Jackie Robinson

by Arnold Rampersad

  111. I have tried to: PC, Aug. 23, 1947.

  112. The sociological experiment: Rowan, pp. 193–194.

  113. No other ballplayer: I Never, p. 81.

  114. So we’re in it: PC, Oct. 4, 1947.

  115. I’ve played a lot: PC, Oct. 11, 1947.

  116. It was a pleasure: misc. clipping, Jan. 6, 1948, JRP.

  117. Many of us who: John A. Williams to author, interview, April 17, 1997.

  CHAPTER 9

  1. good sport: anon. to JR, n.d., AMP, LC.

  2. the whole nation: C. C. Spaulding to JR, Oct. 3, 1947, AMP, LC.

  3. I was being watched: JR, misc. fragment, ms., n.d., JRP.

  4. I’ve got to make: ibid.

  5. should do something: Baltimore Afro-American, Oct. 25, 1947.

  6. why would he have: NYAN, Oct. 25, 1947.

  7. Jack couldn’t sing: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  8. a new low: Baltimore Afro-American, Nov. 1, 1947.

  9. a picture of dapper: NYAN, Oct. 25, 1947.

  10. for his interest: ibid.

  11. gracious, down-right big-hearted: Red Skelton to JR, Feb. 19, 1948, JRP.

  12. Jackie took the boy’s: misc. clipping, uniden., JRP.

  13. We’d pull off the: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  14. the first man in: Oakland Tribune, Dec. 2, 1947.

  15. a short but impressive: PC, Jan. 3, 1948.

  16. More than SIXTY THOUSAND: Arthur Mann, The Jackie Robinson Story (N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, 1951), p. 202.

  17. We ate like pigs: I Never, p. 83.

  18. There’s no question: NYAN, Dec. 6, 1947.

  19. I respected and respect: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  20. considerable vehemence: Mann, p. 202.

  21. Mr. Rickey and I: PC, Feb. 21, 1948.

  22. Complications set in: I Never, pp. 82–83.

  23. I met all the gang: PC, March 13, 1948.

  24. The best second baseman: Baltimore Afro-American, March 13, 1948.

  25. I was sorry to see: PC, March 20, 1948.

  26. Wherever they tell me: PC, April 17, 1948.

  27. I’m just a player: Baltimore Afro-American, Dec. 6, 1947.

  28. What in the world: PC, March 13, 1948.

  29. I think Durocher is: New York Daily News, March 29, 1948.

  30. After an inexcusably: Baltimore Afro-American, March 27, 1948.

  31. conscious of their color: PC, March 13, 1948.

  32. pulled and tugged: PC, March 20, 1948.

  33. I miss him: PC, March 27, 1948.

  34. Sure we were scared: PC, April 10, 1948.

  35. I’m in good shape: ibid.

  36. click like a five: PC, April 17, 1948.

  37. the jam-packed room: ibid.

  38. We like it: misc. uniden. clipping, n.d., JRP.

  39. Oh, isn’t that nice: Sarah [Satlow] Cymrot to author, interview, June 14, 1995.

  40. our ambassador: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  41. We didn’t know what: Sarah Cymrot, interview.

  42. There was a lot: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  43. They evidently have: JR to Rachel Robinson, n.d., RRP.

  44. she rose and in: Baltimore Afro-American, Nov. 15, 1947.

  45. the one person: ibid.

  46. I can truly say: Madison (N.J.) Eagle, Dec. 30, 1948.

  47. I hated it: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  48. I want you to love: anon. to JR, Oct. 6, 1947, AMP, LC.

  49. When I married: JR to anon., n.d., AMP, LC.

  50. but they are meant: JR to Rachel Robinson, n.d., RRP.

  51. When he’d be on: Joe Black to Spike Lee, interview, Oct. 27, 1994.

  52. increased my love: JR to Rachel Robinson, n.d., RRP.

