Jackie and Campy by William C. Kashatus

Author:William C. Kashatus [William C. Kashatus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sports and Recreation
ISBN: 9780803246331
Publisher: UNP - Nebraska
Published: 2014-02-03T05:00:00+00:00

Louis Uhlberg, like other disabled fans, embraced Robinson because they too had experienced discrimination. They too had been made to feel less than human because of their condition. If Jackie sought retribution, they would understand and perhaps even admire him for it. Even heroes are human.

To be sure, there were times when Robinson’s controversial behavior benefited his team. Once, in Chicago, Jackie taunted Cubs pitcher Sam Jones so severely that it altered the outcome of the game. “I’m going to get you, Sam,” he threatened from the on-deck circle. “Just wait until I get in that batter’s box.”

After Duke Snider flied out, Robinson stepped up to the plate and continued to harass the Chicago hurler. “C’mon Sam,” he chided, “throw that thing in here so I can do something with it, unless you’re afraid.”

Unnerved by all the taunting, Jones let fly a wild pitch that hit Robinson on the arm. It was exactly what Jackie wanted. Now on base, he could inflict even greater damage. Heckling Jones as he danced off first, Robinson forced the pitcher to make an errant pick-off throw. The ball rolled down the right-field line, enabling Jackie to reach third.

Having ruined Jones’s concentration, Robinson closed in for the kill. Taking a huge lead off third, he watched as the embattled Cubbie threw a curve ball in the dirt. As the ball skidded past the catcher, Jackie trotted home with what proved to be the winning run.15

Robinson could be just as tough on teammates too. “If a guy didn’t hustle,” said Ralph Branca, who pitched for the Dodgers from 1944 to 1953, “Jackie would get on his case.” Before that, he’d just mind his own business and keep quiet. But now that the ban was lifted, he could argue with umpires and get on the other team. It opened the door for him to just be natural.”16 At the same time, Jackie understood that his pioneering role was much larger than the national pastime. Embraced by the nation as an American sports hero, he graced the covers of magazines and was offered many opportunities to appear on national television. As a hero to millions, he needed to find a way to reinforce that awesome responsibility off the playing field. He found an outlet with the Harlem YMCA, a multimillion-dollar institution that served as an employer, hotel, soup kitchen, recreation center, and counseling office for literally tens of thousands of blacks in an impoverished community. Recruited by Rudolph Thomas, the director, Jackie agreed to serve as the Harlem Y’s youth director working with at-risk children and encouraging them to improve their minds as well as bodies. The job not only protected the Dodgers’ second baseman from charges that he cared only about himself and was exploiting his star power for his own gain, but it also gave him additional prestige within the civil rights movement.17

African Americans viewed Jackie as nothing less than a civil rights leader. They saw him breaking down the barriers that prevented them from securing equal opportunity in the workplace.

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