Uncomfortable Truths
I began my research for this article on Wednesday, April 15, “Jackie Robinson Day”, celebrated in baseball since 2004. Listening to the ESPN commentators and guest athletes pay tribute to the special contribution Jackie made served as a perfect background to writing my series of nostalgic baseball stories. I remember going with my Dad to a game at Crosley Field in Cincinnati to see the Reds play against the San Francisco Giants and their ace pitcher, Juan Marichal. We drove to the ballpark on a hot summer night in Dad’s Volkswagen with no A/C. In checking the box scores for the summer of 1965, I believe the game was played the night of August 4, 1965.
I wish I could tell you that I remember the 4-3 Giants win in 10 innings that evening, featuring two hits apiece by Giants legends Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Jim Ray Hart, and similar multi-hit games by the Reds’ Pete Rose, Frank Robinson, and Vada Pinson. What I do remember is the popcorn Dad would always get for me at the games, one that when finished I could use the box to yell “CHARGE” with the rest of the fans. Dad and I loved to keep score together. I might have received my first lesson that night watching him fill out the scorecard. I can still today hear him reminding me at games not to record a batter being walked as a “W”, but rather a “BB” (base on balls).
Dad did tell me something that night I clearly recall, and until my research this past week, I’ve never truly understood its significance. Our seats were down the right field line not far from the Giants bullpen. The Reds’ Frank Robinson was playing right field. Dad pointed out to me that when the Reds were batting and it was not Robinson’s turn in the order, he would sit at the end of the Giants bullpen bench instead of returning to the Reds home dugout on the third base side. Dad turned to me and said, “Robbie won’t be with the Reds next year.” Indeed, in what was one of the worst trades in baseball history, Frank Robinson was traded to the Baltimore Orioles prior to the 1966 season for Milt Pappas, Jack Baldschun, and Dick Simpson. The trade is even scoffed at by Annie Savoy in the opening scene of “Bull Durham”.
The trade made no sense from a baseball standpoint. Robinson was in the prime of his baseball life and would go on to win the Triple Crown in his first season as an Oriole. His illustrious career included winning the MVP award in both leagues (NL, Cincinnati, 1961, and AL, Baltimore, 1966), two World Series championships (1966 and 1970), 30 HRs in each of 11 seasons, and a first-ballot Hall of Famer (sadly, entering as an Oriole). Frank Robinson was named player-manager of the Cleveland Indians in 1975, becoming the first black manager in MLB. He also managed the San Francisco Giants and Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, and served in various capacities in the MLB office after his managerial career.
So why exactly did the Reds make the trade? What did Dad know about on that hot summer night in August, 1965, that a 6-year old wouldn’t understand? My research uncovered stories of Robinson’s conflicts on the field with white players, including a fistfight with Braves HOF third baseman, Eddie Mathews, in 1960. Off the field, after his NL MVP 1961 season Robinson had a run-in with a bully at a restaurant in Cincinnati, resulting in Robinson’s arrest. In 1963, he threatened to quit baseball because he felt he was being treated unfairly. I must say that this new knowledge made me uncomfortable. Maybe it wasn’t a baseball trade at all, but rather the Reds rejecting Frank Robinson, the civil rights activist. Frank Robinson was fighting back, and perhaps doing what Jackie Robinson couldn’t do a decade or so before.
The celebration of Jackie Robinson’s contribution to baseball is a special one. We all know the story that in 1947 he broke the color barrier and became the first black player in the MLB in the modern era. His accomplishments on the field during his 10-year career as a Brooklyn Dodger are remarkable – 1947 NL Rookie of the Year; 1949 NL MVP; 6-time NL All-Star; played in six World Series; and was part of the 1955 Dodgers World Championship team. In 1997 MLB retired his uniform #42 in all of baseball. Coincidentally, according to the Society for American Baseball Research, black participation in MLB hit its peak between 1981 and 1997 averaging around 18% per roster.
I kept hearing the word “endure” from the ESPN commentators this past Wednesday, something that truly was Jackie’s mantra during his 10-year career. While Frank Robinson fought back, Jackie had to just endure. Jackie Robinson’s nonviolent nature allowed him to withstand racial prejudice throughout baseball. In his 1947 debut in Cincinnati, fans were shouting racial slurs. Fortunately, his Dodger teammate, shortstop Pee Wee Reese, hailed from nearby Kentucky and came to his defense to quiet the crowd. The St. Louis Cardinals reportedly threatened to strike if Robinson played, but were rebuked by the Commissioner’s office. Cardinals great Enos Slaughter spiked Jackie intentionally on the playing field. Robinson’s early death in 1972, at the age of 53, may partly be a result of what he had to “endure” from our baseball nation.
In our annual “celebration” of Jackie Robinson, perhaps we are also continuing to mask some uncomfortable truths. The game of baseball has not exactly been welcoming to black players and fans over the past two decades. On Opening Day 2019 only 7.7% of black players filled the MLB rosters. Black viewership of games and black fans at the ballpark have declined as well. Indeed, a Nielsen ratings 2017 release indicated that the average viewer for a baseball game was a 53-year old white male. That really isn’t something to celebrate, but leaves an empty feeling, much like the ballparks on this past Wednesday.
My hope for Jackie Robinson Day, April 15, 2021, is not only that ballparks will be full again, but that we address these uncomfortable truths.
Until next Monday,
your Baseball Bench Coach