The American journalist and author Jimmy Breslin died on March 19th
this year.
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| Jimmy Breslin |
Over the years, I had occasionally read his column and essays in
magazines. Some time back I read one of
his novels – World Without End, Amen, I
think.
Upon his death, it was easy to find some of his better-known pieces like Digging JFK Grave was His Honor http://www.newsday.com/opinion/digging-jfk-grave-was-his-honor-jimmy-breslin-1.6481560 and, after John Lennon’s death, A Part of Cop’s Past Live Dies. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/archives-jimmy-breslin-tells-aided-john-lennon-article-1.2039625
In 1986 Breslin was awarded
the Pulitzer
Prize for Commentary
"for columns which consistently
champion ordinary citizens".
He could
write. I figure I can learn something
(well, many things) so I picked up his last published book Branch Rickey.
Breslin liked to
talk with his subjects. Rickey, who died in 1965 was long gone by 2011. Nevertheless, the author was confident he
could “rely on big-name historians… and that this (experience) would be immensely pleasurable.”
The historians disappointed
Breslin. “History writers should be put not in jail but under it.”
Breslin’s book used
a lot from Arthur Mann’s earlier work on Rickey that had formed the basis of The Jackie
Robinson Story, a 1950 film (starring Robinson himself and Sandra Dee).
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| Branch Rickey |
Although I knew a
fair bit about Rickey and the story of him bringing Robinson up to major league
baseball, I certainly picked up new insights from Breslin.
Robinson was some
athlete. It is arguable that baseball wasn’t even his best sport.
Seventy years ago today (July 26th),
at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field he stole home and hit a home run in the same game.
That feat is perhaps a good indicator of his athleticism. 1947 was his rookie season with the Dodgers. His numbers that year were .297 (Batting
Average), .383 (On Base Percentage- OBP), 29 stolen bases and 12 home runs. He retired with a lifetime .311 batting average
and a.409 OBP.
I have vague
memories of Robinson at the end of his career.
I’m sure I didn’t fully appreciate what he had to endure in order to
excel over 10 seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
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| Robinson stealing home in 55 World Series. Yogi Berra says he tagged him out |
Rickey and Robinson faced incredible bigotry. Significant portions of white America at
large, sportswriters and the other owners weren’t interested in change.
The owners, for example, issued a statement in the
summer of 1946. That was the year that
Robinson was tearing up the International League playing second base with the
Montreal Royals. Entitled Race Question
the statement read in part:
“Baseball
will jeopardize its leadership in professional sport if it fails to give full
appreciation to the fact that the Negro player and the Negro fan are part and
parcel of the game. Certain groups in this country, including political and
social-minded drumbeaters, are conducting pressure campaigns in an attempt to
force major league clubs to sign Negro players.
Members of these groups are not primarily interested in Professional
Baseball.
Signing
of a few Negro players for the major leagues would be a gesture-but it would
contribute little or nothing towards a solution of the real problem. Let’s look
at the facts:”
Those “facts” identified requirements of a major
league player. Things like technique, coordination
and discipline. You apparently need seven years in the minors to gain these
skills and attitudes.
As a result, the “young
Negro player never has a good chance in baseball. This is the reason there are not more players
who meet major league standards in the big Negro leagues.”
Fifteen of sixteen owners voted for this declaration. Rickey’s was the only opposition. I guess you could call him a social-minded
drumbeater.
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| Branch Rickey |
This particular
statement the owners issued was in response to the Ives-Quinn Act of 1945. Sponsored by the New York Republican Irving
Ives, it was the first state law to prohibit discrimination in employment on
the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin. Rickey, a Republican himself, had lobbied hard for this legislation. Its passage meant that the Dodger boss had the
legal backing to bring Robinson up to the majors.
It goes without saying that
Rickey was a principled man. He jeopardized his own major league career, he was
a catcher, as he had promised his mother he would never play on Sundays.
Managers weren’t impressed.
Rickey earned a law degree,
practiced for a day or so before returning to his alma mater to coach
baseball. And baseball was where he
stayed.
Branch Rickey invented the baseball
farm system changing the “look of
baseball long before he ever heard of Jackie Robinson.”
Rickey was a baseball man but “nowhere in his religious training did he
take a vow of poverty.” He sold hundred of players and took a 10%
commission on their sale.
When future
Hall of Famer Johnny Mize wanted too much money, Rickey sold him for $50,000
and took his 10%. That was 1941 and Rickey’s
salary was $50,000.
Rickey understood better than
anyone that there was a business case for Negro League players to play in the major
leagues.
He did a great thing in
American life, says Breslin. Later in
the McCarthy era, together with Robinson, he got caught up in attacking actor/singer
Paul Robeson alleged communist views and later threw in with Richard Nixon.
Breslin would have told them
that “the wise shoemaker sticks to his
trade and maintains a mouth filled with nails.”
Rickey argued that, “ethnic prejudice has no place
in sports, and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature
as a national game.”
That
was a tough case to make and he made it.
Baseball
and society are better places for his contribution. Breslin’s too.
