The Written Word
for July 11, 1999

It’s so long ago now. And our need to remember seems dulled by the great black athletes we see all around us. When you look out especially on the basketball and baseball games it’s hard to remember that blacks were not terribly welcome in the former and not welcome at all in the latter until 1947.

Most of you reading this won’t have any memory at all of baseball pre 1947 when, in the major leagues, it was whites only. Those were the days of the great Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Tris Speaker. Rogers Hornsby, Walter Johnson and Bob Feller. In 1947 itself Baseball featured Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and Bob Feller; there was Stan Musial, Pee Wee Reese and Whitey Ford. The last name perhaps summed it all up – they were great players but they were all white.

We knew about the Negro Leagues all right. We had heard about Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige and some of us had seen the latter play exhibition games with the touring House of David. We’d heard that Paige had struck out the great Babe Ruth three times in an exhibition game. But they weren’t really the majors, now, were they?

A tightfisted general manager named Branch Ricky of the Brooklyn Dodgers was the man who decided that this white only stuff had to stop and in 1946 signed a 25 year old black player from the Kansas City Monarchs (of the Negro League) named Jackie Robinson and sent him off to play with the Dodgers’ Farm team, the Montroyal Royals of the Triple A International League.

Jackie Robinson had been a three sport threat at UCLA – he was an All American football player, a track star (his brother had been on the 1936 American Olympic team and ran second to the great Jesse Owens in the 100 meter dash), and a baseball star. Many knowledgeable people say that Robinson was the greatest American all round athlete of all – even better than Jim Thorpe.

Jackie Robinson did everything expected and more with the Royals, leading the league in hitting. Now, having started the experiment, Rickey had to finish it and the next year Robinson was brought to the big team.

It was interesting to note why blacks had been excluded. There were social reasons, of course. No southern white boy would play with a "nigra" on the team. Where they came from everyone "knew their place", especially "nigras." There was another reason, of course. Why negroes, it was well known, were cowards. They had a yellow streak down their back. The first time a Bob Feller threw a pitch at his head (in this pre helmet era) why the negro would run for cover and never step into the batter’s box again. That, the southern whites told all who would listen, was the real reason that "nigra’s" didn’t belong in the majors.

Ricky knew different. He had seen the wonderful players in the Negro Leagues and in fact knew of better ballplayers there than Robinson. There was Sam Jethroe for one. There was Monte Irvine, Roy Campanella, Luke Easter, Hank Thompson and, of course, the legendary Satchel Paige. But Rickey knew that Jackie Robinson was the best man to be the first man. And so it proved.

The St Louis Cardinals threatened to strike rather than play against Robinson but A.B. "Happy" Chandler, himself a southerner, threatened to suspend the lot of them and they played. Enos Slaughter, a mean spirited southerner but a hell of a ball player got his revenge by spiking Robinson by sliding into first base! Slaughter never made the Hall of Fame and this may be the reason.

The Dodgers’ start center fielder, "Dixie" Walker allowed as if he’s rather not play with a black and Rickey promptly traded him to Pittsburgh.

On Robinson’s first day there was a huge crowd at Ebbets field and one of the better stories has it that as he left his apartment, Robinson kissed his wife Rachel and said "Honey, when you look down on the field, you’ll recognize me … I’ll be wearing number 42."

Jackie Robinson went on to a sparkling career. He was Rookie of the Year in 1947 and two years later won the batting title with .342. Among his many talents he became one of the most feared "clutch" hitters in baseball. And, after Rickey released him from his pledge to turn the other cheek, Jackie Robinson became a man no one messed with. Ever.

Branch Rickey’s payoff came in 1955 when his Dodgers, led by a now aging Jackie Robinson, went from two games down to beating the hated Yankees and winning their first World Series. By this time, there were a number of black starts. Sam Jethroe, Luke Easter, Hank Thompson, and Monte Irvine had made it. So had a kid named Willy Mays.

There was an incident in 1951 that said it all about Jackie Robinson, the competitor. The Giants, 13 ½ games behind the Dodgers had made up all that ground and after the season ended, the teams were tied. With the three game playoff tied and the Dodgers leading the third game 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Ralph Branca served up a gopher ball to Bobby Thompson who hit a three run homer to beat the Dodgers 5-4 and thus win the pennant. The place was bedlam but as the rest of the Dodgers slunk off the field, Robinson followed Thompson around the bases making sure he actually touched every base. The man did not like to lose.

It’s all very different now. We’ve seen the likes of Bob Gibson, Roy Campanella and Ernie Banks. We’ve watched in utter amazement as Ozzie Smith made plays that no one else ever made. We saw Hank Aaron become the all time home run king and in 1998 we watched as Sammy Sosa beat Roger Maris’ single season homers mark but get beaten for the title by a guy named McGwire who hit 70 of them.

For all over a certain age it’s utterly impossible to imagine baseball without black players. How could such talent have been excluded for so long?

Well, it was – and all baseball’s records prior to 1947 ought to have an asterisk indicating that they were made before blacks were allowed to say something about them.

Before 1947, there was no telling how good major leaguers were because some of the best ball players in the world were not permitted to compete. Jackie Robinson changed all that. Not only does every black player since owe an irredeemable debt to Jack Roosevelt Robinson, so does all of baseball.