  53. Darling, if only: JR to Rachel Robinson, n.d., RRP.

  54. We think we have: PC, April 17, 1948.

  55. waddled: Mann, p. 205.

  56. He fought against tears: Mann, p. 206.

  57. a good manager: PC, May 15, 1948.

  58. I think I’m ready: PC, May 22, 1948.

  59. the dashing, daring base: PC, June 5, 1948.

  60. He has been overweight: New York Daily Mirror, May 26, 1948.

  61. I’m not worried about: PC, June 5, 1948.

  62. the first time: NYT, June 25, 1948.

  63. a human dynamo: PC, July 24, 1948.

  64. What the black man: Harold Parrott, The Lords of Baseball (N.Y.: Praeger, 1976), p. 204.

  65. But deep in my: Carl Rowan, Wait Till Next Year (N.Y.: Random House, 1960), pp. 198–199.

  66. was only fair: Allan Roth, “1948 Brooklyn Dodgers: Complete Statistical Data, Team and Individual Batting and Pitching Record, Individual Player Analysis [Jackie Robinson],” Los Angeles Dodgers Archives.

  67. Yes sir, when a Negro: PC, Aug. 14, 1948.

  68. Jackie came rushing out: PC, Sept. 4, 1948.

  69. all by himself: PC, June 5, 1948.

  70. I certainly want: PC, June 12, 1948.

  71. can’t carry Doby’s glove: PC, Nov. 13, 1948.

  72. utterly ridiculous: ibid.

  73. Both Roy and I: The New Sign (Harlem Branch YMCA), Sept. 18, 1948, p. 1.

  74. We are very much: PC, March 5, 1949.

  75. a big thrill: PC, Oct. 9, 1948.

  76. By his gentlemanly conduct: PC, July 3, 1948.

  77. They are the kind: WP, Aug. 30, 1949.

  78. Mr. Rickey may have: PC, Oct. 22, 1949.

  79. leather-lunged: PC, March 19, 1949.

  80. They better be rough: New York Sun, March 6, 1949.

  81. This, it seems: PC, March 19, 1949.

  82. My family named me: JR, Jackie Robinson: My Own Story (N.Y.: Greenberg, 1948), p. 7.

  83. he has NEVER had: Baltimore Afro-American, Feb. 14, 1948.

  84. The idea that Branch: Branch B. Rickey to author, interview, Feb. 27, 1997.

  85. It was a tempest: BE, March 19, 1949.

  86. one bad deed by: PC, March 5, 1949.

  87. Sisler showed me how: PC, April 9, 1949.

  88. I feel right now: BE, March 28, 1949.

  89. The only danger from: BE, April 7, 1949.

  90. I will play baseball: BE, Jan. 16, 1949.

  91. I decided then: PC, April 16, 1949.

  92. Robinson, on the other: PC, April 16, 1949.

  93. The Dodgers will have: PC, May 7, 1949.

  94. This kid’s going to: PC, June 25, 1949.

  95. I cuss him out: PC, Aug. 16, 1949.

  96. Negro Troops Fight Bravely: BE, June 23, 1949.

  97. I couldn’t understand why: misc. fragment, ms, n.d., JRP.

  98. As you know: Leslie Perry to JR, July 11, 1949, BRP, LC.

  99. I think it was: misc. fragment, n.d., JRP.

  100. It is unthinkable: NYT, April 21, 1949.

  101. Now a white man: Rowan, Wait, p. 203.

  102. rousing ovation: Ronald A. Smith, “The Paul Robeson–Jackie Robinson Saga and a Political Collision,” Journal of Sport History 6 (Summer 1979), p. 14.

  103. the greatest step ever: Montreal Gazette, October 24, 1945.

  104. I felt so badly: Sarah [Satlow] Cymrot, interview.

  105. There ain’t nothing wrong: misc. clipping, n.d., JRP.

  106. Intent on him: Rachel Robinson, “I Live with a Hero,” Negro Digest, June 1951, p. 10.

  107. is as far removed: Hearings Regarding Communist Infiltration of Minority Groups, Hearings Before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-first Congress, July 18, 1949, pp. 479–483.

