Damn Yankees!
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Damn Yankees is a musical comedy, a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s (when the New York Yankees dominated Major League Baseball), in Washington, D.C., with a script by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. It was based on Wallop's novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant.
The plot concerns a long-suffering middle-aged fan of the Washington Senators baseball club, real estate salesman Joe Boyd, who sells his soul to the Devil (an irascible Mephistopholes who calls himself "Mr. Applegate") and becomes slugger Joe Hardy, the "long ball hitter the Senators need that he'd sell his soul for" (as spoken by him in a throwaway line near the beginning of the drama). His hitting prowess enables the Senators to win the American League pennant over the then-dominant Yankees.
Baseball is only part of the story. In a parallel plot, Mr. Applegate tries numerous ploys to keep the soul of Joe Boyd/Joe Hardy, only to be rebuffed and frustrated by Boyd/Hardy. Mr. Applegate's tactics grow increasingly desperate--and humorous. The highlight of his efforts is Lola (the "best homewrecker on Applegate's staff," a seductress) trying to seduce Boyd/Hardy, only to be rejected at the end. Her efforts are the backdrop for the songs "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets" and "A Little Brains, a Little Talent."
