Jackie and Campy (27 page)

1.
Franklin and Higginbotham,
From Slavery to Freedom
, 511–13; Kluger,
Simple Justice
, 126–284; D’Emilio,
Lost Prophet
, 161–83.

2.
Branch,
Parting the Waters
; Franklin and Higginbotham,
From Slavery to Freedom
, 507–9.

3.
Manchester,
The Glory and the Dream
, 580–605; Brinkley,
The Unfinished Nation
, 748.

4.
Nichols,
A Matter of Justice
.

5.
Interview of Don Zimmer, St. Petersburg
FL
, November 9, 2010.

6.
Don Newcombe quoted in Fussman,
After Jackie
, 63.

7.
Newcombe’s bitterness toward baseball is reflected in a 2007 interview in which he remarked that he “never loved baseball and never will because of all the [racial discrimination] he had to endure just to play.” He added that if he was ever selected to the Hall of Fame he’d “turn it down” and even wrote his decision to reject the honor into his will (Newcombe quoted in Fussman,
After Jackie
, 71).

8.
Interview of Carl Erskine, Anderson
IN
, August 14, 2007.

9.
Interview of Monte Irvin, Houston, August 21, 2007.

10.
Irvin interview.

11.
Campanella quoted in Tom Weiss, “Campy’s Leadership Crushed Myths,”
USA Today
, June 28, 1993; Campanella,
It’s Good to Be Alive
, 271.

12.
Broeg, “Campy.”

13.
Ty Cobb quoted in Robert M. G. Thomas Jr., “Roy Campanella, 71, Dies: Was Dodger Hall of Famer,”
New York Times
, June 28, 1993.

14.
Erskine interview.

15.
Snider and Pepe,
Few and Chosen
, 4–5; Snider quoted in Fimrite, “Triumph of the Spirit,” 101.

16.
Goodwin,
Wait ’til Next Year
, 93–95.

17.
Happy Felton quoted in Broeg, “Campy,” 18.

18.
Campanella,
It’s Good to Be Alive
, 148–49.

19.
Roy Campanella quoted in Dickson,
Baseball’s Greatest Quotations
, 72. Variations of Campanella’s quotation appeared in the
New York Journal-American
, April 12, 1957, and the
San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle
, February 17, 1974.

20.
Interview of James A. McGowan, Newtown
PA
, January 5, 2005.

21.
Campanella,
It’s Good to Be Alive
, 271.

22.
Thorn and Palmer,
Total Baseball
, 1412.

23.
Thorn and Palmer,
Total Baseball
, 842, 846, 850, 1005.

24.
Broeg, “Campy,” 18.

25.
Snider,
Duke of Flatbush
, 77; Snider and Pepe,
Few and Chosen
, 4–5.

26.
Rachel Robinson quoted in
At Nightfall: The Roy Campanella Story
.

27.
Lowenfish,
Branch Rickey
, 488–91.

28.
Ward and Burns,
Baseball
, 320.

29.
Robinson and Duckett,
I Never Had It Made
, 111–12. According to Duke Snider, spring training was “especially difficult” for Robinson, Campanella, and Newcombe because on long road trips “they’d have to stay on the team bus and eat while the white players ate inside a restaurant.” It was so humiliating for Robinson that he stopped riding with the team and had a friend drive him to games instead. See Snider and Pepe,
Few and Chosen
, 39–40.

30.
Robinson and Duckett,
I Never Had It Made
, 104–5.

31.
Walter O’Malley quoted in
New York Times
, October 11, 1952.

32.
Walter O’Malley quoted in Campanella,
It’s Good to Be Alive
, 168.

33.
Dorinson and Warmund,
Jackie Robinson
, 95.

34.
Dick Young, “Robinson Accuses Umps of Ganging Up on Him,”
New York Daily News
, April 21, 1951.

35.
Dorinson and Warmund,
Jackie Robinson
, 96.

36.
Jack Lang quoted in
At Nightfall: The Roy Campanella Story
.

37.
Arthur Daley, “End of the Road for Campy?,”
New York Times
, January 29, 1958.

38.
Broeg, “Campy.”

39.
Broeg, “Campy.”

40.
Bryant,
The Last Hero
, 164.

41.
Kahn,
Boys of Summer
, 357.

42.
Chafets,
Cooperstown Confidential
, 116.

43.
“Cancel or Challenge,” editorial,
Birmingham World
, October 24, 1953.

44.
Red Smith, “Jackie Accused of Bigotry,”
New York Herald-Tribune
, October 26, 1953.

45.
Robinson-Young conversation quoted in Robinson and Duckett,
I Never Had It Made
, 109–10.

46.
Robinson and Duckett,
I Never Had It Made
, 109.

47.
Robinson and Duckett,
I Never Had It Made
, 106.

48.
Erskine and Rocks,
What I Learned from Jackie Robinson
, 39–40.

49.
Irvin interview.

50.
Durocher and Linn,
Nice Guys Finish Last
, 208–10; Irvin and Riley,
Nice Guys Finish First
, 146–47.

51.
Irvin and Riley,
Nice Guys Finish First
, 141–49.

52.
Hirsch,
Willie May
, 234–35. Robinson did not publicly criticize Mays until the 1960s, when he denounced the Giants’ outfielder’s silence on civil rights (416–17, 469–73).