  108. the Ebony Express: BE, July 19, 1949.

  109. Public speaking must agree: ibid.

  110. Credo of an American: NYP, July 19, 1949.

  111. Quite a man: New York Daily News, July 20, 1949.

  112. split sharply: New York Age, July 23, 1949.

  113. boomeranged: Baltimore Afro-American, July 23, 1949.

  114. not one single case: Lester Granger to JR, July 19, 1949, BRP, L
C.

  115. I have no quarrel: BE, July 21, 1949.

  116. I have boxes: WP, Aug. 30, 1949.

  117. anger written all over: Bill Mardo to the Nation, May 5, 1995; courtesy of Bill Mardo.

  118. if Mr. Robeson wants: Daily Worker, Aug. 29, 1949.

  119. wiser and closer: I Never, p. 98.

  120. Jackie Robinson put his: Bill Mardo to the Nation, May 5, 1995.

  121. Without Robinson: PC, Aug. 13, 1949.

  122. You must admit: cited in PC, Aug. 13, 1949.

  123. They couldn’t get me: PC, Sept. 10, 1949.

  124. Well, what do you: PC, Nov. 26, 1949.

  125. What is there to: PC, Oct. 15, 1949.

  126. a light case of: PC, Nov. 12, 1949.

  127. All this means: PC, Nov. 26, 1949.

  CHAPTER 10

  1. All America must applaud: misc. clippings, n.d., JRP.

  2. It’s the best way: WP, Aug. 23, 1949.

  3. The strain of the last: New York Daily News, Nov. 19, 1949.

  4. This is too supervised: Daily Worker clipping, n.d. [1949], JRP.

  5. heard me speak: Arnold Forster, Square One: A Memoir (N.Y.: Donald I. Fine, 1988), p. 97.

  6. That may be so: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  7. One way we knew: ibid.

  8. Mommy, my hands: ibid.

  9. Look, there’s discrimination: Jack Harrison Pollack, “Meet a Family Named Robinson,” Parents’ Magazine & Family Home Guide, Oct. 1955, p. 111.

  10. I wish I was white: misc. clipping, n.d., JRP.

  11. Pitches Curves!: “The Jackie Robinson Story,” Ebony, June 1950, p. 83.

  12. Jack was mentioned: Martin Stone to author, interview, July 14, 1995.

  13. Two of the big: “The Jackie Robinson Story,” Ebony, p. 91.

  14. this might sound like: Arthur Mann to Branch Rickey, Nov. 18, 1949, BRP.

  15. It took all: “The Jackie Robinson Story,” Ebony, p. 92.

  16. Jackie made a tremendous: SN, May 10, 1950.

  17. He was a loyal: Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Oct. 26, 1972.

  18. The way they had: “The Jackie Robinson Story,” Ebony, p. 92.

  19. I simply explained: ibid.

  20. Are you kidding?: SN, May 10, 1950.

  21. In one scene: Ruby Dee to author, interview, July 20, 1995.

  22. a mildly romantic scene: “Jackie Robinson’s Double Play,” Life, May 8, 1950, p. 131.

  23. The moment I talked: Ruby Dee, interview.

  24. patronizing and offensive: Carl E. Prince, Brooklyn’s Dodgers: The Bums, the Borough, and the Best of Baseball, 1947–1957 (New York: Oxford, 1996), p. 35.

  25. Surprisingly, Jackie Robinson: misc. clipping, n.d., JRP.

  26. Here the simple story: NYT, May 17, 1950.

  27. we are going to: PC, Feb. 11, 1950.

  28. I’m not going to: PC, Feb. 4, 1950.

  29. Robinson’s recently accumulated: PC, April 1, 1950.

  30. Of course, in the case: New York Daily News, Jan. 26, 1950.

  31. Jackie is a better: PC, April 29, 1950.

  32. He’s the indispensable man: PC, June 17, 1950.

  33. consistency against: Allan Roth, “1949 Brooklyn Dodgers,” Los Angeles Dodgers Archives.

