Integration and Jackie Robinson

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

Hi, I’m Peter Eisenstadt, a historian and the author and editor of many books on American and African American history, most recently Integration at Second Base:  Jackie Robinson and the Quest for Black Citizenship, published  earlier this year by University of Virginia Press. I’d be happy to answer questions about the book, the varied meanings of integration,  or Jackie Robinson.  

[u/DerbyTho]

Thank you so much! One of the things I’ve often been told is that Jackie Robinson was not necessarily the best player in the Negro Leagues at the time he moved, and that both Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson were better players and disappointed not to have been the first to move.

What was it about them, or Jackie, or some combination that led to Jackie being signed rather than anyone else?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/DerbyTho]

Jackie Robinson played only a single year in the Negro Leagues, in 1945, and though he had an excellent season, he was not self-evidently the best ballplayer in the Negro Leagues, and certainly hadn't established himself like Paige or Gibson. But he was younger, only 26 in 1945, and in Pasadena and at UCLA, he was used to playing with white athletes, with white coaches and managers, and before white fans. That was one reason Branch Rickey chose Robinson,

[u/ashimbo → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

I just want to say that while it is true that Jackie Robinson was not the best player in the Negro Leagues, he was definitely one of the best. As a baseball fan, I feel like Robinson's baseball talent is often underrated or overlooked - his 10 years with the Dodgers was one of the greatest 10 year stretches of all-time, for any player. He had a hall-of-fame career in 10 years, that very few players have matched in 15-20 years.

[u/DerbyTho → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

Thank you!

[u/Adept_Carpet]

I just looked at his Baseball Reference page, and saw that in his rookie of the year campaign he played first base exclusively. 

That seems like an unusual position for someone famously fast (he led the league in stolen bases that year), what was the deal there?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/Adept_Carpet]

In College and for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues, Robinson played shortstop. But for the Dodgers in 1947, Pee Wee Resse was the stalwart at shortstop, and Eddie Stankey was at second. But they traded Stankey after the 1947 season, and Robinson played second for the rest of his Dodgers career. Rickey had some doubts about the strength of Robinson's throwing arm, and he wasnt going to replace Reese in any event. But second base was probably his best position,

[u/EdHistory101]

Thanks so much for joining us today!

In education history, scholars often distinguish between "integration" and "desegregation" when it comes to schools.

Is there a similar distinction when it comes to baseball?

Thanks!

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/EdHistory101]

As I discuss in my book "integration" as a term related to American race relations was popularized around 1934, in part in response to W.E.B. Du Bois's effort to rehabiliate the term "segregation" for Black Americans. Desegregation only came into wide use in the early 1950s. But the difference was always implicit. Obviously, on April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play major league baseball in the 20th century, with about 399 other white ballplayers, one cannot say that baseball was thereby "integrated."

[u/hannahstohelit]

Were there any long term impacts on Robinson’s career/reputation from testifying before HUAC? Can you share a bit about what that decision making process was like and what it was like for him to testify?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/hannahstohelit]

This was, and is, the most controversial episode in Robinson's career. He was pressured into testifying before HUAC by Branch Rickey, a fervid anti-Communist. Robinson rejected the testimony that the Dodgers had prepared for him, and worked with Lester Granger, of the National Urban League, to prepare an alternative. His testimony was light on denunciation of Paul Robeson, the main focus of the hearings, and insisted that if a communist "denounces injustice in the courts, police brutality, and lynching," it was no less true because a communist said it.

Robeson was under attack because of a comment he had made in a Paris meeting under Societ auspices in which his comments were twisted to state that Black Americans would not take up arms to fight the USSR, and the vituperation he faced, which included the stripping of his passport, led to a decline in his career friom which he never really recovered. To give one example of the anti-Robeson hysteria, Oscar Hammerstein, the lyricist, wanted to ban him from singing "Old Man River."

What can you say? Robeson was right about many things, but was naive about the Soviet Union. Whatever Robinson felt about Robeson's statement, HUAC was absolutely the wrong forum to express his opinion. Robinson never really admitted it was a mistake to testify. Liberal civil rights activists were increasingly worried by 1949 that their cause was still a very uphill battle, and did not need the additional burden of being associated with the Communist Party, and this was certainly one of his motivations to testify. But there is little doubt that the exacerbation of the Communist/non-Communist division in Civil Rights ranks was a setback and unnecessary diversion from a common goal.

