Were the New York Yankees slow to integrate?

[Bill Burgess]

Question. Historically speaking, were the Yankees slow to integrate and if so, why was that?

I was browsing my thread, the New York Yankees Team Photo Collection, and happened to notice that the Yankees appeared to be lily-white until 1955! A whole 8 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Brooklyn!
And even then, Eston Howard did not make regular until 1959!

I notice the Yankees had:

1959: Eston Howard, Hector Lopez
1961: Eston Howard, Hector Lopez, Al Downing
1963: Eston Howard, Hector Lopez, Al Downing, Marshal Bridges

That begs the question. Were the above just token window-dressing to protect the franchise from criticism?

By comparison, the 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers had:
Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe, Junior Gilliam, Roy Campanella, Sandy Amoros.

And their traveling secretary was black. Lee Scott.

If we give the Red Sox' owner, Tom Yawkey, so much guff for not integrating until 1960, do the New York Yankees not deserve some too, however belatedly late in the day?

I ask the house to discuss this subject with an open mind.

[Bill Burgess]

To give the discussion a jump-start, below is a chart contributed by one of our members long ago, to show when the teams integrated.

When the teams Integrated:

The first name is the first black, the second name the second black and the third name the first regular black.

Brooklyn Dodgers: robinson 47 dan bankhead 47 robinson 47
Cleveland Indians: larry doby 47 satchel paige 48 doby 48
St. Louis Browns: hank thompson 47 willard brown 47 satchel paige 52
New York Giants: hank thompson 49 monte irvin 49 hank thompson
Boston Braves: sam jethroe 50 luis marquez 51 sam jethroe 50
Chicago White Sox: minnie minoso 51 sam hairston 51 minnie minoso 51
Philadelphia Athletics: bob trice 53 vic power 54 power 54
Chicago Cubs: banks 53 gene baker 53 banks and baker 54
Pittsburgh Pirates: curt roberts 54 sam jethroe 54 roberts 54
St. Louis Cardinals: tom alston 54 brooks lawrence 54 flood 58
Cincinnati Reds: nino escalera 54 chuck harmon 54 frank robinson 56
Washington Senators: carlos paula 54 joe black 57 carlos paula 54
New York Yankees: elston howard 55 harry simpson 57 howard 59
Philadelphia Phillies: john kennedy 57 chuck harmon 57 pancho herrara and tony taylor 60
Detroit Tigers: ossie virgil 58 larry doby 58 jake wood 61
Boston Red Sox: pumpsie green 59 earl wilson 59 tilly tasby 60


Note that Chuck Harmon and Hank Thompson appear on the list with two different teams. Last to have a black regular the Tigers. Last to integrate the BoSox.

[EdTarbusz]

It took the Yankees almost 10 years to integrate. They were slow to do it. I believe that forst black player that they signed was Vic Power, but they traded him because was too flamboyant. I've read various quotes from George Weiss that there would never be a black player on the Yankees if he had anything to say about it and that integrating had ruined the Dodger and Giant fanbases and forced them to leave New York.

[Bill Burgess]

Since the Yankees had so many blacks in their town, why didn't they recognize the potential in milking and harvesting such a fertile new fanbase? Some folks believed that the new black Brooklyn fans more than made up for the few racist fans that stopped going to Dodger games.

Is it really realistic to think that the Yankees would allow one racist farm director, however good he was at his job, to make them vulnerable to such blatant charges of racism? Seems too simple a theory. I think there must have been a deeper, more profound reason than that. But I'll be darned if I can figure out what it was.

[EdTarbusz]

After the initial rush in 1947-48, I think baseball as a whole was slow to integrate. It's surprising to me that teams like Pittsburgh, Washington and the Chicago teams waited so long since these were strong Negro League areas. This doesn't even take into account how long it took for blacks to enter the coaching ranks, become managers or obtain front office postions or positions in the broadcast booth.

[BigRon]

I'm out of town so don't have any reference info in front of me. I think there has been quite a bit written about the Yankees' ownership attitude about integration- or the lack thereof.

It would be very useful to look back at the actual free agent signings of players to Minor League contracts- when did the first ones happen, how many were there, etc.- since that's where almost all the future Major League players would come from- with the exception of the occasional established veteran star like Paige or Irvin.

