c Out of the Shadows African American Baseball from the Cuban Giants to Jackie Robinson Edited and with an introduction by Bill Kirwin { University of Nebraska Press : Lincoln and London 1 ©2005bytheBoardofRegentsoftheUniversityof 2 Nebraska.Allrightsreserved.Manufacturedinthe 3 UnitedStatesofAmerica.SetinAdobeMiniontype byBobReitz.BookdesignbyRichardEckersley. 4 PrintedbyEdwardsBrothers,Inc.(cid:1)(cid:1) 5 6 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData 7 Outoftheshadows:AfricanAmericanbaseballfrom 8 theCubanGiantstoJackieRobinson/[editedby] BillKirwin. p. cm. Includesindex. 9 isbn-13:978-0-8032-7825-7(paperback:alkalinepaper) 10 isbn-10:0-8032-7825-x(paperback:alkalinepaper) 11 1.AfricanAmericanbaseballplayers—History. 12 2.Negroleagues—History.3.Discriminationin 13 sports—UnitedStates—History. I.Kirwin,Bill,1937– [-4], (4) 14 gv863.a1058 2005 15 796.357'64'08996073–dc22 2005004661 16 Lines: 19 to 56 17 ——— 18 286.40579pt PgVar * 19 ——— 20 Normal Page 21 * PgEnds: PageBreak 22 23 24 [-4], (4) 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 BOB—UniversityofNebraskaPress/Pageiv/ /OutoftheShadows/BillKirwin 1 2 3 Contents 4 5 6 vii Introduction 7 JerryMalloy 1 TheBirthoftheCubanGiants: 8 TheOriginsofBlackProfessionalBaseball 9 LeeLowenfish 15 WhenAllHeavenRejoiced:Branch 10 RickeyandtheOriginsoftheBreakingof 11 theColorLinebyLeeLowenfish 12 AnthonyR.Pratkanis 31 TheYear“CoolPapa”BellLosttheBatting 13 &MarleneE.Turner Title:Mr.BranchRickeyandMr.Jackie [-5],(5) 14 Robinson’sPleaforAffirmativeAction 15 RobRuck 47 BaseballandCommunity:From 16 Pittsburgh’sHilltoSanPedro’sCanefields Lines: 56 to 98 17 JerryMalloy 61 TheStrangeCareerofSol.White,Black ——— 18 Baseball’sFirstHistorian 0.21129pt PgVar 19 ——— ScottRoper 81 “AnotherChinkinJimCrow?”Raceand 20 Normal Page BaseballontheNorthernPlains,1900–1935 21 * PgEnds: PageBreak 22 JerryJayeWright 94 FromGiantstoMonarchs:The1890 23 SeasonoftheColoredMonarchsofYork, 24 Pennsylvania [-5],(5) 25 GuyWaterman 106 RacialPioneeringontheMound: 26 DonNewcombe’sSocialandPsychological 27 Ordeal 28 JeanHastingsArdell 116 Mamie“Peanut”Johnson:TheLastFemale 29 VoiceoftheNegroLeagues 30 GaiInghamBerlage 128 EffaManley,AMajorForceinNegro 31 Baseballinthe1930sand1940s 32 WilliamC.Kashatus 147 DickAllen,thePhillies,andRacism 33 AnthonyR.Pratkanis 194 NinePrinciplesofSuccessfulAffirmative 34 &MarleneE.Turner Action:Mr.BranchRickey,Mr.Jackie 35 Robinson,andtheIntegrationofBaseball 36 37 223 ListofContributors 38 225 SourceAcknowledgments BOB—UniversityofNebraskaPress/Pagev/ /OutoftheShadows/BillKirwin 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 [-6], (6) 14 15 16 Lines: 98 to 99 17 ——— 18 0.0pt PgVar 19 ——— 20 Normal Page 21 PgEnds: TEX 22 23 24 [-6], (6) 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 BOB—UniversityofNebraskaPress/Pagevi/ /OutoftheShadows/BillKirwin 1 2 3 4 Introduction 5 6 No moment in baseball history is more important than the April day 7 in1947whenJackieRobinsonsteppedontoEbbetsField,endingaban 8 thathadextendedbackto1882prohibitingAfricanAmericansfromfully 9 participatingintheNationalPastime.