Jackie Robinson (98 page)

56.
stick by my son
: NYT, Aug. 5, 1970.

57.
I’m here because
: NYT, Aug. 10, 1970.

58.
I know how difficult
: JR to Jackie Robinson Jr., June 17, 1969.

59.
I stuck out my
:
I Never,
p. 238.

60.
on the right track
: JR to David and Caroline Wallerstein, July 9, 1970, JRP.

61.
eating rice and beans
: ibid.

62.
When you see Charlie
: Percy Sutton, interview.

63.
We are still struggling
: JR to David and Caroline Wallerstein, July 19, 1970.

64.
I told everyone
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

65.
like a caged lion
: JR to David and Caroline Wallerstein, July 9, 1970.

66.
It was so traumatic
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

1.
Meeting Robinson
: Dr. Eric Cassell to author, interview, June 26, 1995.

2.
Every time I go
: ibid.

3.
I have hopes
:
I Never,
p. 279.

4.
If you want to save
:
I Never,
p. 203.

5.
Jack was a man
: J. Bruce Llewellyn to author, interview, July 24, 1995.

6.
particularly impressed with
: JR to Marilyn Walburg, May 7, 1971, JRP.

7.
I found myself losing
:
I Never,
p. 205.

8.
At
64,
I need
: NYAN, Aug. 21, 1971.

9.
I had gone weak
:
I Never,
p. 256.

10.
You could hear Rachel
: David Falkner,
Great Time Coming: The Life of Jackie Robinson
(N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1995), pp. 337–38.

11.
a moving and dramatic
: NYAN, July 3, 1971.

12.
four or five nights
: David Robinson, interview.

13.
What made it worse
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

14.
As I neared the entrance
: Sharon Robinson,
Stealing Home
(N.Y.: HarperCollins, 1996), p. 182.

15.
First Mr. Rickey
: Sharon Robinson, interview.

16.
Jackie indeed opened
: Peter Bienstock to author, March 1, 1997.

17.
almost cavalier
: Falkner, p. 332.

18.
I asked Arthur Logan
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

19.
He would not have
: Evelyn Cunningham, interview.

20.
If I had been
: NYAN, Oct. 30, 1971.

21.
To use your own
: Ann C. Whitman to JR, Sept. 29, 1971, JRP.

22.
Thinking
over that incident
:
I Never,
p. 281.

23.
I saw more of my
: David Robinson, interview.

24.
she has been a warm
: NYAN, Dec. 11, 1971.

25.
I grabbed Dad’s hand
: Sharon Robinson,
Stealing Home,
p. 189.

26.
The patient, as always
: JR, medical records (Sept. 27, 1971).

27.
We’re definitely
: Long Beach (Cal.)
Independent Press-Telegram,
Jan. 23, 1972.

28.
I’m not opposed
: ibid.

29.
It’s shocking and saddening
: NYT, April 3, 1972.

30.
Gil always was
: Roger Kahn,
The Boys of Summer
(N.Y.: New American Library, 1971), p. 401.

31.
Anything that is
: NYT, May 22, 1970.

32.
Your action justifies
: JR to E. J. Bavasi, Feb. 11, 1971, JRP.

33.
If it hadn’t been
: Los Angeles
Times,
June 5, 1972.

34.
This is truly
: ibid.

35.
I told Peter
: ibid.

36.
It’s not something
: Peter O’Malley, interview.

37.
When he walked out
: misc. clipping, April 1977, JRP.

38.
He walked in
: CDB, Feb. 2, 1979.

39.
I’ve gotten tremendous thrills
: JR to Alfred Duckett, July 22, 1972, JRP.

40.
Health is a progressive
: Los Angeles
Times,
June 5, 1972.

41.
One day he had come
: Eric Cassell, interview.

42.
As long as they
: NYT, Sept. 9, 1972.

43.
If you people expect
: Torrance (Cal.)
Daily Breeze,
Oct. 25, 1972.

44.
How can a man
: New York
Daily News,
Oct. 25, 1972.

45.
The last hurrah
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

46.
I am extremely proud
: Transcript of ceremony, Oct. 15, 1972, JRP.

47.
I was surprised
: ibid.

48.
I’m sorry
: Los Angeles
Times,
Oct. 26, 1972.

49.
On Columbus Day
: Brenda Williams to author, interview, March 1, 1997.

50.
His courage, his sense
: NYT, Oct. 25, 1972.

51.
a trailblazer
: ibid.