I think that the Yankees signed Elston Howard to a Minor League contract either in 1950 or 1951. I don't know if he was their first signing. It certainly is possible that Howard might have reached the Majors a bit earlier with the Yankees than he did- he lost at least 2 years to the service during the Korean War.

To me, it would be extremely interesting to see when each ML team signed its first black players to Minor League contracts, and how many were signed over the first few years. That probably would provide a good indicator of how serious they were.

[EdTarbusz]

Since the Yankees had so many blacks in their town, why didn't they recognize the potential in milking and harvesting such a fertile new fanbase? Some folks believed that the new black Brooklyn fans more than made up for the few racist fans that stopped going to Dodger games.

Is it really realistic to think that the Yankees would allow one racist farm director, however good he was at his job, to make them vulnerable to such blatant charges of racism? Seems too simple a theory. I think there must have been a deeper, more profound reason than that. But I'll be darned if I can figure out what it was.

I think part of the reason was that the Yankees were so good in that era that they didn't feel the need to dip into the black talent. I think the Yankees brass also felt that they had a more upscale fan base that the Giants and Dodgers had and they didn't want to offend this base by attacting black fans.

[Bill Burgess]

I think part of the reason was that the Yankees were so good in that era that they didn't feel the need to dip into the black talent. I think the Yankees brass also felt that they had a more upscale fan base that the Giants and Dodgers had and they didn't want to offend this base by attracting black fans.

This might be true, but if so, looking back in hindsight, how terribly short-sighted those management guys were.

Del Webb: Yankees co-owner w/Daniel Topping, (1954-1966), Both also functioned as co-Presidents.

Dan Topping: Yankees owner (1948-1966); In 1945, he, along with Del Webb and Larry MacPhail bought the Yankees. He served as club president from 1948-66. Yanks won 15 pennants & 10 World Series during that 22 year period.

[ol' aches and pains]

Yes, the whole American league was slower than the NL in integrating. In the Yankees' case, George Weiss, the GM at the time, stated "The first Negro to appear in a Yankee uniform must be worth waiting for". They had an excellent first baseman, Vic Power, with the Kansas City Blues in their minor league system, but didn't promote him. In 1952 as the first black in the history of the Kansas City Blues, Power batted .331 and drove in 109 runs. Returned to Kansas City in 1953 Power accelerated his production. At the end of July he led the American Association in batting, hits, doubles, and RBI. Yet when the Yankees recalled four minor leaguers on July 31, Power wasn't among them... The perennial World Champions denied all allegations of discrimination but at the same time the club began to circulate stories disparaging Power's abilities. Power, stated Dan Topping, "is a good hitter but a poor fielder"...Other releases charged that Power did not hustle and was "hard to handle". In short, according to the Yankee organization, Power did not posess the "right attitude" to join the Yankee family.

Power's subsequent career belies these assertions.Baseball experts rank him as one of the outstanding defensive first basemen in history. An exuberant,exciting player who always exerted the utmost effort, Power also demonstrated a sharp wit and mental alertness, which made him a favorite of fans and sportswriters. In response to critics, George Weiss stated that the Yankees "are averse to settling on a Negro player merely to meet the wishes of the people who insist they must have a Negro player". Weiss claimed that this "fair stand" had been endorsed "by thrice as many letter writers as have condemned us for alleged discrimination".

The real problem with Power, of course, was that he had been seen in the company of white women, and was known as a "hot dog" on the field, whose flamboyant style of play offended the Yankees' front office's idea of how a Yankee should play. Elston Howard, who eventually became the first African-American Yankee, was better suited to the "Yankee image" the team wanted to project.

(Excerpts in bold are quoted from "Baseballs' Great Experiment-Jackie Robinson and His Legacy" by Jules Tygiel, whom I consider the authoritative source on the subject.)

[The Commissioner]

As great and as dominant as those Yankees teams were in that era, it just makes you wonder how incredibly dominant they truly could have been? That was their loss. Plus, while their talent sustained them for a decade and a half after integration, I have to wonder whether not stocking up on other players along the way may have played some part in their decline in the '60s? I'm not saying necessarily that, for instance, anyone they would have signed in 1948 would have still been playing in 1965, but the team could have made deals along the way, had better coaches in place, and a more solid organization all-around.

Like I said, that was their loss. I really can't, or don't want to, imagine Mays, Aaron, or Banks in Yankees pinstripes.