  34. Let’s not have no: Harold Parrott, The Lords of Baseball (N.Y.: Praeger, 1976), p. 218.

  35. Better go easy, Jackie: SN, Aug. 29, 1951.

  36. That strike was right: SN, July 12, 1950.

  37. Frick has given these: ibid.

  38. There is no question: PC, July 15, 1950.

  39. the biggest deal: SN, Oct. 4, 1950.

  40. That was a lot: Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1972.

  41. the little guy: SN, March 7, 1951.

  42. about a month: JR to Branch Rickey, n.d., BRP, LC.

  43. Sometimes my family: Branch B. Rickey to author, interview, Feb. 24, 1997.

  44. Jackie Headed for Polo: SN, Sept. 27, 1950.

  45. I’ll have my family: PC, Aug. 12, 1950.

  46. Nothing was promised: SN, Nov. 21, 1951.

  47. no reason why: PC, March 31, 1951.

  48. Because the call comes: memorandum to John D. Rockefeller III, Dec. 27, 1950, JRP.

  49. a vain, proud: SN, Aug. 16, 1950.

  50. I am counting on: PC, Dec. 9, 1950.

  51. It certainly did not: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  52. That dieting business: PC, March 10, 1951.

  53. I’m going to open: PC, Feb. 10, 1951.

  54. We have a different: SN, March 28, 1951.

  55. Jackie would never: Carl Erskine to author, interview, Feb. 10, 1997.

  56. I like aggressive play: PC, April 7, 1951.

  57. might be a little: PC, April 21, 1951.

  58. Anything I do: SN, May 2, 1951.

  59. I’m not going to be: SN, May 23, 1951.

  60. umpire-baiting: SN, May 2, 1951.

  61. Leo, I can smell: Prince, p. 49.

  62. “amazed” by his catlike: Baltimore Afro-American, March 13, 1948.

  63. My dick to you: Roger Kahn, The Boys of Summer (N.Y.: Harper & Row, 1972), p. 97.

  64. You’ve got a swelled: PC, June 13, 1950.

  65. Did you notice: SN, Sept. 19, 1951.

  66. I just don’t like: ibid.

  67. You’ve got a nerve: SN, May 9, 1951.

  68. it’s a long season: ibid.

  69. tired … popping off: ibid.

  70. I have no reason: ibid.

  71. on the carpet: ibid.

  72. Robinson always has been: SN, May 16, 1951.

  73. many fans of both races: PC, May 5, 1951.

  74. Robinson will read this: PC, May 19, 1951.

  75. I think we will: SN, May 30, 1951.

  76. If I hadn’t started: SN, June 6, 1951.

  77. in a way that: SN, June 13, 1951.

  78. What good is that: SN, Sept. 26, 1951.

  79. I’m not saying anything: SN, Oct. 10, 1951.

  80. The ball is a blur: NYT, Oct. 25, 1972.

  81. one of the greatest: SN, Jan. 2, 1952.

  82. stretched at full length: NYT, Oct. 25, 1972.

  83. There’s no stopping us: PC, Oct. 6, 1951.

  84. Well, we let: Robert Campbell, interview, UCLA Archives.

  85. Roll out the barrels: SN, Oct. 10, 1951.

  86. We think he’s: SN, Oct. 17, 1951.

  87. He deserves every honor: SN, Nov. 7, 1951.

  88. It was not only: PC, June 7, 1952.

  89. Fans used to travel: PC, Nov. 22, 1952.

  90. These trips are really: SN, Nov. 21, 1951.

  91. It’s Robinson they come: PC, Dec. 8, 1951.

  92. the league’s busiest: SN, Feb. 20, 1952.

  93. I had a chip: PC, Feb. 23, 1952.

  94. unique in the field: “News from NBC” (press release), Feb. 4, 1952; JRP.