52.
The word for Jackie
: ibid.

53.
He could beat you
: ibid.

54.
The service was excellent
: Robert Campbell, interview, UCLA Archives.

This project began soon after Rachel Robinson and I, following some prompting by my friend William C. Rhoden, agreed that I should attempt a biography of her late husband to be published, if possible, in 1997, the fiftieth anniversary of his entry into the major leagues. Mrs. Robinson promised me her full cooperation, including access to most of the personal letters and other material in her possession as well as to the archives at the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

From the outset, we understood that I could not proceed unless she waived her right to approve the manuscript before its publication. Mrs. Robinson did so readily, and has stood by our agreement despite the fact that, in certain places, my interpretation of aspects of her husband’s life is somewhat different from her own. I thank her for many things, but above all for bringing a fierce integrity and intelligence to her part in this project, combined at all times with graciousness of spirit.

Once again I am grateful to Jonathan Segal of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., whose interest in a biography of Jackie Robinson goes back many years. His zeal in acquiring this book has been matched by his sensitivity to the various dimensions of Robinson’s story. As with our work together on Arthur Ashe’s
Days of Grace,
I have benefited from his sound advice at every point.

I am indebted to everyone at the Jackie Robinson Foundation, but especially to its president, Betty Phillips Adams. I thank her and professor Michael Lutzker of New York University, who have worked hard over the years to develop the archives at the foundation. Emma Roberson, Sonnie Humphries, Claudette Rose, Holly Cooper, Judi Beville, Jermaine Smith—everyone there has helped me in various ways. Spike Lee, whose research for a movie about Robinson (also with Mrs. Robinson’s support) coincided at one point with my own digging, was generous in sharing with me his findings, especially the texts of more than forty interviews he conducted
with various baseball personalities. Michelle Forman, who assisted him in his research, was also helpful.

At Princeton University, I thank Lee Clark Mitchell, the chair of the Department of English, for his support and understanding. Bruce Simon brought his keen intelligence and industriousness to the task of assisting my research; he also read and criticized the manuscript in helpful ways, as did Hilary Herbold when we prepared it for publication. Stuart Burrows, too, helped me find new material. Judith Ferszt of American Studies transcribed most of my interviews, and Jean Washington and Hattie Black of African-American Studies also made my task easier.

In Los Angeles, Elston Carr of UCLA was diligent in helping me gather material pertaining to Robinson’s early years in California. In Pasadena, Kathy Robinson, the daughter of Mack Robinson and niece of Jackie Robinson, has worked hard to recover the history of her remarkable family; I thank her, too, for her generosity. Ray Bartlett, Jack Gordon, and Henry W. Shatford, all friends of Jackie Robinson in his youth, were unstinting in their attempts to help me understand him.

In Cairo, Georgia, Dr. Linda Walden and her family, including her mother, Lula Walden, and her uncle, Jack Hadley, all relatives of Jackie Robinson, welcomed Rachel Robinson and me and facilitated my research into Robinson’s Georgia roots. Joseph P. Lee also sent me useful material about Jackie Robinson and Georgia.

Among librarians, I thank Lois Nase and Patricia Ponzoli of Princeton University; Adrienne Canon of the Library of Congress; John Vernon of the National Archives; Joellen Elbashir of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Collection; Esme Bhan, formerly of the Moorland-Spingarn; Alan L. Kaye of the Roddenberry Library, Cairo, Georgia; Tom Hill of the Thomasville Historical Society; at UCLA, Dennis Bitterlich of the University Archives and David Zeidberg and Susan M. Allan of Special Collections. I also thank Bill Bibbiani of the Pasadena Unified School District; Steve Gietschier of the
Sporting News;
Tania Rizzo of the Pasadena Historical Society; Mary Ann Laun of the Pasadena City College Library; J. Kevin O’Brien, Chief of the Freedom of Information Section, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice; Patricia Quarterman of Huston-Tillotson College, Austin, Texas; John Olguin, archivist of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Sarah Cooper of the Southern California Library of Social Studies; and the staff of the Firestone Library of Princeton University. At the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, I thank Donald Marr Jr. and also James L. Gates Jr., the librarian of the Hall of Fame, and his colleague Timothy J. Wiles.