[Bill Burgess]

Of course, hindsight is 100%, but still . . . One might think that when the Giants acquired Willie Mays, and Willie was challenging The Mick for accolades and fame, that might have served as their wakeup call. But no, they missed the boat, let their opportunities pass them by, and even compounded that missed chance by dumping Stengel and Weiss, following the 1960 season. The given party line was that they were instituting a new age limit of 70 years.

Why push such an ignorant policy when someone is not only producing for you, but doing so in fine, fashionable style as well. Stengel was winning pennants, a fan favorite and colorful, quotable character. Man, those Yankees were following a self-destructive path. Sometimes, such destructive behavior can be masked over for a short while, but it soon showed that the high and mighty Yankees ran out of gas. So sad. So unnecessary.

[ian2813]

A few things:

I know Curt Roberts is usually listed as the Pirates' first black player, but I read a Hardball Times article a while back about a player named Carlos Bernier, a black Puerto Rican who debuted with Pittsburgh in 1953. He should probably be considered the first black Pirate.

I think Topping, Webb and Weiss were definitely a bigoted bunch. I recently read Hank Greenberg's autobiography, Hank Greenberg: The Story of My Life, and this issue is addressed. Since it was published posthumously, Ira Berkow, who edited the book, included sections written by people who knew Greenberg to offer extra perspectives of the man. One was his second wife, who attended the 1955 World Series with Greenberg before they were married. She said she shared a limo with Topping, Webb and Weiss at one point during the Series, and that they would make anti-Semitic jokes amongst themselves (apparently not realizing she was Jewish), as well as racist remarks about blacks. It was a library book, so I don't have it in front of me, but those are the details as best I can remember.

What was Weiss' record with blacks was while he was GM of the Mets? Had baseball integrated enough that it was no longer an issue, or was there any sign of him being hesitant to give blacks opportunities?

[ItsOnlyGil]

I think part of the reason was that the Yankees were so good in that era that they didn't feel the need to dip into the black talent. I think the Yankees brass also felt that they had a more upscale fan base that the Giants and Dodgers had and they didn't want to offend this base by attacting black fans.

On the nose, as far as I recall.

[Bill Burgess]

Yes, the whole American league was slower than the NL in integrating.

Is it likely that the NL was quicker to integrate faster than the AL because the other NL teams got to see how much the black players were helping the Dodgers win pennants in the 1950's? Maybe seeing with their own eyes was a compelling motivation in trying to hire their own black players. They say, "Seeing is Believing." Maybe that was one of the reasons the AL was so slow. That and inborn racism, and a fear that their white fan-base might be put off sitting next to black fans.

But I resist the fan theory. I find that there would have been many more black fans to displace the boycotting racist fans. I believe that purely from a business perspective, the money should have forced integration. Money should have driven the integration drive. When principles come in conflict with money, money usually wins. That was one case where doing the right thing (integrating) and following the money would have happily coincided. Those owners were businessmen and should have seen the wisdom of taking the high road while making more money in the long run. Their stubborn resistance just didn't make sense!

When Ty Cobb went to Havana, Cuba to play black players in 1910, he said, "I broke my own rule for a few games because the money was right." How telling.

[Los Bravos]

I agree with nearly everything written so far.

You have to keep in mind that the Yankees had been the dominant team and organization in the game for 40 years by the time this policy started really hurting them.

While the Yankees had the added ace in the hole of running a de facto minor league team in Kansas City for some years, for the most part in the pre-draft era, signing amateur talent was the name of the game and they did it better than anyone, but that kind of success requires constant vigilance and the minute you start resting on your laurels and assuming things will always be the same, you're setting yourself up for a fall. They looked at the integration trend as a National League phenomenon, something of a cheap shortcut to success and didn't want any part of it.

The Yankee Way had always stood them in good stead and they were determined to stay that couse. When this finally started to show up as bad results in the on the field product (in the mid 60's when their replacement class of Pepitone, Tresh, Bouton and Linz couldn't step up to replace the aging Mantle, Maris and Ford generation), it was too late.

There is also the previously mentioned factor of them thinking their fanbase was upscale and white and their not wanting to draw black and brown fans. Bill's point about money is usually true but some people can, and this was especially true then, be truly shortsighted and obdurate when it comes to matters of race and class, even if it ultimately hurts their profits.