  95. a decent home: NYP, Sept. 23, 1959.

  96. I think every player: SN, Feb. 20, 1952.

  97. perfectly satisfied: PC, Jan. 19, 1952.

  98. Can you fight?: Joe Black to Spike Lee, interview, Oct. 27, 1994.

  99. I don’t mind: SN, April 16, 1952.

  100. a greater offender: PC, May 24, 1952.

  101. The National League is: Milton Gross, “Why They Boo Jackie Robinson,” Sport, Feb. 1953, p. 96.

  102. I know it’s wrong: PC, July 26, 1952.

  103. too much fuss over: PC, June 21, 1952.

  104. I decided that: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  105. I think I’m going: Joe Black to Spike Lee, interview.

  106. They scared him: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  107. Before he left: PC, Aug. 2, 1952.

  108. Don’t you worry: PC, Sept. 6, 1952.

  109. What he said: Gross, p. 96.

  110. Before I’ll pay that: ibid.

  111. I never thought: ibid.

  112. The main thing: PC, Oct. 4, 1952.

  113. I couldn’t argue: PC, Oct. 11, 1952.

  11
4. I certainly might: PC, Sept. 27, 1952.

  115. It made me stop: SN, Nov. 21, 1951.

  CHAPTER 11

  1. I pointed out: Martin Stone, interview.

  2. After the war: Jack Gordon, interview.

  3. Whatever his deal was: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  4. Jack was an “I …”: Evelyn Cunningham, interview, June 19, 1995.

  5. He certainly was: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  6. I’m no longer: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 8, 1953.

  7. fine sportsmen and wonderful: PC, Dec. 27, 1952.

  8. who can play good: ibid.

  9. everyone should be: ibid.

  10. I merely said: ibid.

  11. What do you think: Milton Gross, “Why They Boo Jackie Robinson,” Sport, Feb. 1953, p. 95.

  12. Do they think: Gross, p. 97.

  13. maybe it’s because: ibid.

  14. The very violence: ibid.

  15. I’ve always been treated: PC, Jan. 24, 1953.

  16. I hit a couple: PC, March 14, 1953.

  17. I don’t see any: PC, Jan. 24, 1953.

  18. That ain’t a third: Mike Shatzkin, ed., The Ballplayers: Baseball’s Ultimate Biographical Reference (New York: William Morrow, 1990), p. 229.

  19. Trouble on the Dodgers: NYP, March 23, 1953.

  20. I know Cox is: PC, March 28, 1953.

  21. There isn’t a guy: PC, June 20, 1953.

  22. You couldn’t dream up: PC, March 28, 1953.

  23. Our outfield wasn’t going: PC, June 6, 1953.

  24. How do you vote: NYT, July 3, 1953.

  25. get up there: PC, July 25, 1953.

  26. black nigger bastard: PC, Aug. 15, 1953.

  27. Kill him, Carl: Carl E. Prince, Brooklyn’s Dodgers (N.Y.: Oxford, 1996), p. 45.

  28. another two or three: PC, Aug. 15, 1953.

  29. He still compensates: Newark (N.J.) Evening News, July 16, 1953.

  30. serenely dependable: NYP, Sept. 7, 1953.

  31. If we don’t win: PC, Sept. 26, 1953.

  32. in which the juvenile: ibid.

  33. the grapevine claims that: PC, Jan. 23, 1954.

  34. If I am traded: PC, Nov. 28, 1953.

  35. I had nothing: PC, Nov. 7, 1953.

  36. may have been wrong: PC, Dec. 5, 1953.

  37. one of the great: JR to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nov. 27, 1953, JRP.

  38. To think the President: misc. clipping, n.d., JRP.

  39. great privilege: JR to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nov. 27, 1953.

  40. Education must begin: JR, misc. speeches, n.d., JRP.

  41. Brotherhood is a big: JR, “The Big Game (An Editorial),” Read, March 1, 1956, p. 2.