“Cap”Anson’sdictum,in1882,of 10 “Getthatniggeroff thefield,”referringtothepresenceof blackplayer 11 Moses Fleetwood Walker on a Major League ground, merely reflected 12 the overwhelming social attitude of the day. But in 1947 baseball no [First Page] 13 longerfollowedcustom,butchangedit.BranchRickeyandJackieRobin- [-7],(1) 14 son’sintegrationplanswentbeyondchallengingMajorLeaguebaseball’s 15 apartheidpolicies,theiractionssetinmotionandpreceded,byadecade, 16 theactionsofthecourtsandgovernmenttorectifytheinjusticeofseg- Lines: 0 to 18 17 regationthroughoutsocietyingeneral. ——— 18 TheroadtoRobinson’sappearanceatEbbetsFieldonApril15,1947, 0.0pt PgVar 19 wasalong,oftencrooked,anddarkone.Partiallyhiddenandignoredby ——— 20 thegeneralpopulation,blackbaseballemergedasaparallelversionofthe Normal Page 21 NationalPastimesubsistingonthemarginsofsociety.Blackballdiffered PgEnds: TEX 22 fromMajorLeagueballinmanydifferentways.Thegameasplayedby 23 AfricanAmericanplayersreliedonspeedandofferedentertainmentas 24 a bonus. Rather than the static dependence that Major League base- [-7],(1) 25 ball placed on power hitting, Negro baseball utilized speed, bunting, 26 andhit-and-runtactics.AttemptstoorganizevariousNegroleaguesmet 27 withlimitedsuccess.Andrew“Rube”FosterorganizedtheNationalNe- 28 groLeague(nnl)in1919.In1923,theEasternColoredLeague(ecl)was 29 formed, resulting in the playing of the first Colored World Series in 30 1924.TheKansasCityMonarchsofthennldefeatedtheeclrepresen- 31 tativeHillsdaleClubofPhiladelphiafivegamestofourwithonetie.But 32 schedulingwaserratic,financesweak,whitenewspapersignoredgame 33 results,andteamswererequiredtocontinuallybarnstorm,resultingin 34 fanapathy.1 35 With the onset of the Depression, the lifeblood of black teams de- 36 pended more and more on owners scheduling barnstorming games 37 againstlocalwhitenines.Blackteamsfoundmoneyandasortofonce-a- 38 yearracialacceptanceiftheycameintoatown,playedthelocalteam,won BOB—UniversityofNebraskaPress/Pagevii/ /OutoftheShadows/BillKirwin viii Introduction 1 orlostgraciously,andthenlefttownwithapromisetocomebackand 2 entertainonceagainthenextyear.Thisannualdiversionmightafford 3 somewhitestheopportunitytoseeblacksfortheonlytimeinayear;for 4 othersitwasararechancetoseeblackmencompetewithwhites.But 5 the barnstorming exercise was severely constrained. Negro teams were 6 allowed to play and interact in a very proscriptivefashion for the two 7 hoursorsothatittooktoplaythegamewiththelocalteam.Noscrappy 8 JohnMcGrawhyperaggressiveplaywouldbeallowed,justanapparent 9 laidback“we-are-here-to-have-fun”sortof game.Afterthegamethey 10 werebackontheroad.Theywerenotusuallyallowedtostayoreatin 11 local hotels; rather they were consigned to sleep in a bus or a ghetto 12 flophouse.Themoney,however,wasgood,fortheownersbothof the 13 Negroteamandthelocalteam.Theattendancefortheannualgamewas [-8], (2) 14 oftenthehighestoftheyear. 15 ✶ 16 Parallel with serious Negro ball were the black clown teams, such as Lines: 18 to 24 17 theZuluCannibalGiants,theIndianapolisClowns,ortheFloridaCol- ——— 18 oredHoboes.Whitefanswouldcomeoutandwatchagamefeaturing 0.0pt PgVar 19 theEthiopianClownsandtheSatchelPaigeAll-Starsonenightandbe ——— 20 obliviousofagamefeaturingtheHomesteadGraysortheCubanGiants Normal Page 21 the next. Clown ball conveniently fit the stereotype that much of the PgEnds: TEX 22 white population had about Negro ball and about African Americans 23 in general. As clowns or entertainers they were welcomed; as serious 24 competitorstheyweretostayintheirplace.Entertainmentsuperseded [-8], (2) 25 winning.Barnstorming,inthefinalanalysis,significantlycontributedto 26 thenotionthatbaseballasplayedbyblackscouldnot,indeedshouldnot, 27 betakenseriously.Itwasaruse,aminstrelshowthateveryonecouldgo 28 alongwith,becauseitwas,firstandforemost,entertainment. 