[64Cards]

In answer to the question posted, yes. But it's more curious why their competition in the AL was also so slow to integrate, especially the 2 strongest and most stable of their rivals, Boston and Detroit. From a competitive standpoint, the Yankees weren't hurting at all. From 1947-64 they were in the WS virtually every season, only missing in 48, 54, and 59, the season they weren't very good. As far as attendance, they also lead the AL very season except 48 and 63, when they were 2nd.

In the competition for fans in NYC the Yankees must have also figured that by keeping the team virtually all white would also keep the black fans out of Yankee Stadium and keep their more affluent white fan base. Brooklyn had Robinson, Campanella, Newcombe and Gilliam, the Giants had Mays and Irvin and I'm sure the black community had their allegiance split among those teams. But the Yankees were outdrawing the Dodgers and Giants by significant amounts, usually 500K or more so there wasn't much incentive from that point either. One more financial factor for the Yankees...in the early 50's CBS began televising the Game of the Week and back then they could only show the game in markets that didn't have a MLB franchise. The tv revenue wasn't pooled like it is today. CBS paid broadcast rights to the home team only which meant that virtually every Saturday and Sunday the Yanks were home they were on the GOTW and some of their biggest markets were in south and southwest. Keeping the Yankees virtually all white wasn't going to hurt them from getting that money from CBS every season.

So change will only happen if their is an incentive, either competively or financially. If the Red Sox or Tigers had added some great black players like teams in the NL did maybe the Yankees would have gotten on the ball. By 1965 the other AL teams had finally woke up, MLB had put in an amatuer draft so the Yankees could no longer sign the cream of the white crop of players and MLB would pool tv GOTW money.

Still, it's interesting to speculate just how good those teams could have been if they had added an Aaron, Banks, Clemente, and Gibson.

[Bill Burgess]

We're getting some good quality analysis here. And I sincerely appreciate this. Sometimes, not everything is as it appears.

Baseball Commissioner Judge Ken Landis had been appointed the Czar of Baseball on November 12, 1920, by all the owners, to contain the power of AL President Ban Johnson, and prevent the defection of the Yankees, Red Sox and White Sox from forming a new competing league.

Judge Landis died on November 17, 1944. But before he died, Dodgers' owner Branch Rickey had begun to scout the Negro Leagues, and had his scouts assessing the relative strengths/weaknesses of the Negro L. candidates, to see who might qualify to be the first black player to break baseball's infamous, but unwritten 'Color Barrier'. It was only an unwritten 'Gentlemen's Agreement' between the owners not to break ranks and be the first to hire blacks for their teams, either at the major or minor league levels.

It was reported that behind closed league doors, in their inner counsels, that Yankees' owner, Larry McPhail, had criticized Commissioner Judge Landis, for not moving to block off Rickey. He accused the Commissioner of being 'soft on segregation'.
Apparently, Judge Landis was behaving indifferently for McPhail's tastes and he wanted the Judge to move with alacrity in reigning in Rickey before the integration movement got to the level of public awareness and created negative PR for the obstructionist owners.

If we are willing to set aside the moral question for a moment, and focus on the practical considerations, the owners were businessmen, who were primarily interested in protecting their considerable financial investments in their teams. After WWII, baseball business was booming as never before. Many teams were registering over 1 million fans per season for the very first time. And no one wanted to rock the boat or do anything which might dampen fan enthusiam for their games. Also, as of 1950, TV was just coming online, and TV money was a big new revenue stream for the teams.

So, if we can assume that the laws of phyics applied to baseball, then it goes something like this. "Energy at rest will stay at rest unless acted on from an outside source. Energy in motion will stay in motion, unless acted on from an outside source."

That means that the owners weren't going to do anything to affect their business, unless they perceived the advantages out-weighed the disadvantages. The owners must have kept a very close eye on the Brooklyn Dodgers 'experiment'.

And what did they see? They see a team that previously in their history, prior to 1947, not have all that much success. And from 1947 on, they start to see black players coming in, pennants being won, and attendance soaring. Those were the objective facts that could not be disputed. They also see the Giants, once fortified with black talent enriching them, start to gain traction and win pennants. But they also see, in the 1950's, that neither the Dodgers nor the Giants are able to beat the Yankees', a lily-white team until 1955.

Did the owners draw any conclusions from that? And if so, how legitimate were those conclusions?