53.
Irvin interview.

54.
See “Campy Made Money, Lost Weight on 25-Game Tour,”
Sporting News
, November 19, 1952; Aaron and Wheeler,
I Had a Hammer
, 106.

55.
Banks and Enright,
Mr. Cub
, 51–52.

56.
Ernie Banks quoted in Rogers,
Ernie Banks
, 151.

57.
Campanella quoted in Banks,
Mr. Cub
, 91.

58.
Interview of Hank Aaron, Atlanta
GA
, November 2, 2010.

59.
Aaron interview.

60.
Joe Black quoted in Tom Keegan, “Today’s Black Stars Letting Jackie Down,”
New York Post
, April 16, 1997.

61.
Falkner,
Great Time Coming
, 218–19, 224–25.

62.
Joe Black quoted in Keegan, “Today’s Black Stars.”

63.
Erskine interview.

64.
Thorn and Palmer,
Total Baseball
, 1600.

65.
Lester Rodney, “White Dodgers, Black Dodgers,” in Dorinson and Warmund,
Jackie Robinson
, 87; Dave Anderson, “A Flame Grew in Brooklyn,”
New York Times
, December 5, 1971; Snider and Pepe,
Few and Chosen
, 42.

66.
Jackie Robinson as told to Milton Gross, “Why Can’t I Manage in the Majors?,” 1957, Jackie Robinson Papers, 1956–57, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington
DC
.

67.
Pee Wee Reese, “What Robinson Meant to an Old Friend,”
New York Times
, July 17, 1977; Reese quoted in
At Nightfall: Roy Campanella Story
.

68.
Robinson and Duckett,
I Never Had It Made
, 108–9.

69.
Campanella,
It’s Good to Be Alive
, 183.

70.
Don Newcombe quoted in Fussman,
After Jackie
, 67–68.

71.
Don Newcombe quoted in Aaron and Wheeler,
I Had a Hammer
, 90.

72.
Irvin interview. Michael Shapiro confirms Irvin’s belief that Newcombe was “not close with Robinson” (
Last Good Season
, 272).

73.
Thorn and Palmer,
Total Baseball
, 71.

74.
Robinson and Duckett,
I Never Had It Made
, 129. Alston’s Major League career consisted of one at-bat for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1936. He struck out. See Thorn and Palmer,
Total Baseball
, 933.

75.
Walter Alston quoted in Erskine,
Tales from the Dodgers Dugout
, 13.

76.
Robinson and Duckett,
I Never Had It Made
, 130.

1.
Among those writers who have promoted the mythology of the Brooklyn Dodgers are Kahn,
Boys of Summer
; Goodwin,
Wait ’til Next Year
; Garvey,
My Bat Boy Days
. The mythology of the team reached a climax in 1997, when Major League Baseball celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Robinson’s historic success at breaking the color line. But the Brooklyn Dodgers’ image as “America’s Team” continued into 2005, when
ESPN
released a special two-disc
DVD
collector’s edition titled
The Brooklyn Dodgers: The Original America’s Team
.

2.
The Brooklyn Dodgers’ starting lineup in 1955 was Jim Gilliam, 2
B
(age 26); Pee Wee Reese,
SS
(36); Duke Snider,
CF
(28); Roy Campanella,
C
(33); Carl Furillo,
RF
(33); Gil Hodges, 1
B
(31); Jackie Robinson, 3
B
(36); and Sandy Amoros,
LF
(25). See Neyer and Epstein,
Baseball Dynasties
, 202–3.

3.
Boston Globe
, October 1, 1955.

4.
Falkner,
Great Time Coming
, 229. Robinson’s diabetes had become so bad that his physician admitted he “had never seen a body that was as deteriorated.”

5.
Thorn and Palmer,
Total Baseball
, 503, 508. Robinson was voted Rookie of the Year in 1947 and
MVP
in 1949; Campanella was voted National League
MVP
in 1951 and 1953 and would collect a third
MVP
in 1955. Newcombe, Black, and Gilliam were voted National League Rookie of the Year in 1949, 1952, and 1953, respectively. And Newcombe would go on to win an
MVP
in 1956.

6.
Lanctot,
Campy
, 320–24.

7.
“Big Man from Nicetown,”
Time
, August 8, 1955, 54.

8.
Shapiro,
The Last Good Season
, 162.

9.
Golenbock,
Bums
, 372–73.

10.
Golenbock,
Bums
, 385–87.

11.
Leavy,
Sandy Koufax
, 85.

12.
Leavy,
Sandy Koufax
, 86.

13.
Don Newcombe quoted in Leavy,
Sandy
Koufax
, 72–73.

14.
Allen,
Brooklyn Remembered
.

15.
Interview of Hank Aaron, Atlanta
GA
, November 2, 2010.

16.
Neyer and Epstein,
Baseball Dynasties
, 215. Newcombe did win the first Cy Young Award in 1956. He was also an impressive hitter. In 1955 he hit .359 with 9 doubles, 7 home runs, and 23
RBI
s in just 117 at-bats.

