Jackie Robinson by Arnold Rampersad

Author:Arnold Rampersad [Rampersad, Arnold]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9780307788481
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2011-06-07T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Dodging Blows, Fighting Back

1952–1955

What do you think of the booing? Why are they booing me?

—Jackie Robinson (1953)

DESPITE JACK’S GLOOMY talk about retiring, there was really no chance in the fall of 1952 that he would voluntarily step aside. Not only did he need his salary; he also knew that his dream of making an even larger impact on the world around him still depended in large part on baseball. He talked about quitting but remained, late in 1952, determined to carry on with the adventure launched in 1945 by Branch Rickey and himself.

At the same time, that fall he branched out further into the business world, this time as a retailer of men’s clothing. On the early evening of December 5, in response to printed invitations, a small constellation of celebrities, including Sugar Ray Robinson, Roy Campanella, and the Hollywood character actor Gabby Hayes (a rabid Dodgers fan), gathered at 111 West 125th Street for the “Grand Opening” of the Jackie Robinson Store. Over the summer, Jack had signed an agreement to do business in Harlem with a Brooklyn businessman, Lou Oster, of Bedford Stores and Bedford Clothiers (of Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn). Jack intended his store to take its place alongside the other major businesses on 125th Street, Harlem’s premier shopping and business strip: the Hotel Theresa, where virtually every important black visitor to New York stayed; Frank Schiffman’s Apollo Theater, the nonpareil center of black musical and comedy entertainment; and Blumstein’s department store, a retailing fixture in Harlem since at least the 1930s.

Robinson’s name was on the business, but little of his own money was in it. Martin Stone had given only grudging approval to the plan. “I pointed out to Jack that he didn’t know anything about the retail business,” Stone said; “but he had made up his mind, and he was very excited about the prospect.” Fascinated by Harlem and 125th Street, where he was always welcome at Schiffman’s Apollo Theater, Robinson welcomed a chance to be a part of the black community there. The store also encouraged him to bring out from California his best friend, Jack Gordon. On his last visit to Los Angeles, Robinson had urged Gordon to think of moving east with his family. As the opening of the store drew near, Jack sent a letter to Gordon, air mail and special delivery, inviting him to move to New York to work at the Jackie Robinson Store—in effect, to be his eyes and ears there when Jack was away. “After the war, I had gone to tailoring school,” Gordon revealed, “so Jack figured I was the man for the job.… Nothing was working out in California, and Jack was Jack, so we came in 1952 and we never left.” The Harlem store was “a really fine shop. Our prices were lower than at the stores downtown, because our overhead was less; but nothing was cheap. The display windows were fantastic. The quality of the clothes was like Jack’s own outfits, conservative but sharp.

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