Were the pennants and fatter attendance and better PR in some quarters out-weighing the negative backlash of the racist fans who were outraged at the audacity of bringing blacks into the game? Those racist fans who were presumably staying away from baseball games had to be factored against the new black fans and their new revenue they were then bringing into the picture.

It must have been a very complication equasion that those owner/businessmen had to calculate. To their undying shame, they hired the very worst, vile PR whores to come up with the following document. In it, they pretended to worry and fret over the black leagues if they hired their players to play in MLB. Read it and weep, my friends.

The Sporting News, February 25, 1978, pp. 43.

This report, on race relations, submitted August 28, 1946, to MLB. This is an excerpt from a 25 page report, prepared by a special committee composed of Ford Frick, Will Harridge, Sam Breadon, Tom Yawkey, Phil Wrigley and Larry MacPhail.

[Bill Burgess]

This beautiful Sunday morning, while browsing some online stuff in search of baseball segregation, I happened across this excerpt from the book, Blackout: The Untold Story of Jackie Robinson's First Spring Training, by Chris Lamb, 2004.

I find this research fantastic and wonderful. Tell me what you think, too.

Page 30.

It may be difficult for us today to understand both the vastness of American racism or the rising popularity of communism in the 1930's. Yet the two converged in the story of the integration of white baseball. The U.S. Communist Party and its newspaper, the Daily Worker, seized upon the issue of segregation in baseball because it represented one of the more obvious evidences of discrimination. The Worker's journalists understood that ending the game's discrimination could make a truly revolutionary change in American society. For the Communist Party, baseball represented all that was wrong with American capitalism. Although it was certainly interested in using sports to advance its political philosophy, in this, the Party's most effective effort to influence American society, it emphasized democracy, not communism. Ironically, the Party's involvement made it easy for the baseball establishment to dismiss integration as a communist front.

When Lester Rodney became the Daily Worker's sports editor in early August, 1936, he immediately turned his attention to baseball's color ban. If he wanted to cover it, it was his by default - none of he other white dailies in New York City were interested. "We were the only non-black newspaper for a long time to write on the issue," Rodney later recalled. On Sunday, August 16, the Worker published a banner headline that read, "Fans Ask End of Jim Crow baseball," over a story that bluntly began: "Jim Crow baseball must end."

A week later, the newspaper published an interview with National League president Ford Frick, who denied that baseball had a color line. Like John Heydler, his predecessor, Frick maintained that the only requirements for the major leagues were "ability" and "good character." When the Worker's journalist put the same question to Commissioner Landis, they were given the same line. To the Worker if there was no "gentleman's agreement" prohibiting blacks, there was certainly a conspiracy in which no one took responsibility for the ban - not the commissioner, league presidents, or team executives.

Over the next decade, the Worker published hundreds of articles calling for integrating. Worker sportswriters openly and brashly challenged baseball's establishment to permit black players; condemned white owners and managers for perpetuating the color ban; publicized the exploits of Negro League stars; distributed anti-discrimination pamphlets outside ballparks; and organized petition drives. The petitions read in part: "Our country guarantees the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to all, regardless of race, creed, or color. Yet in our national sport we find discrimination against outstanding Negro baseball players who are equal to or surpass in skill many of the greatest players in the National and American League." Tens of thousands of signatures went ignored by the baseball establishment.

In March, 1942, the Chicago White Sox, who were in Pasadena, California, for spring training, played an exhibition game against a local team that included a twenty-three-year-old Jackie Robinson. After his second hit, he easily stole second base off catcher Mike Tresh. An inning later, he made a tremendous defensive play, turning a hit into a double play. "If that kid was white, I'd sign him right now," Chicago manager Jimmy Dykes remarked. The Worker published a story with the headline: "'Get After Landis, We'd Welcome You,' Sox Manager Tells Negro Stars." The Worker was the only newspaper to cover the game.

In mid-July, the Worker reprinted Wendell Smith's column that said a number of big league ballplayers supported integration. The article quoted Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher as saying he would be happy to sign blacks if only he could. "I'll play the colored boys on my team if the big shots give the ok," he said, adding: "Hell, I've seen a million good ones." He added that there was a "grapevine understanding or subterranean rule" that barred blacks. On July 15, 1942, an incensed Landis ordered Durocher to Chicago for a closed-door meeting. When Durocher left the meeting, he said he had been misquoted.