17.
Thorn and Palmer,
Total Baseball
, 1684, 1886, 1789.

18.
Thorn and Palmer,
Total Baseball
, 1005.

19.
Thorn and Palmer,
Total Baseball
, 1412.

20.
Neyer and Epstein,
Baseball Dynasties
, 218–19.

21.
Neyer and Epstein,
Baseball Dynasties
, 202–3.

22.
Wallace, Hamilton, and Appel,
Baseball
, 111. Elston Howard played in his first game with the New York Yankees on April 14, 1955. The Phillies integrated on April 22, 1957, when infielder John Kennedy took the field. The Detroit Tigers followed a year later, on June 6, 1958, with Ossie Virgil Sr. The Boston Red Sox were the last team to integrate, on July 21, 1959, when Pumpsie Green appeared in a game.

23.
Neyer and Epstein,
Baseball Dynasties
, 203.

24.
Barra,
Yogi Berra
, 201–4. To this day Berra insists that Robinson was out. Conversely, Robinson insisted to his dying day that he was safe. An obscure film clip of the play shows a reverse angle and reveals that Robinson was in fact safe, as his right foot touched the right side of the plate as Berra’s glove hovered over the left or first-base side. See Enders,
100 Years of the World Series
, 136.

25.
Campanella,
It’s Good to Be Alive
, 181.

26.
Interview of Johnny Podres, Queensbury
NY
, August 20, 2007.

27.
Allen,
Brooklyn Remembered
, 181–82.

28.
Enders,
100 Years of the World Series
, 138.

29.
Podres interview.

30.
Allen,
Brooklyn Remembered
, 198–200.

31.
Ward and Burns,
Baseball
, 343–44.

32.
Campanella,
It’s Good to Be Alive
, 182–83.

33.
Robinson quoted in Lanctot,
Campy
, 346.

34.
Lanctot,
Campy
, 346.

35.
Jackie Robinson quoted in Rampersad,
Jackie Robinson
, 291–92.

36.
Lanctot,
Campy
, 345. The most popular groupies were two women known as “the hook” and “the nook.” See Shapiro,
Last Good Season
, 169.

37.
Jackie Robinson quoted in Rampersad,
Jackie Robinson
, 291–92.

38.
Branch,
Parting the Waters
, 128–203; Garrow,
Bearing the Cross
, 11–82.

39.
Campanella, Robinson, and O’Malley quoted in Rowan and Robinson,
Wait till Next Year
, 261.

40.
Bill Keefe quoted in “Southern Scribe Blames Robinson for Race Law,”
Los Angeles Times
, August 3, 1956.

41.
Interview of Don Zimmer, St. Petersburg
FL
, November 9, 2010.

42.
Shapiro,
Last Good Season
, 169.

43.
Interview of Carl Erskine, Anderson
IN
, August 14, 2007.

44.
Michael Gavin, “Burdette Watermelon Taunt Provokes Hodges, Robinson,”
New York Journal-American
, August 28, 1956.

45.
Robinson and Gross, “Why Can’t I Manage in the Majors?”

46.
Thorn and Palmer,
Total Baseball
, 166.

47.
Shapiro,
Last Good Season
, 314.

48.
“Outburst by Jackie Robinson,”
New York Times
, November 2, 1956.

49.
Robinson and Duckett,
I Never Had It Made
, 133.

50.
After dealing him to the New York Giants, Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley wrote Jackie and Rachel Robinson a sympathetic letter, stating that the trade was “a sad day for the Dodgers” but was “best” for both parties. Walter O’Malley to Jackie and Rachel Robinson, Brooklyn, December 14, 1956, Jackie Robinson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

51.
Robinson and Duckett,
I Never Had It Made
, 134.

52.
Rampersad,
Jackie Robinson
, 306.

53.
Newsday
, December 14, 1956.

54.
Hirsch,
Willie Mays
, 234–35.

55.
Hirsch,
Willie Mays
, 234–35.

56.
Red Smith, “The Quality of Candor,”
New York Herald Tribune
, January 7, 1957.

57.
Gordon S. White Jr., “Robinson Ends Wavering and Confirms Quitting,”
New York Times
, January 7, 1957.

58.
“Robinson Says He Is Too Old to Help Giants,”
New York Times
, January 8, 1957.

59.
Rachel Robinson quoted in
Jackie Robinson: Breaking Barriers
.

60.
Robinson and Duckett,
I Never Had It Made
, 134.

61.
Dick Young, “Campy Ridicules Robinson: ‘I’ll Catch 5 More Years,’”
New York Daily News
, January 20, 1957; Chafets,
Cooperstown Confidential
, 116.

62.
Jackie Robinson quoted in “‘Campy Envied Me,’ Busy Robby Hastens to Explain,”
New York Daily News
, January 22, 1957.

63.
Campanella quoted in “Campy: ‘Robinson Can’t Hurt Me,’”
New York Daily News
, January 26, 1957.