“There lay Bailey, his limp and obviously unconscious form spread on the ice in a grotesque attitude. His head lay in such a way that his neck appeared broken. His legs and arms moved convulsively and his face was white, and then perhaps a little blue. His eyes had that glazed look and showed nothing but their whites.” — Victor O. Jones, Boston Globe, December 13, 1933
It was one of the most terrifying moments in NHL history. The match between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs at the Boston Garden on December 12, 1933, sent shockwaves across two countries as the life of Irvine “Ace” Bailey hung in the balance. The Leafs forward’s head hit the ice hard following a charge by Bruins tough guy Eddie Shore. The aftermath of the incident led to the league’s first All-Star game, 90 years ago this month — although it would be more than a decade before it became an annual tradition, one that is being celebrated in Toronto this week.
Born in Bracebridge, Bailey joined Toronto in 1926, shortly before the team changed its name from the St. Patricks to the Maple Leafs. He was the NHL’s scoring leader during the 1928-29 season and contributed to the Leafs’ Stanley Cup victory in 1932. Going into the fateful match, Bailey had logged 111 goals and 82 assists over eight seasons.
Cartoon of Red Horner published in the Toronto Daily Star on December 13, 1933.
The trouble began during the second period, when Leafs defenseman Red Horner checked Shore hard into the boards. Dazed by the hit, an erratically skating Shore sought revenge. Unfortunately, he charged into the wrong target. “He thought Bailey was me,” Horner recalled years later. “He charged into Bailey on an angle from the side. He hit Bailey and flipped him in the air, just like a rag doll. Bailey landed on his head just a few feet from where I was standing.”
As Bailey lay on the ice, Horner skated over to Shore and punched him in the chin. “Eddie went over backwards as though he had been felled by an axe,” the Boston Globe observed. “His head hit the ice and immediately the glassy surface was stained by a carmine flood, spreading slowly like a blotter absorbing red ink.”
The Bruins’ bench emptied and swarmed Horner before cooled heads prevailed.
Bailey and Shore were removed from the ice. Leafs general manager Conn Smythe followed along, arguing with Bruins fans along the way. In the lobby, he had a physical altercation with Leonard Kenworthy; Smythe allegedly threatened to “knock his head off.” Kenworthy emerged from the fight with broken glasses and a cut over his left eye that required three stitches. Smythe was charged but released on $100 bail the next day. The charges were later thrown out of court.
Bailey was unconscious for 10 minutes before briefly reviving. Shore wandered over to Bailey to apologize. “It’s all part of the game,” Bailey said, before suffering more convulsions and falling unconscious. He was admitted to hospital with what has been described as either a blood clot or a cerebral hemorrhage.
Photos of Ace Bailey headed to hospital. (Ottawa Citizen, December 18, 1933)
Following the incident, all Bruins coach/general manager Art Ross had to say was that he “found out after a good many years, that ice is harder than a hockey player’s head.” When the Leafs travelled to their next game in Montreal, Smythe vowed to stay in Boston until Bailey recovered. Bailey’s wife, Gladys, and daughter, Joanne, travelled to Boston to be at his bedside. Boston police interviewed Shore and other participants in the game as they explored the possibility of manslaughter charges if Bailey died.
When Bailey’s father heard the news, he boarded a train to Boston armed with a .45 revolver. Leafs officials got wind of this journey and alerted Boston police. According to Bailey, his father checked into the Copley Plaza Hotel, where Smythe invited him up to his room for a talk. Smythe also arranged for hotel police to come up. Sedatives were slipped into Bailey’s father’s drink, and he was put onto a train — he didn’t wake up until he crossed back into Canada. His gun was mailed back to him two weeks later.
Left: Ad for Imperial Gasoline sending best wishes to Ace Bailey, from the December 25, 1933, edition of the Globe; right: Cartoon from the December 26, 1933, edition of the Boston Globe.
In the aftermath of the incident, the Toronto Daily Star asked sports experts for their thoughts. Canadian Olympic Committee chairman Patrick J. Mulqueen (who, it was noted, “arose from his bed, where he is confined with a severe cold” to be interviewed) felt that rough play gave sports a bad name. “If pro hockey players are going to dish up that sort of thing they will soon find their mistake. A little bit of that stuff goes a long way, but when they start carrying them off — well that’s going altogether too far. The public will stand it just so long, but then it looks elsewhere for clean sport.”
Newspaper phone lines in Boston, Toronto, and other hockey hotbeds were flooded with calls from readers concerned about Bailey’s condition and curious about his chances of recovery. Many of the calls the Toronto Daily Star received demanded vengeance, even if the facts surrounding the incident were still being assessed. Hamilton Spectator columnist Ivan Miller felt that much of the public reaction was due to Bailey’s upstanding character, “the kind of sportsmanship that is exemplified in fiction, and the world of sport can ill afford to lose one of his sterling character.”
