Jackie Robinson - Black Ballplayers and Branch Rickey

One reason the Gentleman’s Agreement stayed in place for so long is because of the Commissioner of Baseball, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a notorious racist, who took the job when it was given to him in 1920. Landis was a judge in the U.S. Court of the Northern District of Illinois. One of the most notable cases he presided over was the trial of African-American boxing champion, Jack Johnson, in 1920. Johnson was a great champion, and the first African-American to win the World Heavyweight Championship. He was tried for violating the Mann Act, which forbade transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes. He had sent his white girlfriend a railroad ticket to go from Pittsburgh to Chicago. This is seen as a racially-motivated misuse of the act, as it seems that it the only reason Johnson was tried was because he was black, and his girlfriend was white, while the Mann Act’s intent was to prevent prostitution. This case is a keystone example of Landis’ racism. In 1943, the Pittsburgh Pirates looked into signing Negro Leagues slugger, Josh Gibson, from the Homestead Grays, Landis refused the contract. “The colored ballplayers have their own league. Let them stay in their own league.” Bill Veeck tried to buy the Philadelphia Phillies, who were in 8th place at the time, and then stock the team with Negro League talent. Landis made sure that the team was sold to someone else. When Leo Durocher told a newspaper that he had seen plenty of Negro League talent that was good enough to play in the Majors, Landis forced him to retract his statement by saying that he was misquoted.

Landis was made the Commissioner, in 1920, to preside over the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, where the Chicago White Sox were implicated in fixing the results of games in the 1919 World Series, and being paid by bookies, to do so. His job was to clean up baseball, and provide an all-powerful head of the sport, that would oversee any controversy that may serve to destroy the organization of the professional game. After hearing testimony from those involved in the scandal, he banned the eight involved White Sox players, including “Shoeless” Joe Jackson from baseball, forever. He stuck around and held onto the job, until he died, on November 25th, 1944. When he died, the new Commissioner, Albert Benjamin “Happy” Chandler, Sr succeeded him.

“Happy” Chandler had a much more relaxed attitude toward the integration of Major League Baseball. It was rather serendipitous, as at the same time the new manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Wesley Branch Rickey, intended on integrating his team. His “Great Experiment” began under the guise that Rickey intended on starting a club called the “Brown Dodgers”, comprised solely of Black players. The team was to throw off the trail of the scent that he was planning on bringing a black player into, and thus integrating, the Majors. This allowed him and his scouts to scout the Negro Leagues for a player worthy of breaking the color barrier.
While watching the Kansas City Monarchs, the Brooklyn scouts found a contact hitter who played shortstop, by the name Jackie Robinson. After following him for a while, Rickey wanted to meet with him, in person. At the meeting, Branch Rickey stated that he didn’t want a player that was strong enough to fight back, but rather, a player who was strong enough not to fight back. He then sent Jackie a barrage of some of the worst insults and racial epithets he could, and wanted to see if he could take it. When he did, he decided to sign him to play ball, the following year, for the all-white, triple-A Montreal Royals.

Branch Rickey was a manager who wanted to win, as most managers do. He saw the talent pool in the Negro Leagues, and wanted to tap into it. At the same time, he realized that the time had come for Major League Baseball to integrate. He believed that integration would have a positive impact on baseball, his lineup, and the Dodgers’ budget. Rickey wanted not just someone who was skilled, but someone who could hold his temper, and would be a good standard-bearer for the black race in white baseball.

After the successful season with the Royals, Robinson moved up to play for the Dodgers. A well-known photograph of Jackie entering the Brooklyn Dodgers’ clubhouse, which featured the words “Dodgers Club House – Keep Out” on its door, symbolizes this momentous episode in baseball history. It was the epitome of the breaking of the color line, because it was a Black man passing through a door that was previously off limits to him. It once stood as a barrier of skill and skin color. With Jackie’s passage through the threshold, it became just a barrier of skill. Jackie was gaining entry into a place from which he was previously banned, due to the color of his skin, transforming it into a place he was accepted.

As part of the agreement to let Jackie play in the Majors, Branch Rickey set down a rule. Jackie had to promise Rickey that no matter what anyone said or anyone did, he could not fight back. If a fan or player shouted a nasty racial epithet, if a pitcher threw at his head, if a player spiked him, he could not fight back for two years. And, Jackie had his promise tested many times. During a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, in August 1947, while playing first base, Jackie was spiked by Enos “Country” Slaughter, when Slaughter hit an infield ground ball and decided to slide into the bag, feet first.

Other incidents occurred, including attempted strikes and walkouts by players and teams. Racial epithets and death threats were shouted at him by fans, and even by the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, Ben Chapman. It was a rough going for a man to have all the insults flung at him, to take the abuse from fans, players, and managers, to face the fear of a pitcher hurling a fastball at his head, and to do it all while under the pressure of having to succeed–not just for his job, but for his race.

It is quite likely that it was known at the time by Robinson, Rickey, and many more players, fans, and media that the weight of his race was on his shoulders. Rickey saw the talent pool in the Negro Leagues, and wanted to bring in these great players. He knew that if things were a disaster with Jackie, it would set back the process of integrating the Major Leagues. This is the most likely reason for Rickey’s gag order. So, it is quite likely that Robinson knew, at the time, what was at stake.

Jackie Robinson: Civil Rights Leader - Index

• Jackie Robinson: Civil Rights Leader
• Jackie Robinson - Historiography
• Jackie Robinson - The Back Story
• Jackie Robinson - Black Ballplayers and Branch Rickey
• Jackie Robinson - Becoming Political
• Jackie Robinson - Post-retirement
• Jackie Robinson - Support of and Backlash Against the Movement
• Jackie Robinson - Conclusion