Landis told reporters that blacks had not been barred from baseball during his twenty-one years as commissioner. "There is no rule, formal or informal, no understanding, subterranean or otherwise" against hiring blacks, he said. "If Durocher, or any other man ager, or all of them, want to sign one, or twenty-five Negro players," he said, "it's all right with me." The Worker's Bill Mardo expressed its skepticism. He called Landis' comments "baloney." The paper's Lester Rodney later added: "Landis was a blatant liar when he said there was no rule forbidding black players in baseball."

In an interview with Worker journalist Conrad Komorowski, Landis answered most of the questions with a "no comment." When Komorowski asked him why he refused to comment, Landis snapped: "You fellows say I'm responsible." To another question Landis indicated that team owners were responsible for the color line, asking: "Why don't you put them on the spot?" The communist journalist then pressured William Benswanger, owner of the hapless Pittsburgh Pirates, into giving a tryout to Negro League catcher Roy Campanella, pitcher Dave Barnhill, and second baseman Sammy T. Hughes on August 4, 1942. But Benswanger canceled it. On July 30, he told Nat Low of the Worker that the tryout had been canceled because of "unnamed pressures." According to Rodney, the pressure came from "the baseball establishment."

Brooklyn president Larry MacPhail actually confronted Landis after thinking the commissioner had grown soft on segregation. MacPhail told reporters that there were no blacks in baseball for five reasons. First, there was no demand for black players. Second, there were no blacks who could make it in the big leagues. Third, integration would ruin black baseball. Fourth, blacks did not want to play in the big leagues. And finally, MacPhail said, baseball had an agreement forbidding the signing of blacks.

On August 6, Sporting News editor J. G. Taylor Spink defended segregation in an editorial called "No Good from Raising Race Issue". In it, he said that no rule was needed to keep blacks out of organized baseball because it was in everyone's interest to keep the races separate. Integration would ruin the Negro Leagues, he said, and without the Negro Leagues, blacks would have nowhere to gain the training to play in either the major or the minor leagues. Spink blamed communists for stirring up trouble, referring to them as "agitators" who used the issue for their own benefit.

Unlike the communists, who liked confrontation, black sportswriters like Wendell Smith and Sam Lacy preferred to work within the existing system, cautiously approaching team executives and league officials. For years Smith told Benswanger, the Pirates' owner, that he could make his team a pennant contender if he signed top players form either of the city's Negro League teams - the Pittsburgh Crawfords or the Homestead Grays. Smith once even reported that Grays' owner Cumberland "Cum" Posey had agreed to sell two of his stars, Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard, but Benswanger rejected the offer. Later Benswanger would claim that he had tried to obtain Gibson from the Crawfords but that Posey said no. Smith scoffed at Benswanger's revisionism as "unmitigated story-tell[ing]"

Americans accepted baseball's policy of racial exclusion because the baseball establishment denied the existence of a color line. The mainstream press accepted those denials. In other words, baseball could not have maintained the color line as long as it did without the aid and comfort of the country's white mainstream sportswriters. Together, they participated in what Joe Bostic of Harlem's People Voice and other black sportswriters called a "conspiracy of silence." This conspiracy was, in part, a reflection of what was happening in American society at large, where racism was viewed as the South's problem. Sportswriters, like other journalists, remained quiet because doing so was the path of least resistance or because they believed in segregation. As Washington Post sportswriter Shirley Povich put it: "I'm afraid the sportswriters were like the club owners. They thought separate was better."

Mainstream sportswriters perpetuated the myth that the national pasttime was a melting pot and all were equal on the ball field, regardless of ethnic background. But the reality was something else. The truth was that baseball writers, like league executives, team owners, managers, and players, believed that baseball, like the rest of society, should be segregated. Most sportswriters were conservative in their politics yet evangelical in their belief that baseball represented the American dream because everyone was equal on the playing field. As a result, according to one historian, they "wrote fantasies about the great American pastime . . . and were generally apathetic about baseball's color line."

The Sporting News' J. G. Taylor Spink, for example, was a staunch defender of segregation and an unabashed supporter of the myth that all were equal on a baseball diamond. "No matter how humble the home from which an American youth may come," he wrote in an editorial, "an opportunity to rise above his environment is open to him, if he has the necessary energy and talent." He continued: "That is the American way, and baseball, as America's national pastime, offers an easy entry into the field of opportunity." Yet, in another editorial, Spink writes that it was not appropriate to comment on the unwritten rule excluding blacks. And in still another, he said that "no good" would come in even discussing the race issue because the color line was in the best interests of both blacks and whites.

