that red urine would indicate a fatal reaction to the Vitamin E. Kleppel then gave the player the “antidote,” which to the player’s dismay turned his urine red the next day. “By the third day he didn’t know if he would be pissing polka dots or stripes,” Kleppel said. “The rest of the players wanted nothing to do with Vitamin E after that. I’d probably get fired and arrested for pulling a stunt like that today.” Kleppel dealt with his share of emergencies working for the Dodgers. One night, during his first season with the team while they were still in Brooklyn and held spring training in Florida, he got a call in the middle of the night saying that three of the Dodger’s stars had been in a car accident, including Don Zimmer and Duke Snider. “Each one hurt something they shouldn’t have hurt,” Kleppel said. “Duke Snider hit his knees into the dashboard after having knee problems. Zimmer, who was always getting his in the head by baseballs got a head injury.” He spent all night driving around Florida looking for special plastic sutures to sew up head injuries. Kleppel emphasized his enjoyment of watching “smart
bilization Act of 2008 to terminate the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury to provide new assistance under the Home Affordable Modification Program, while preserving assistance to homeowners who were already extended an offer to participate in the Program, either on a trial or permanent basis; and providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 861) to rescind the
baseball” while at the games. He recalled a game where Jackie Robinson was on first base and another player was on second with the score tied 1-1. On a ground ball to the right side, Robinson allowed the ball to hit him in order to avoid a double play. Robinson was out, but it gave the next batter an opportunity with runners on first and third. The next player up got a hit and drove in the run and the Dodgers went on to win 2-1. When talking about Robin-
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that there would always be fresh orange juice available to the players at the facility. In a bittersweet end to his time with the Dodgers, the team finished seventh in the National League in his last year with the team. The next year, 1959, they went on the win the World Series against the White Sox. Kleppel had to join the Air Force as part of his agreement with the Berry plan which he agreed to in order to have the government garuantee him
Kleppel alongside Tommy Lasorda ad Dodgertown. Lasorda was a former pitcher on the Dodgers, although more well known for his time as a manager.
son’s early days playing in major leagues and the adversity he faced Kleppel said: “I don’t care if he’s got polka dots. Get him a uniform. When you’re a surgeon you cut people open and they all look the same on the inside.” Recalling some of the more relaxing stories of spring training in Vero Beach, Kleppel remembers Campy’s corner where Roy Campanella would sit in his wheelchair under and awning and discuss baseball with rookies, and O’Malley’s employment of a man who’s sole job it was to squeeze oranges all day so
full residency training in a civilian hospital once he completed his service. Residents who didn’t sign up for the Berry plan could be drafted without the government’s aid in guaranteeing their residency training Kleppel is now retired as a surgeon but continues to teach medical students for the State University of New York. He is also been published in many medical journals and books He lives with his wife, Kim Kleinart Kleppel, a retired nurse, writer, and lifelong Five Towns resident, in Lawrence for the past 27 years.
third round of funding for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program and to terminate the program.
claim April 2011 as Autism Awareness Month in the State of New York. Sponsor of Bill A6461-2011 (Amend and Recommit to Real Property Taxation) Mar 22, 2011 This bill would prevent a significant tax burden shift to homeowners who live in communities with unique commercial to residential property growth ratios.
Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg, 20th NY A.D. Sponsor of Bill K269-2011 (Adopted) Mar 22, 2011 This bill authorizes Governor Andrew M. Cuomo to pro-