The first African Americans in Major League Baseball made the game more exciting, and many became great stars on the field. But they faced degrading treatment in spring training and the minor leagues in the Deep South, from their teams' front offices, and from some sportswriters and fans.
Sportswriters made Henry Aaron and Roberto Clemente sound stupid and illiterate, quoting them in their dialects, with bad usage, grammar, and spelling to imitate their speech, their biographers say. Clemente was from Puerto Rico, and Aaron, from Alabama, had a thick Southern accent.
Many executives of their own teams believed stereotypes -- that black players were lazy and would not perform well under pressure. Many owners thought black players would alienate their white middle-class fans, cause internal dissension on their teams, or, worst of all, be seen in public dating white women, said Bill White in his autobiography Uppity., White played in those years, then became the first black broadcaster and top executive.
What Racism Cost the Yankees
Vic Power was a gifted first baseman signed by the Yankees, who dumped him before he played an inning for them. In his book October 1964, David Halberstam said the reason general manager George Weiss gave the press was "Not our kind of player." Power was often seen dating white women, Halberstam says.
Halberstam said that front office racism, plus allowing their once-magnificent minor league system to deteriorate, plus aging and injury to their great stars, are the reasons why the Yankees, who played in 14 World Series between 1949 and 1963, winning nine, lost the Series in 1964, and did not play in another one until 1976.
Halberstam also interviewed Tom Greenwade, the legendary scout who signed Mickey Mantle, a few years after scouting and recommending Jackie Robinson to Branch Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers. When Greenwade moved to the Yankees, Halberstam writes, George Weiss told him at their first meeting, "Don't bring me no niggers [sic]. We don't want them."
The first Yankee who actually played for them was Elston Howard, the star catcher who replaced Yogi Berra.,Manager Casey Stenhel welcome him to the team by telling reporters, "When they finally get me a n--, they get me one who can't run," Halbrustam says.
What Racism Cost the Red Sox
The Yankees were not the most racist team in baseball. The Red Sox were the last team to integrate, Halberstam says. When they finally hired a black player, it was Pumpsie Green, a backup infielder and pinch hitter.
When Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey, the richest owner in baseball, saw Jackie Robinson trying out in Fenway Park, he shouted, "Get that n.... off the field." He told his scout not to look at Willie Mays of the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro League, Halberstam says.
"Imagine a team with Ted Williams, Willie Mays, and Jackie Robinson in the same lineup," he says.
As late as 1985, the Sox tried to dump Jim Rice in the prime of his Hall of Fame career. This time, Red Sox fans rebelled, and management dropped the idea. They did dump Hall-of-Famer Lou Brock early in his career, Halberstam says in October 1964. Brock held the Major League record for stolen bases, and was the best leadoff hitter in baseball for a number of years with the Cardinals, Halberstam says.
Black Players Made the National League Superior
Through most of the 1950''s, the American League's only black players who were true stars were Howard, Larry Doby of the Indians and Minnie Minoso of the White Sox. There were other black players, but no memorable stars.
While the American League avoided black players, the National League became the superior of the two by signing blacks: Hall of Famers Roy Campanella, Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson, Lou Brock, Ferguson Jenkins, Orlando Cepeda, Willie McCovey, and Maury Wills. Other black stars from that generation, who did not make the Hall, included Bill Bruton, Curt Flood, Vada Pinson, Bill White, and Brooks Lawrence.
Bill White Recalls in Uppity
In Bill White's autobiography, he writes candidly (some say bitterly) about his days as a player in the first black generation. He then became the first black broadcaster, and the president of the National League, another first. He was successful in all three roles.
In the 1950's, white players stayed in the best hotels, and their black teammates stayed in private homes in the black neighborhood. When their minor league teams traveled through the Deep South, and stopped on the road to eat, the black players had to sit on the team bus, and wait for the white players to bring them take-out meals, which they ate on the team bus. It was degrading and damaging to team unity, White says.
Several of those teams had only one or two black players, who had to eat alone and deal with isolation as well as racism, White recalls.
Once, in the South, the racial taunting from the fans got too much for White, and he gestured at the fans. A crowd formed outside the ballpark after the game, waiting for him to come out. White says the team had to arm themselves with baseball bats to get to their bus.
With the Cardinals, he organized the black players to insist to the owner that they stay with the rest of the team during spring training. Gussie Busch was willing, Halberstam says, but integrated hotels were against Florida law at the time.
So Busch bought a motel near the ballpark, and reserved rooms in the one next door. Even Stan Musial, the team's biggest star, who always rented a house for his family for spring training, stayed in the motel for the good of the team. "That made a lot of difference," Halberstam writes.
The Cardinals Had the Best Race Relations
By 1964, the Cardinals had the best race relations in baseball, Halberstam says, quoting Marvin Miller, who organized the modern players' union. A few weeks after he bought the team, Halberstam writes, Busch realized it was all white. On his annual trip to spring training, he asked his baseball people why, and got the standard excuses: we can't find one who's good enough; they'll keep white people away from the ballpark; they're lazy and will fold under pressure.
Busch cut them off, saying we sell beer to all races. Halberstam said Busch was scared of a black boycott of his Budweiser products as well as the team, and thought integration was good business, but he also thought segregation was immoral,l Halberstam says..
The core of the 1964 Cardinals, who won the 1964 World Series, was almost all black: Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Curt Flood, and Bill White. Add two New Age white players, Tim McCarver and Steve Carlton, and star third baseman Ken Boyer ,a Southerner, who believed baseball decisions should be made solely on merit, and the whole starting lineup and two top pitchers, was without prejudice.
The Cardinals beat the Yankees in the 1964 World Series, Halberstam says.
Sources
Halberstam, David, October, 1964, , Fawcett Books, 354 pp.
Halberstam, David, Summer of '49, Harper's Perennial Classics, 380 pp.
White, Bill, Uppity, Grand Central Publishing, 320 pp.
Ken Braiterman - Ken Braiterman writes columns for the Concord (NH) Monitor print and online editions. He also writes and lectures on recovery from ...