Sportswriters like Spink protected segregation in baseball by ignoring it as long as they could. In doing so, they conspired with league executives and team owners to keep blacks out of baseball. Simultaneously, black and communist sportswriters were crusading for integration, black athletes were proving their ability both in baseball and in other sports, and World War II was illustrating the irony of a country fighting against racism abroad while allowing it to exist on its home soil.

Above all, it was World War II that forced Americans to reconsider their views on discrimination. Nowhere was the hypocrisy of America's anti-racist rhetoric during the war years more evident that in the armed services. While accepting blacks, the army and navy relegated most to the lower rungs of service. Black soldiers grew impatient with the discrimination they faced, whether it was in the inequity in military ranks or the treatment they endured on military bases. They were relegated to the backs of military buses and denied water from whites-only drinking fountains - though German prisoners-of-war could drink from those same fountains. Blacks who questioned these conditions were often jailed, beaten, or killed.

As the war dragged on, black activists increased their demands for racial equality. In 1942, black labor leader A. Phillip Randolph threatened to march on Washington to protest federal job discrimination. He successfully pressured President Roosevelt to create the Fair Employment Practices Commission to investigate anti-discriminatory hiring practices. To Satisfy Randolph, Roosevelt signed an executive order forbidding job discrimination in plants with war contracts. But the federal government did little to enforce these decisions, which exacerbated racial tensions and led to bloody race riots in cities like Detroit and Philadelphia.

. . .

Shortly after the 1944 baseball season, Landis suffered a fatal heart attack [November 17, 1944]. The following March, Lacy wrote owners suggesting that a committee be created to consider bringing blacks into baseball. Leslie O'Connor, who chaired the search for Landis' replacement, invited Lacy to address the owners at their next meeting at the end of April, 1945. After Lacy presented his proposal to the owners, they agreed to form a committee on integrating the major leagues. The committee included Lacy, Branch Rickey, and MacPhail, who was then president of the New York Yankees. MacPhail, however, refused to commit to any of the proposed meetings. Rickey remarked to Lacy: "Well, Sam, Maybe we'll forget about Mr. MacPhail. Maybe we'll just give up on him and let nature take its course."

On April 6, 1945, however, Nat Low of the Worker, Joe Bostic of the People's Voice, and Jimmy Smith of the Pittsburgh Courier arrived unannounced at the Dodgers' wartime spring-training camp in Bear Mountain, New York. Their purpose was to demand a tryout for two aging Negro League ballplayers, Terris McCuffie and Dave "Showboat" Thomas. Rickey did not like being put on the spot. If he allowed the tryout, both the journalists and the ballplayers would make a name for themselves. If Rickey rejected the tryout, he would be vilified in the Worker, in the black press, and possibly in the anti-Rickey mainstream dailies. Rickey begrudgingly consented. At the end of a brief workout the next day, the ballplayers were dismissed.

[Los Bravos]

In answer to the question posted, yes. But it's more curious why their competition in the AL was also so slow to integrate, especially the 2 strongest and most stable of their rivals, Boston and Detroit.

The Tigers I can't answer for but the Red Sox and Tom Yawkey's malign influence have been thoroughly documented.

Mostly, I think the AL clubs agreed with the Yankee brass' dim view of using black and Latino players and too many of them thought that somehow they were partners in the Yankees greatness and had some role in defending the Yankees shortsighted approach simply by being members of the same league. It was beyond delusional (bordering on Stockholm Syndrome) but that's how things operate sometimes.

I've always thought it interesting that the AL team that seemed to embrace black stars, with better success and sooner than most, was the Twins, considering the roots of Griffith's decision to move the team.

[beisbolfiebre]

"I've read various quotes from George Weiss that there would never be a black player on the Yankees if he had anything to say about it and that integrating had ruined the Dodger and Giant fanbases and forced them to leave New York. "


I have read that as well but cannot recall where this quote came from. I have also read in the past that Casey Stengel was said to have used the nefarious N word more than once before he saw the light and became more enlightened. Don't know if there was a connection between the two as to why Yankees were so slow to integrate. But, as a loyal fan, I am glad they finally did so.