Needless to say, I owe much to previous writers on Jackie Robinson, from newspaper reporters such as Shav Glick and Henry Shatford in his youth to such stalwarts as Red Smith and Roger Kahn and to David Falkner, whose recent book about Robinson,
Great Time Coming,
seeks, as my own book does, to broaden our understanding of Robinson beyond baseball. My account of Robinson’s early years draws on the fine work of Carl T. Rowan in his
Wait Till Next Year.
Of course, all serious scholarly work on Jackie Robinson builds on Jules Tygiel’s landmark study,
Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy.
Among other scholars and researchers, some individuals stand out. Professor Robin D. G. Kelley of New York University generously lent me his notes from an extended research project about blacks in Pasadena. Also at NYU, I thank Professor Carl Prince, author of the recently published
Brooklyn’s Dodgers,
and Professor Jeffrey Sammons, who, as always, was a source of invaluable insight and encouragement. At UCLA, Professor Richard Yarborough was once again someone I could count on. Jonathan Mercantini, Susan Rayl, and Frank Ardolino, as well as Chris Lamb, Glen Beske, and Marc Bona, were among the several other scholars who shared their work with me.

Ralph Schoenstein of Princeton read the manuscript near its completion and offered sage advice based on his many years as a writer and as a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Martin Edelman also read the manuscript at a crucial point and provided invaluable commentary.

I thank all the other people who shared with me their knowledge of Jackie Robinson or in some other tangible way helped me to complete this project. They include Willette Bailey, Robert Behn, Peter Bienstock, Peter Bjarkman, John Bracey, Gene Budig, Roy Campanella II, W. Bliss Carnochan, Dr. Eric J. Cassell, Leonard Coleman, Charles Copeland, John Crowley, Ernest Cunningham, Evelyn Cunningham, Sarah and Ben Cymrot, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Phil Dixon, Larry Doby, Winston C. Doby, Phyllis Dorn, Warren Dorn, Raymond Doswell, Karleen Downs Berthel, Robert Downs, Dorothy Duckett Joseph, Carl Erskine, Olan Faulk, Ron Gabriel, Truman Gibson, Steve Gietschier, Bernice Gordon, Bradley Gordon, Enid Gort, Ronnie Hall, Roland Harden, James Hatch, Tommy Hawkins, Sidney Heard, Tom Hill, Larry Hogan, Russia Hughes, Lonnie Jackson, Warren Jackson, Shig Kawai, David Kelly, Taylor King, Michael Kronish, Sam Lacy, Harlan Lebo, Joseph P. Lee, Beverley LeMay, Leonard Lempel, J. Bruce Llewellyn, Warren Logan, David Lurry, Willa Mae Lurry, Bill Mardo, Terri Bond Michel, Rose Morgan, Don Newcombe, Peter O’Malley, Eleanor Peters Heard, Samuel Pierce, Sean Presant, Brad Pye Jr., Dr. John Quill, Mark Reese, William C. Rhoden, Branch B. Rickey,
David Robinson, Delano Robinson, Sharon Robinson, William Rowe, Julia Sandy-Bailey, Clarence Seniors, Joanna Simon, Peter Simon, Wynella Smith, Martin Stone, Clyde Sukeforth, Percy Sutton, William H. Sword, William J. Vanlandingham, Van Wade, Willa Mae Walker, Reverend Wyatt Tee Walker, Morris Weissman, Roger Wilkins, John A. Williams, Shirley Broyard Williams, Bob Williamson, Jesse Wills, Liz Withnell, and Richard Yarborough.

I thank my agent on this project, Fifi Oscard, and Kevin McShane of the Fifi Oscard Agency for their advice and assistance. Last but by no means least, my wife, Marvina White, provided aid and comfort, as always, throughout the writing of this book. I’ll be eternally grateful.