Negro Leagues Baseball by Roger Bruns

Author:Roger Bruns
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC-CLIO

The Decision

Branch Rickey decided early in 1945 that he would attempt to break the entrenched policy of segregation of black players in the major leagues. Inside Rickey’s ever-active mind were several forces driving his decision. Commissioner Landis was no longer alive and an impediment. The Dodgers team was in need of a powerful injection of youth and excitement to lead it back to the top and to draw new fans through the turnstiles. He could see, in his fertile business mind, rejuvenation not only of the Dodgers but of baseball itself with an influx of skilled black players. Despite the reluctance and outright opposition of other owners, he would tiptoe through the tall grass of opposition and pull off a business coup for the ages.

And always in the back of his mind was that day in his hotel room many years ago and that young black player sobbing, lamenting that he could not wipe off his color. This was Rickey’s moral voice, his religious upbringing, engraved from his childhood that still demanded attention. Breaking baseball segregation was not only for Rickey a business windfall but also a moral crusade. For the Mahatma, it was perfect.

He went at his scheme with the utmost secrecy and deception. Rickey would not only blow smoke from his cigars, he would blow smoke in the eyes of the baseball world. Always a wheeler-dealer, a card player at heart despite his moral scruples, he conducted a campaign of deception worthy of a wily general planning an attack. In April 1945, he conducted a press conference announcing plans to create a Negro team that would compete in a newly formed league. Actually, Rickey was giving himself cover to search for the best black player to integrate the majors.

He needed scouts for his operation, people who could give informed judgments about Negro Leagues stars who might be able to handle the daunting pressures of being the first player to integrate. His trusted scout, Clyde Sukeforth, a former major leaguer, who became his lead agent. But Rickey also wisely turned to sportswriters Wendell Smith of the Pittsburgh Courier and Sam Lacy of the Baltimore Afro-American. The two had covered the Negro Leagues for most of their careers. The two consulted with Rickey with determined discretion.

In April 1945, Rickey asked Smith whether he knew of any blacks talented enough to play in the majors. Although the question, as framed, struck Smith as ludicrous, as the names of many Negro Leaguers swirled in his head, he told Rickey that Robinson would certainly make it in the majors.

Smith had already consulted with Lacy. “Wendell and I had a friendly exchange,” Lacy remembered. “He thought Jackie Robinson would be the best choice. We agreed Jackie wasn’t the best player at the time, but was the most suitable player. He had played against white competition, was a college guy.” Lacy and Smith also considered the fact that Robinson was a family man, one who had been in the service and might be better able to withstand racial taunts (Mayo 2002).

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