[Bill Burgess]

You know what would be really neat? If somebody could find the percentages of players of color for each year of baseball!

That would be really neat, so we could sit back and observe the rate of integration. I agree that baseball as a whole was slow to integrate. However, the NL was not as slow as the AL in terms of having a willingness to change and forge ahead.

I do not find one owner responsible for the others, but I do think most of them were hypocrites when answering the questions of why they were so slow. I do remember one black player emphasizing that in order for a black player to get hired, they had to be very, very much better than a competing white rival for a slot on a team. Thankfully, that unfair situation is no longer applicable today, at least on the playing field. But I fear it may still apply to management positions in the organizations. Can someone please assure me I am wrong on that score?

[Victory Faust]

A couple things:

Regarding the Tigers, owner Walter Briggs was known around Detroit as a pretty bad racist. It was only after Briggs had been dead for several years -- and, not coincidentally, the year after his family sold the team -- that the Tigers signed their first black player.

Also: Bill, that was an interesting read about how the Communist Party was a loud voice for baseball integration. I already kind of knew that (I probably picked it up somewhere in my baseball reading) but that was the most detail I've seen on the subject.

However, I'm not sure it's entirely accurate to claim no white sportswriters took up the cause for integration. To wit:

Heywood Broun, Paul Gallico, Grantland Rice, Westbrook Pegler, Jimmy Powers, Shirley Povich, John R. Tunis, and Ed Sullivan most prominent amongthem—joined Broun in the movement to desegregate athletics in the name of good sportsman-ship. Major League Baseball received by far the most column inches on this subject. Con-cerning the "conversion" of sportswriters in the metropolitan dailies, see Richard Crepeau,Baseball: America's Diamond Mind, 1919-1941 (Gainesville, Fla., 1980), 171; Tygiel,"Baseball's Great Experiment" 34

http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:...&ct=clnk&gl=us

Also, regarding the Yankees: one obvious reason they were slow to sign black players may have been the fact that they were doing just fine without them. If you're winning the World Series every year, why change anything?

That's not saying the Yankee owner wasn't a racist; I honestly don't know. It's just a possible reason I'm offering up.

[beisbolfiebre]

"You know what would be really neat? If somebody could find the percentages of players of color for each year of baseball!"


Back in the 60s Baseball Digest used to list the rosters and indicate the ethnicity of the players. It used the term '' Negro '' as designation for Black players back then.

[Bill Burgess]

"You know what would be really neat? If somebody could find the percentages of players of color for each year of baseball!"


Back in the 60s Baseball Digest used to list the rosters and indicate the ethnicity of the players. It used the term '' Negro '' as designation for Black players back then.

Maybe if someone has those older issues of Baseball Digest, they could help us out. And the good thing about the web, once it's posted, that's it. We have it done. Anyone have those issues and can help me out?

[paulamarty601]

David Halberstam's October 1964 does justice to this topic. I cannot state anything more than what was said, but not being open to integration put an eventual end to the Yankee dynasty of the 50s and 60s. The Yanks had sustained themselves through the signing of Mantle, Berra's consistency, the defacto "minor league" with the Kansas City A's, which ended up buying them some time with great trades (such as Roger Maris for basically nothing) into the mid-60s.

What we see in hingsight, into the late 50s, is that the Yanks were in some decline. They lost the 57 Series (to the integrated Braves with Aaron, Wes Covington, Billy Bruton), beat them in the 58 series which the Braves basically blew away (they were up 3 games to 1), and had a lousy 1959 season. With Maris, they made the Series in 60 but lost to the Pirates (again, integrated with Clemente). The Yanks were excellent in 61 of course, beat a really good Giants team in a close 62 series (unless McCovey's drive was just six inches in any direction), but then lost to two integrated teams in the Dodgers and Cardinals in 63 and 64.

The Yanks had great players and had great strengths -- power hitting with Mantle and Maris), great pitching with Ford, excellent infield defense -- but had limits, such as lack of speed and some quality falloff of pitching after Ford. And the competing teams in the AL at that time were nowhere near as good as other comparable NL teams. Had the Yanks had to compete against the Dodgers, Cardinals, Giants and Braves of the late 50s and early 60s, there may have been at least 2 fewer pennants or more.