April 15: Integrating MLB

Jackie Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers on this date in 1947, the first black player in Major League Baseball in the 20th century. Lester Rodney, sportswriter for the communist Daily Worker, who had been campaigning (along with Bill Mardo and several writers for African-American papers) to break baseball’s color line for more than a decade, later noted that “no other papers would talk about the amazing fact that halfway through the 20th century, in the land of the free, qualified and over-qualified baseball players couldn’t participate in our national pastime.” Even Robinson’s first appearance on the field was downplayed throughout the mainstream press. Similarly, when Joe DiMaggio named Satchel Paige as the best pitcher he had ever faced (in postseason exhibition games with Negro League teams), only Rodney reported the news — as he did about Dodgers manager Leo Durocher’s admission that he would sign black players “in a minute, if I got permission from the big shots.” Rodney’s activism in support of integrating baseball included a widespread petition drive and picket lines at ballparks. He died in 2009 at age 98.

Robinson‘s “legacy was not, ‘Hooray, we did it,’ but ‘Buddy, there’s still unfinished work out there.’ He was a continuing militant, and that‘s why the Dodgers never considered this brilliant baseball man, who would have made a wonderful manager or coach. It’s because he was outspoken and unafraid.” —Lester Rodney

Watch an excerpt from an interview with Lester Rodney about baseball’s integration problem:

Lester Rodney from David Becker on Vimeo.