Jackie Robinson

by Arnold Rampersad

  81. Jackie said: Mead, p. 227.

  82. No … permanent: Army Records, JRP.

  83. I was told there: JR to Adjutant General, U.S. Army, Aug. 25, 1944, Army Records, JRP.

  84. would only further aggravate: JR to Adjutant General, Army, Army Records, JRP.

  85. inasmuch as Lieutenant Robinson: Adjutant General to Commanding General, Eighth Service Command, Sept. 26, 1944, Army Records, JRP.

  86. revert to an inactive: Special Order No. 249, Fifth Service Command, Oct. 17, 1944, Army Records, JRP.

  87. I had almost made: WP, Aug. 24, 1949.

  88. honorably relieved from active: Army Records, JRP.

  CHAPTER 6

  1. I believe that my: Karleen Downs Berthel to author, interview, March 12, 1996.

  2. The college was: Galveston Voice, Feb. 28, 1948.

  3. Bringing Jackie Robinson: Dr. John Quill Taylor King to author, interview, July 7, 1995.

  4. top team from: JR, “ ‘Your temper can ruin us!,’ ” Look, Feb. 15, 1955, p. 82.

  5. everybody, everybody: Janet Bruce, The Kansas City Monarchs: Champions of Black Baseball (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1985), p. 24.

  6. a Monarch never had: Buck Owens to Janet Bruce, cited in John B. Holway, Blackball Stars: Negro League Pioneers (Westport, Conn.: Meckler Books, 1988), p. 341.

  7. I inquired about my: JR, “What’s Wrong with Negro Baseball?” ms., n.d., pp. 116–137, JRP.

  8. the rooms were dingy: ibid.

  9. lopsided game: JR, “ ‘Your temper can ruin us!,’ ” p. 82.

  10. seeing the best type: ibid.

  11. Jackie was able: Sammie Haynes to Spike Lee, interview, Dec. 29, 1994, JRP.

  12. a very smart ball: Bruce, p. 106.

  13. an average fielder: Donn Rogosin, Invisible Men: Life in Baseball’s Negro Leagues (N.Y.: Atheneum, 1983), p. 203.

  14. He didn’t have that: ibid.

  15. instead of the outside: Rogosin, p. 204.

  16. perhaps the best curve: David Falkner, Great Time Coming: The Life of Jackie Robinson (N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1995), p. 121.

  17. All the time I: JR as told to Wendell Smith, Jackie Robinson: My Own Story (N.Y.: Greenberg, 1948), p. 11.

  18. Quickly the old-time: Rogosin, p. 85.

  19. give Robinson a base: Rogosin, pp. 85–86.

  20. He did not fit: Rogosin, p. 203.

  21. I could never figure: JR, “ ‘Your temper can ruin us!,’ ” p. 82.

  22. Well, have you been: Haynes to Spike Lee, interview.

  23. I was in the outfield: Boston Herald, April 16, 1987.

  24. I’m telling you: ibid.

  25. What a ballplayer: ibid.

  26. He said to me: ibid.

  27. I wish I could: Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1994.

  28. He went home: Toronto Sun, Aug. 1, 1994.

  29. Could we, by any chance: Carl T. Rowan with Jackie Robinson, Wait Till Next Year (N.Y.: Random House, 1960), p. 97.

  30. Negroes are not barred: Chicago Defender, July 25, 1942.

  31. brandish sharp spikes: Rowan, p. 101.

  32. Frankly, we were met: Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1994.

  33. Why not?: Rowan, p. 104.

  34. Damned skin: Arthur Mann, The Jackie Robinson Story (N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, 1951), p. 30.

  35. That scene haunted me: Rowan, p. 106.

  36. the most humiliating: Robert W. Peterson, Only the Ball Was White (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1970), p. 185.

  37. trying to assume: Peterson, p. 187.

  38. the ideal Negro star: Montreal Gazette, Oct. 24, 1945.

  39. I knew most: Harold Parrott, The Lords of Baseball (N.Y.: Praeger, 1976), p. 187.

  40. carefully, and when I: Donald Honig, “When Baseball Grew Up,” Reader’s Digest, August 1975, p. 151.

  41. Player fell on shoulder: Mann, p. 26.

  42. Hello, Jackie: Mann, p. 29.

  43. I was thrilled, scared: I Never, p. 43.

  44. Jack waited, and waited: L.A. Times, April 9, 1990.

  45. I know you’re a good: I Never, p. 43.

  46. my race, my parents: I Never, p. 46.

  47. I had to do it: ibid.

  48. the most stupefying: Giovanni Papini, The Life of Christ, trans. Dorothy Canfield Fisher (N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace, 1923), pp. 104–105.

  49. On the telephone: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  50. I was told I would: JR, “What’s Wrong with the Negro Leagues?”