Maple Leafs Centennial Banner Tour: Ace Bailey
Daily medical updates were provided by hospital officials in Boston as Bailey underwent two brain operations. Following the second one, when he fell into a coma, Gladys Bailey told the press, “He’s not looking so well.” Doctors believed his chances of survival were so slim that a priest was put on standby to read last rites. At one point, his body temperature was more than 106 F and his heartrate was 160. Newspaper headlines suggested the end was near, and obituaries were prepared.
Miraculously, Bailey’s condition improved. By December 22, he was able to grab and drink a glass of milk. The next day, the hospital ended its daily status updates, while Smythe felt so confident about Bailey’s recovery that he returned to Toronto for Christmas. For many fans, news that Bailey was officially “out of danger” was a welcome holiday present. By January 3, he was sitting upright and telling reporters that he expected to play again before the season ended, a hope doctors soon dashed for good.
Photo of Ace Bailey and his wife, Gladys, from the January 13, 1934, edition of the Toronto Daily Star.
Initially, Horner and Shore were suspended indefinitely. Horner’s penalty was reduced to reinstatement on New Year’s Day 1934, while Shore awaited a league investigation. Media reports depicted him as a broken man who was unsure about his hockey future. Shore and his wife would spend three weeks in Bermuda to rest.
On January 4, 1934, the league released its report. It found that Shore did not intend to hurt Bailey or act maliciously. Shore’s mental anguish following the incident was also noted, and the Bruins’ decision to donate more than $6,600 of gate receipts from a December 19 match with the Montreal Maroons to Bailey was viewed as a sufficient voluntary fine. Shore would be reinstated as of January 28, which would make his punishment a 16-game suspension.
Smythe was irritated that the Leafs, not the Bruins, were paying for most of the hospital bills. Elsewhere in the league, other owners were upset that Ross appeared to prioritize Shore’s mental health over Bailey’s recovery. Especially ticked off was Ottawa Senators owner Frank Ahearn, who believed that Ross’s chatter “will not make people forget poor Bailey lying in hospital with two holes sawed in both sides of his skull.” The Leafs, Senators, and Maroons demanded a special league meeting to review Shore’s suspension. In a letter to the league, Leafs officials asked, “Shall a hockey club victimized because of an ‘illegal action’ of a member of an opposing club be compelled to bear the full financial burden of the financial loss involved?”
Photo from the February 15, 1934, edition of the Globe.
In his January 8 column, Ottawa Journal sports editor Walter Gilhooly wrote an open letter to the league suggesting that a benefit game be played for Bailey. He cited the example of the Major League Baseball all-star game played the previous summer to benefit retired players in need of money during the Great Depression, a match that started that sport’s annual tradition. Gilhooly’s suggestion was to take a team from the NHL’s Canadian Division and pit them against the best players from the American Division in a game in Toronto; all the proceeds would go to Bailey and his family.
“You would be making a gesture that fans in every hockey town in Canada and the United States would appreciate and applaud,” Gilhooly wrote. “You would be paying whatever moral or legal debt that you might owe to this man who did his full share to make your game what it is.” He also suggested that Shore participate, as “his presence would do more to remove any rancour or resentment that Toronto hockey followers hold for him than any other particular thing.”
Participants in the 1934 Ace Baily game. (Wikimedia Commons)
When Shore returned to Boston, he was denied access to Bailey’s hospital room, as doctors feared that the excitement might set back Bailey’s recovery and that such a visit was only a publicity stunt. He wouldn’t have had much opportunity to visit, as Bailey made a triumphant return to Toronto via train on January 18.
During a special league meeting held in New York on January 24, where harsh words were allegedly exchanged by Smythe and Bruins owner Charles F. Adams, a benefit game was approved. Taking place at Maple Leaf Gardens on Valentine’s Day, it would see the Leafs play an all-star squad consisting of at least two players from every other team, overseen by New York Rangers coach/general manager Lester Patrick. Bailey would receive all the proceeds. Smythe suggested that such a game be held annually, with the home team alternating between the league’s divisions and proceeds going to a fund for injured players.
All-Stars honour Bailey in benefit game
Heading into the game, the Leafs, who were decimated by illness and injuries, asked permission from the Ontario Hockey Association to, if necessary, use three top amateur players, including future Hall of Famer Toe Blake. No players were ultimately called up.
Tickets sold out within 45 minutes on February 12. Fans scrambled to find anyone who had changed their mind or had connections that could grab seats. “It is surprising how many ‘friends’ of a man who might have hockey tickets come out of obscurity at such times,” Toronto Globe sports editor Mike Rodden observed. Following the game, four ticket scalpers appeared in police court for trying to sell $2 tickets for an extra 50 cents apiece. The judge didn’t believe one scalper’s claim that he was just passing along tickets intended for somebody else, and contemplated an additional perjury charge. When another scalper asked for a week to pay his fine (which ranged from $10 or 10 days in jail to $50 or 30 days in the slammer), the judge refused, saying, “You scalpers should have lots of money.”
