Frankie Drake Mysteries Reviews: Season 2, Episode 6

Extra Innings – Director: Sudz Sutherland/Writer: John Callaghan

This one starts with the ladies attending a baseball game featuring the Toronto Sparrows (a woman’s team). Mary is really into it (she plays in a recreational league), while Flo doesn’t seem too interested. Frankie and Trudy are casual fans (although Frankie seems to enjoy flirting with Brody, the concession stand guy). Mary is quite impressed by the Sparrows’ pitcher (Dorothy Lloyd), even when she almost gets into a fight with an opposing player (Viola Kelly) who she just struck out. When Dorothy is at bat, Mary notices she doesn’t kiss her ladybug charm like usual. Maybe she should have, because when she’s rounding first Dorothy slips and hits the ground hard. She’s not breathing and despite Flo’s best efforts to revive her, she dies. Frankie notices the cleats from Dorothy’s shoe beside the base and sees that the cleats were partly pried off … which means Dorothy’s tumble was no accident.

The coach (Dutch Cunningham, played by Vincent Walsh aka the Ash in Lost Girl) is pretty worked up over Dorothy’s death and asks Frankie to look into it. At the morgue, the cause of death is found to be a broken rib accidentally puncturing Dorothy’s heart. That seems a bit strange to Trudy, so Flo decides to take a closer look. Frankie and Trudy talk to the player who handled the equipment (Evelyn) and she says she dropped it over by the concession stand where anyone could’ve gone through it. Brody says he saw Viola Kelly rummaging through the bag and Mary points out that Viola used to play for the Sparrows before being traded. Brody hints that the reason for the trade was because Viola and Dorothy were rivals for the spotlight. Flo lets the others know that Dorothy’s broken rib must’ve happened the night before, probably in some kind of fight. So Dorothy’s death was accidental, but the sabotage wasn’t. Frankie and Mary question Viola, but she denies fighting with Dorothy and says she was still on the train from Windsor until an hour before game time yesterday.

They start thinking there might be a gambling angle, so Frankie goes to the biggest bookie around, Bessie Starkman. She places a bet on the Sparrows and notices Starkman putting the money in a safe. Mary tries to find Redwood Richardson (Dorothy’s catcher) and hears she’s been drunk and morose since Dorothy’s death. Trudy talks to Dutch and Evelyn, who says Dorothy and Redwood argued at the bar the night before the game and Dorothy left the bar through the back door. Mary finds Redwood at the police station, having been brought in drunk. Mary is ready to take Redwood out of the cop shop, but Detective Grayson insists she sleep off her bender in the drunk tank. Frankie and Trudy break into Starkman’s “flower shop” and Frankie opens the safe and photographs the betting ledger. When Starkman’s goon (Dario) shows up, Trudy distracts him long enough for Frankie to get out. They find a $2,000 bet on the Sparrows’ opposition at 14-1 odds, which Frankie figures would be worth killing for. Unfortunately, the gambler used a fake name (George Windsor aka the King of England), so that’s not much help. Mary brings a still-loaded Redwood to the office, where she tells them she was pissed off because she found out Dorothy was going to lose the championship game on purpose.

They figure “George Windsor” was paying Dorothy to throw the game, but that means he wasn’t the one who tried to hurt her. Frankie figures a teammate might’ve found out what Dorothy was planning and tried to keep her out of the game by beating her up the night before. When that didn’t work, they sabotaged her cleats. Since it could’ve been anyone on the team, Frankie tells Mary she needs to go undercover as a Sparrow to nose around (which Mary is naturally thrilled about). Her enthusiasm is dampened a bit when her new teammates treat her like crap and she doesn’t make it any better with her rather obvious attempts to get information about gambling from them. At the morgue, Flo finds blue paint on Dorothy’s shoe and figures whoever sabotaged the cleat used a tool with a blue handle to pry it off. Frankie finds out that Dutch was at the bar and followed Dorothy into the alley. Frankie finds Dorothy’s lucky ladybug pin in the alley and Dutch gives her shit for smearing Dorothy’s rep. Turns out he and Dorothy were involved and he feels guilty for not noticing how much pain Dorothy must’ve been in before the game. Frankie finds Bessie Starkman in her office and it turns out Starkman knew Frankie was a detective the whole time. Frankie mentions the game being fixed, but Starkman says Dorothy bet on the Sparrows to win, so she must’ve changed her mind about throwing the game. Starkman wants Frankie to find George Windsor, since his big bet could wipe Starkman out (and she’s pissed off that he had the gall to run a fix without her approval).

At the championship game, everyone is on the lookout for “George Windsor” and to see if another player is dirty. Things get more tense when Starkman and Dario show up, although Detective Grayson is there too, so Starkman can’t get too rough. Turns out Evelyn isn’t playing her best (on purpose), so Dutch puts Mary in to pitch for her. Trudy realizes Brody is “George Windsor” but he pulls a gun on her when she confronts him. Frankie badgers Evelyn into admitting Brody paid her off and finds him holding Trudy at gunpoint. Frankie takes him out with a baseball bat and lets Grayson know where to find him … which pisses Bessie Starkman off quite a bit. Naturally, Mary’s pitching wins the game for the sparrows and she’s carried off the field in triumph.

This is a good episode. Mary’s enthusiasm for the game seems genuine and even though her game-winning pitch is predictable, it’s good to see her play the hero. We’re also introduced to Bessie Starkman, who’ll be a recurring character. Starkman was a real person, a powerful bootlegger back in the Twenties, although she was based in Hamilton not Toronto (and mainly did the bookkeeping for her mobster husband, Rocco Perri). But this version of Starkman is pretty intense; Frankie actually seems scared of her and isn’t happy when Starkman tells her she’s made an enemy by turning Brody over to the cops instead of her.

Noticeable Things:

• As far as I can tell, the Toronto Sparrows weren’t a real baseball team.
• Mary repeatedly mentions the Black Sox scandal, which took place in 1919.

Favourite Quotes:

• “I thought boxing was rough.” Frankie after seeing Dorothy and Viola almost get into a fight.
• “Come on Mary, throw a touchdown!” Flo showing her lack of baseball knowledge.
• “Home run.” Trudy’s comment after Frankie knocks Brody out with a baseball bat.