  51. and make one break: Branch Rickey to Arthur Mann, Oct. 7, 1945, AMP, LC.

  52. Of course, I can’t: NYT, Oct. 24, 1945.

  53. undoubtedly will be criticized: Montreal Gazette, Oct. 24, 1945.

  54. a fine way: NYT, Oct. 24, 1945.

  55. very few players: ibid.

  56. They didn’t make: NYT, Oct. 26, 1945.

  57. It is those of: Rowan, p. 121.

  58. will not make the grade: Rowan, pp. 122–123.

  59. couldn’t foresee any future: Rowan, p. 123.

  60. We won’t take it: NYT, Oct. 24, 1945.

  61. Rickey is no Abraham: Rogosin, p. 207.

  62. The Negro league is: ibid.

  63. There is no Negro: Holway, p. 342.

  64. and who are being: Montreal Gazette, Oct. 24, 1945.

  65. I feel that I speak: Montreal Gazette, Oct. 27, 1945.

  66. it all came down: Rogosin, p. 214.

  67. We’d get 300 people: Holway, p. 326.

  68. did not like being: Rogosin, p. 86.

  69. One day Felton Snow: ibid.

  70. just a swell person: Falkner, p. 121.

  71. It was my mother’s: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  72. It was a lovely wedding: Robert Campbell, interview, UCLA Archives.

  73. I could feel: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  CHAPTER 7

  1. I also compulsively spent: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  2. that piece of ermine: ibid.

  3. I couldn’t be sure: Carl T. Rowan with Jackie Robinson, Wait Till Next Year (N.Y.: Random House, 1960), p. 131.

  4. Blacks could not eat: I Never, p. 52.

  5. Jack almost exploded: Rowan, p. 132.

  6. dirty, dreadful place: ibid.

  7. You’d better get off: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  8. ready to explode: I Never, p. 53.

  9. I could see him: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  10. I had a few: I Never, p. 53.

  11. I made sure that: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  12. I wouldn’t do it: Rowan, p. 135.

  13. I never want another: PC, March 9, 1946.

  14. bad flying weather: Montreal Gazette, March 2, 1946.

  15. No one objects: PC, March 9, 1946.

  16. a dear, sentimental romantic: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  17. If we can’t put: PC, March 9, 1946.

  18. I felt so protective: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  19. to be the gentlemen: Montreal Gazette, March 1, 1946.

  20. because of my interest: NYT, March 1, 1946.

  21. keeping up a constant: Rowan, pp. 137–138.

  22. Well, this is it: Clyde Sukeforth to Rachel Robinson, March 18, 1987, RRP [dated 1976].

  23. became the first two: New York Daily Worker, March 5, 1946.

  24. Jack, do you think: See Rowan, p. 138. Not verbatim.

  25. In those days: Rowan, p. 139.

  26. Mr. Rickey, do you: Rowan, p. 145.

  27. I never saw these: Montreal Gazette, March 5, 1946.

  28. We disliked this distinction: Rowan, p. 142.

  29. that Mr. Rickey has played: Montreal Gazette, March 6, 1946.

  30. If he was white: Rowan, p. 144.

  31. Day after day: Rachel Robinson, “I Live with a Hero,” Negro Digest, June 1951, p. 4.

  32. How could I miss: Rachel Robinson, interview. / We began to see: ibid.

  33. I was disappointed: ibid.

  34. My Dearest Darling: JR to Rachel Robinso
n, n.d., RRP.

  35. Rickey would show up: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  36. has been giving Jackie: PC, March 30, 1946.

  37. swarthy señor: PC, March 23, 1946.

  38. I’m not interested: PC, March 30, 1946.

  39. He had the greatest: Philadelphia Daily News, Oct. 27, 1972.

  40. forever blasted: Daily Worker, March 17, 1946.

  41. Lou was intelligent: I Never, p. 57.

  42. a few weak: I Never, p. 58.

  43. Playing under terrific pressure: Daytona Beach Evening Journal, March 17, 1946.

  44. We were literally afraid: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  45. ROBINSON GETS A HIT: PC, April 6, 1946.

  46. a man in a goldfish: Baltimore Afro-American, March 16, 1946.

  47. It is part of: Montreal Gazette, March 22, 1946.

  48. We lived up to: PC, April 6, 1946.

  49. What this had to: I Never, p. 61.

  50. Vicious old man Jim: PC, April 13, 1946.

  51. Without Robinson and Wright: PC, April 13, 1946.

  52. That’s great: PC, March 30, 1946.

  53. one of the most: PC, April 13, 1946.

  54. Poor Hopper: Montreal Standard, April 4, 1946.

  55. I remember the parades: Rowan, p. 149.

  56. Now the crowd went: Rowan, p. 154.

  57. as he was mobbed: New York Herald Tribune, April 19, 1946.

