Jackie Robinson by Matt Christopher

Author:Matt Christopher [CHRISTOPHER, MATTHEW F]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780316094979
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-12-18T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

1947

The First

Robinson’s first season with Montreal made it clear that he was ready for the major leagues. As Sam Maltin wrote at the end of the year, “He’s strictly Brooklyn. He never belonged in this league.”

Robinson remained busy in the off-season. He went on tour with an all-black team, and in January he and Rachel celebrated the birth of their first child, Jackie Jr.

Meanwhile, Branch Rickey was working to bring Robinson up to the Dodgers. To help the transition, he decided to hold spring training for the Royals in Cuba, far from the segregation and limelight of Florida. Then, at a secret meeting of all sixteen major-league owners in January of 1947, he announced his plan to promote Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers. He spoke for a long time, hoping to convince the others to support him publicly and abandon their decade’s-old “gentlemen’s agreement” that barred African Americans from the major leagues.

After he finished speaking, every other owner declared his opposition. Then Rickey asked for a secret vote. He hoped that some owners actually supported his plan and would show their support in a secret ballot. But the vote against Robinson remained fifteen to one. Rickey left the meeting not knowing how he could possibly bring Robinson into the major leagues.

A few days later Rickey asked to meet with baseball commissioner Happy Chandler. Although Chandler had attended the meeting in New York, he had remained silent. Rickey hoped the commissioner would support him.

Once again, Rickey argued for Robinson’s promotion. He told Chandler that it was the moral thing to do, and that if baseball didn’t allow Robinson to play, it might even spawn riots in the African American community.

Chandler listened in silence and then spoke. “I’m going to have to meet my Maker someday,” said Chandler, a religious man, “and if he asks me why I didn’t let this boy play and I say it’s because he’s black, that might not be a satisfactory answer. So bring him in.”

Chandler had realized that since there was no official rule banning African Americans, the vote by the other owners was meaningless. The commissioner told Rickey he would approve Robinson’s contract just as he approved hundreds of others each year. In fact, under the written rules of baseball, Chandler concluded that it would be illegal if he did not approve the contract. After all, the “gentlemen’s agreement” had never been an official rule. As commissioner of baseball, Chandler was legally responsible only for enforcing the written rules of the game.

With that hurdle out of the way, Rickey’s plans began in earnest. The ideal situation would be for Robinson’s Brooklyn teammates to see him play and be so impressed that they would ask Rickey to bring him up to Brooklyn. But that hope was naive.

First, there wasn’t an open position for Robinson to play. Pee Wee Reese and Eddie Stanky, two established stars, ably filled both shortstop and second base. And while both the third- and first-base jobs were up for grabs, there were already many candidates on the Dodgers roster.

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