29 BarnstormingalsoweakenedattemptsbythevariousNegroteamsto 30 beregardedbyboththewhiteandblackpopulationsasseriouscompe- 31 tition.TheDepressionofthe1930spavedthewayfortheownershipof 32 mostNegroprofessionalclubsbynumbersbankers.Itwasdifficultfor 33 theaveragefan,whiteorblack,totakeagameseriouslythatappearedto 34 concernitselfprimarilywithentertainmentandhadsuchdubiousown- 35 ership.SeriousownerslikeCumberland“Cum”PoseyoftheHomestead 36 Grays might fret that clown ball in effect was ridiculing black players’ 37 serious attempts at competitive play. But the reality was that, for the 38 majority of white fans at least,the only role for blacks on the playing BOB—UniversityofNebraskaPress/Pageviii/ /OutoftheShadows/BillKirwin Introduction ix 1 fieldwasthatofaclown.Explodingcigars,oversizeequipment,midgets, 2 female players, phantom routines, and disappearing-ball acts were all 3 partof thecircusatmospherethatwhiteaudiencesexpectedof ablack 4 barnstormingclub. 5 Itwasperhapsbecauseof thisclowningperceptionmostwhitefans 6 had about Negro baseball that Branch Rickey would come to choose 7 JackieRobinson.ManyseriousblackplayerslikeBuckLeonardbelieved 8 that Robinson was not, by a long stretch, the best choice to integrate 9 baseball.Leonardclaimedthat“wehadawholelotbetterballplayersthan 10 Jackie,but Jackie was chosen ’cause he had played with white boys.”2 11 UndoubtedlyRickeytookthatintoconsideration,butitseemsevident 12 thathealsowasimpressedbyRobinson’sreligiousbackground,hisnon- 13 drinking,noncarousing,independence,andaloofness.Robinsonwasnot [-9],(3) 14 one of the guys on the Kansas City Monarchs – he was very much his 15 ownman.IfBaseball’s“GreatExperiment,”asJulesTygielcalledit,wasto 16 succeed,Rickeyreasonedthatrecruitingtheplayerwiththemostability Lines: 24 to 30 17 wasnotasimportantasrecruitingastrong-willedindividualwhowould ——— 18 beabletowithstandtheimmensestrainthatwassurelytobecomepart 0.0pt PgVar 19 ofhislife. ——— 20 ✶ Normal Page 21 When I founded nine in 1992 one of my principle motivations was to PgEnds: TEX 22 offeranopportunitytoexplorethehistoricalandsocialimplicationsof 23 blackbaseballanditsimpactonthegameandgreatersocietyingeneral. 24 WhenIwasabatboyforthelocaltownteamIrememberbeingfascinated [-9],(3) 25 bytheannualvisitofablackbarnstormingclub.Iespeciallyremember 26 someplayercommentsabouthowgoodsomeofthebarnstormerswere, 27 especiallythoseplayerswhodidlittleclowningorgrandstanding.Com- 28 mentslike“thatJigger-boocanhit,”or“ifyouwalkthatshineit’sasgood 29 as giving him a double”continue to resonate in my mind,more than 30 ahalf-centuryafterthefact.Ormyfathersayingtome“Let’sgoseethe 31 blacksplay”whentheDodgerswereinBoston.(Ofcoursehedidnotcall 32 them“blacks”!)Asoffensiveasthesetermsaretoourearsnow,itisworth 33 notingthat,withintheobviousracistcontent,therewasadmirationof 34 the skills of black players. This recognition of baseball skills served as 35 a societal first step out of the subhuman quagmire in which African 36 Americanswereimmersed.AndthatwasthegeniusofRickey’splan.He 37 knewthat,giventheopportunitytoseriouslycompete,thegoodblack 38 playercouldholdhisownonanintegrateddiamond.Healsohadthe BOB—UniversityofNebraskaPress/Pageix/ /OutoftheShadows/BillKirwin