  58. a mad scene: Montreal Gazette, April 19, 1946.

  59. converted his opportunity: NYT, April 19, 1946.

  60. Make no mistake: Montreal Gazette, April 20, 1946.

  61. Thus the most significant: New York Amsterdam News, April 27, 1946.

  62. While it’s a ticklish: Montreal Standard, April 28, 1946.

  63. He didn’t say so: ibid.

  64. nigger son of a bitch: misc. clipping, n.d., JRP.

  65. It put a heavy: I Never, pp. 59–60.

  66. The woman didn’t merely: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  67. such good people: Edgar Méthot to Jack and Rachel Robinson, July 10, 1972, JRP.

  68. The only person: Baltimore Afro-American, May 11, 1946.

  69. the Colored Comet: Montreal Gazette, June 4, 1946.

  70. I consider it a great: JR to New York State Organizing Committee, United Negro and Allied Veterans of America, n.d. [1946], JRP.

  71. Hey Jackie, there’s: I Never, p. 62.

  72. I owe more: Toronto Star, March 16, 1957.

  73. I’ve reminded him: Montreal Gazette, Oct. 5, 1946.

  74. He came into the office: Montreal Gazette, Oct. 7, 1946.

  75. Because of his dark: ibid.

  76. the toll that incidents: I Never, p. 62.

  77. Rachel’s understanding love: I Never, p. 67.

  78. I never told Jack: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  79. a player who must: Newsweek, Aug. 26, 1946, p. 72.

  80. I’d like to have: Rowan, p. 161.

  81. I’ve had great luck: Newsweek, Aug. 26, 1946, p. 72.

  82. The tension was terrible: I Never, p. 63.

  83. The worse I played: I Never, p. 63.

  84. demonstrations of prejudice: Louisville Courier-Journal, Oct. 6, 1946.

  85. which really settled: Montreal Daily Star, Oct. 4, 1946.

  86. The tears poured down: Montreal Gazette, Oct. 6, 1946.

  87. You’re a great ballplayer: I Never, p. 65.

  88. They stormed around him: Montreal Gazette, Oct. 6, 1946.

  89. It was probably: I Never, p. 65.

  CHAPTER 8

  1. the promoters: Arthur Mann, The Jackie Robinson Story (N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, 1951), p. 158.

  2. Even if you don’t: Susan Rayl, “Jackie Robinson and Basketball: Excellence on the Court,” address, Bethune-Cookman College, Fla., March 15, 1996.

  3. put a real hurting: Jack Gordon, interview.

  4. to say that Robinson: PC, Jan. 25, 1947.

  5. I have made every: PC, Feb. 1, 1947.

  6. I guess Mr. Rickey: ibid.

  7. the things which are: Mann, pp. 160–161.

  8. the one enemy most: Mann, pp. 162–163.

  9. I was told that: I Never, p. 68.

  10. I can’t afford to: Roger Kahn, “The Ten Years of Jackie Robinson,” Sport, October 1955, p. 12.

  11. I honestly wouldn’t know: SN, April 2, 1947.

  12. but the crowd came: SN, March 26, 1947.

  13. I want you to run: I Never, p. 69.

  14. startling: SN, March 26, 1947.

  15. The infield was made: SN, April 2, 1947.

  16. Robinson’s movements around: ibid.

  17. When they take their: PC, March 29, 1947.

  18. It would be a crime: SN, March 26, 1947.

  19. He’s a swell ball: PC, March 1, 1947.

  20. because people might think: NYT, March 30, 1947.

  21. far off his usual: SN, April 2, 1947.

  22. there is also little: SN, March 26, 1947.

  23. did not suffer by: SN, April 2, 1947.

  24. I wasn’t trying: NYT, July 17, 1977.

  25. there were five of: Kirby Higbe, The High Hard One (N.Y.: Viking, 1967), pp. 103–104.

  26. I don’t care if: Harold Parrott, The Lords of Baseball (N.Y.: Praeger, 1976), pp. 208–209.

  27. When you’re born: Daily News (Philadelphia), April 14, 1987.

  28. He really reamed me: NYT, Dec. 10, 1981.

  29. that a little show: I Never, p. 68.

  30. Recently the thought: Dixie Walker to Branch Rickey, March 26, 1947, BRP.

  31. No player on this: NYT, April 1, 1947.

  32. one of the greatest: PC, March 22, 1947.

  33. a tendency to choke up: PC, April 5, 1947.

  34. I tried not to notice: Roy Campanella, It’s Good to Be Alive (Boston: Little, Brown, 1959), p. 131.

  35. the most delicate question: NYT, April 9, 1947.

  36. detrimental to baseball: NYT, April 10, 1947.