Photo of Eddie Shore and Ace Bailey at the benefit game. (Ottawa Citizen, February 16, 1934)
Before the game, the all-stars had a group photo taken in their regular uniforms. Each player was then presented with their all-star jersey (along with windbreakers provided by Eaton’s department store) by Calder, Patrick, and Bailey at centre ice. After Chicago Black Hawks goalie Charlie Gardiner received the first jersey, Shore took the ice. After a moment of silence, Bailey and Shore shook hands. The crowd erupted into cheers. There had been some question about allowing Shore to participate but, as Lester Patrick put it, letting him play would be “a gesture that will be appreciated by all hockey lovers.” The crowd’s response warmed Shore’s heart. “Please thank Toronto fans for those cheers,” he observed. “I appreciated them more than any others I received.”
“Your sporting fan is a somewhat strange animal,” Toronto Daily Star sports editor Lou Marsh observed, “even inexplicable in the expression of his reactions at times.” Marsh felt the applause given to Shore was “spine-tingling.”
The Leafs, wearing special jerseys with “ACE” stitched across the front, won 7-3. No penalties were called, and the play so clean that some observers wished a little roughhousing had occurred. Harvey “Busher” Jackson led scoring with two goals and an assist. The game inspired verse from Evening Telegram sports columnist Ted Reeve via his poetic alter ego Moaner McGruffey:
The Gardens were filled with the huge crowd on hand,
The All Stars were there in a glorious band,
There were pictures, and music, and everything grand,
It was very inspiring indeed.
Ohhhhhh, they sailed round the rink with the greatest of ease,
Their actions were graceful as smoke on the breeze,
But the next All Star game they turn on, WILL THEY PLEASE
Play hockey for part of the time.
At the end of the game, Bailey presented Calder with a trophy commissioned by the Leafs. It was hoped that the award, named in Bailey’s honour, would go to the winner of an annual all-star game. Smythe then announced that Bailey’s number 6 would be retired, the first time that had occurred in the NHL.
With a final attendance of 14,074, the game earned $20,909 for Bailey; it was placed in a trust fund. A few weeks later, Bailey travelled back to Boston, where he dropped the face-off puck. Shore skated over to Bailey and shook his hand again.
Cartoon published following the benefit game in the February 15, 1934, edition of the Evening Telegram.
Those who desired an annual all-star match had to wait. Two more charity games were held — one in 1937 following the death of Montreal Canadiens star Howie Morenz, and one in 1939 following the drowning of Canadiens coach Babe Siebert. The modern, permanent All-Star game began in 1947 to support the creation of a player pension fund.
After being turned down by the NHL for refereeing duties (allegedly because Calder didn’t want anyone to wear a helmet on ice), Bailey coached the University of Toronto Blues between 1935 and 1949, with a five-year break during the Second War. He led the team to three national collegiate championships. He was hired as a penalty timekeeper at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1938 and remained there until, in a typically classy move, Harold Ballard dismissed him via a letter in 1984.
Ace Bailey in his office at Maple Leaf Gardens, 1969. (City of Toronto Archives, Fonds 1257, Series 1057, Item 2370)
By 1992, Bailey was the oldest living former Leaf. He outlived Shore, who died in 1985 after a long, colourful, and controversial career as the owner of the American Hockey League’s Springfield Indians. Plans were underway to honour him in a pre-game ceremony in April 1992, where his number 6 would go back into retirement (Bailey allowed it to go back into use in 1968 after he was impressed by Ron Ellis’s play). But a short players’ strike cancelled the game. On the day the ceremony would have occurred, Bailey died at the age of 88. Ellis was among those on the ice when the ceremony was finally held that fall.
To the end, Bailey bore Shore no grudge. “We’re good friends and I see Eddie often,” he told the Globe and Mail in 1967. “He was the best hockey player of that day and certainly the greatest defenseman ever.”
Sources: The NHL All-Star Game: 50 years of the Great Tradition by Andrew Podnieks (Toronto: HarperCollins, 2000); the December 13, 1933, December 14, 1933, December 23, 1933, January 5, 1934, January 25, 1934, and March 7, 1934, editions of the Boston Globe; the February 15, 1934, edition of the Evening Telegram; the December 14, 1933, December 16, 1933, January 5, 1934, January 11, 1934, February 10, 1934, February 13, 1934, and February 15, 1934, editions of the Globe; the April 15, 1967, and March 19, 1985, editions of the Globe and Mail; the December 14, 1933, edition of the Hamilton Spectator; the December 20, 1933, and January 9, 1934, editions of the OttawaCitizen; the January 8, 1934, edition of the Ottawa Journal; the January 27, 2017, edition of SportsIllustrated; the December 13, 1933, December 14, 1933, January 15, 1934, and February 15, 1934, editions of the Toronto Daily Star; and the January 13, 1988, and April 8, 1992, editions of the TorontoStar.