  37. several thousand Negroes: NYT, April 11, 1947.

  38. an unimpeachable source: PC, March 29, 1947.

  39. My boy, I must: NYT, Oct. 26, 1972.

  40. Robinson, how are you: PC, April 19, 1947.

  41. Next time I go: ibid.

  42. He’s certain to continue: NYT, April 12, 1947.

  43. We were scared: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  44. I was determined: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  45. I did a miserable: I Never, p. 70.

  46. If they’re all like: New York Daily News, April 17, 1947.

  47. perfect: NYT, April 18, 1947.

  48. Robby has supreme confidence: New York Daily News, April 17, 1947.

  49. The muscular Negro: NYT, April 16, 1947.

  50. They came to see: Red Barber, 1947—When All Hell Broke Loose in Baseball (N.Y.: Doubleday, 1982), p. 155.

  51. a thousand people: PC, April 19, 1947.

  52. We never thought of: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  53. I don’t know what: PC, April 26, 1947.

  54. Hi, Black Boy!: ibid.

  55. He’s not a ballplayer: New York Daily Mirror, April 17, 1947.

  56. I ain’t going to: Lester Rodney to Paul Buhle and Michael Fermanowsky, transcript of interview, 1981, UCLA Oral History Program, UCLA Archives, p. 66.

  57. a swell bunch: Marty Solow, “Meet Jackie Robinson,” Union Voice, April 27, 1947.

  58. Jackie is sitting: Boston Globe, Jan. 24, 1962.

  59. the loneliest man: May 10, 1947.

  60. of all the unpleasant: I Never, pp. 71–72.

  61. The things the Phillies: PC, May 3, 1947.

  62. Listen, you yellow-bellied: I Never, p. 73.

  63. the only gentleman: ibid.

  64. Chapman did more than: I Never, p. 74.

  65. Photographers sprang up: Barber, p. 162.

  66. If you do this: New York Herald Tribune, May 9, 1947.

  67. We have a great: NYT, April 29, 1947.

  68. bring the Nigger here
: Parrott, p. 193.

  69. And don’t bring your: ibid.

  70. pointed bats at me: I Never, p. 76.

  71. This is something I: Parrott, p. 217.

  72. Having my picture taken: I Never, p. 75.

  73. Chapman impressed me: PC, May 17, 1947.

  74. scrawled and scribbled: Parrott, p. 190.

  75. I felt they should: Philadelphia Inquirer, May 10, 1947.

  76. I do not profess: PC, June 7, 1947.

  77. the Negro first baseman: NYT, May 13, 1947.

  78. Stick in there: PC, May 24, 1947.

  79. Class tells: NYT, May 18, 1947.

  80. The guys on the team: PC, May 24, 1947.

  81. I used to go out: I Never, p. 78.

  82. Find out for yourself: Duke Snider and Bill Gilbert, The Duke of Flatbush (N.Y.: Zebra, 1988), p. 21.

  83. I had been: ibid.

  84. Robinson is now paying: PC, May 31, 1947.

  85. displayed too much enthusiasm: ibid.

  86. fears and apprehensions: PC, June 7, 1947.

  87. In 1947, Jackie: Roger Wilkins to author, interview, May 16, 1995.

  88. But as he had: Barber, p. 200.

  89. in dear old Brooklyn: PC, May 31, 1947.

  90. I have learned that: PC, June 14, 1947.

  91. Times were simpler: Snider, p. 20.

  92. were eating at his: Parrott, p. 199.

  93. Darling, As we fly: JR to Rachel Robinson, n.d., RRP.

  94. he was not yet: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  95. I’ve met most: misc. clipping, n.d., JRP.

  96. The feeling in Brooklyn: Rachel Robinson, interview.

  97. a swell bunch: PC, June 21, 1947.

  98. definitely one: PC, June 28, 1947.

  99. very viciously: WP, Aug. 28, 1949.

  100. I get all kinds: Boston Daily Herald, June 28, 1947.

  101. You haven’t seen Robinson: misc. uniden. clipping, June 25, 1947, JRP.

  102. He is a grand: PC, July 12, 1947.

  103. amazing for a rookie: Toronto Star, July 7, 1947.

  104. came within an inch: Barber, p. 277.

  105. Hate was running high: Barber, p. 278.

  106. Slaughter deliberately went: I Never, p. 80.

  107. I know the truth: NYT, Sept. 29, 1996.

  108. You better play your: Roscoe McGowen, “If You Were Jackie Robinson,” Sport, September 1947, p. 41.

  109. broke up [the] incipient: SN, Sept. 24, 1947.

  110. Ty Cobb in Technicolor: Christopher Jennison, Wait ’Til Next Year: The Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants, 1947–1957 (N.Y.: Norton, 1974), p. 22.