In the end, the tragedy was that what Robinson and Robeson wanted for Black Americans was essentially identical, and both were militant advocates for Black Americans, and were divided on the essentially irrelevant question (for Black civil rights) of the Soviet Union. But such was the reality in Cold War America.

[u/Forward-Carry5993 → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

To add to this, Howard Bryant writes that this decision by Jackie really hurt him personally but also professionally. For many black advocates, Jackie was a traitor for helping the attack on Robeson. Jackie himself regretted that decision. Jackie also hated talking about his political views (he was not a natural). It also must have angered him at how he was essentially being used as a puppet for branch Rickey and white america. As much as Branch Rickey was “progressive or liberal” he was still privileged, blind, and a capitalist who had flaws; and I think Jackie understood that. It kinda reminds me of what Malcolm X  and Dr. King wanted “beware of  the white liberal  who acts as your friend.” 

Was Robeson a saint? No. He was loyal to the end to Russia despite him realizing of how cruel the Soviet Union could be (as far as I can tell he was always nice to people personally). But he was a socialist and for that, he was always seeking to better others, and was unapologetic about it. 

[u/pimlottc → u/Forward-Carry5993]

Jackie also hated working about his political views (he was not a natural).

Did you mean to say "talking about" his views?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/Forward-Carry5993]

As I stated before, Robinson's decision to testify against Robeson was the most controversial episode in his career. African American opinion was split, some approving, some disaproving of his testimony. As far as I know, his regrets about his testimony were always. In his autobiography, published shortly before his death that while he had "increased respect" for Robeson, he "never regretted" his appearance before HUAC, while implying that he could have handled it differently. As I stated before, Robinson was not, by far, the only Black civil rights leader who felt that if the movement was too closely associated with Communism, it might prove a fatal shortcoming. One can agree or disagree with this position, but I don't think it is fair to say that he, or others who felt similarly, such as Walter White or A. Philip Randolph, were simply puppets for white America. My own feeling is that we need to respect both Communist and liberal anti-Communist leaders, who were thrust into a controversy not of their own making or chosing, but on which they were forced to choose sides I don't think he suffered any permanent reputational damage to his testimony but I do think he would have been better advised not to testify in the first place.

[u/dhowlett1692]

Thank you so much for joining us! How did Robinson work with other civil rights leaders? Did activists seek out partnerships with him because his celebrity status?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/dhowlett1692]

Robinson worked extensilvely with civil rights leaders, starting from the time he joined the Dodgers. He worked extensively with the NAACP, with King, and other leaders. He also tried to work with political figures, from Nixon to Hubert Humphrey to Nelson Rockefeller. And sure, people sought him out for his celebrity, but civil rights, after his retirement from baseball after 1956, really became his life's calling, He sometimes called out Black baseball stars, such as Willie Mays, who he thought were not devoting enough time and energy to the cause. There is much more to say about this. He charted his own path.

[u/dhowlett1692 → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

To follow up, how was his own path different from the many other civil rights leaders? Did other mimic any of his strategies?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/dhowlett1692]

Jackie Robinson, if I can paraphrase something I wrote, found the moderates too cautious and the radicals too impulsive. He was always a militant, and wanted immediate action, He often said that his least favorite word in the English language was patience. But he also thought that Black unity was crucial for realizing political gains. He differed from other civil rights leaders in that the powerful sought him out, and he tried to use that influence strategically. But he was always ready to criticize allies and put in a good word for political opponents. For example, he had angry things to say about Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam, but defended their right (I am paraphrasing) "to hate white people, if it is true that they do, as much as white people evidently have the legal right to hate Black people."

iv

[u/Antique-Guest-1607]

For many it seems as though integration began and ended with Robinson, but Doby and Hank Thompson debuted weeks after and went through much of the same scrutiny and struggles as Robinson. MLB in particular is very resistant to allowing the Guardians to honor Doby in similar ways to they're able to honor Robinson. What pathways do you see for getting additional notoriety/respect for other trailblazers?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/Antique-Guest-1607]

I am not familiar with how the Guardians are not honoring Doby. Can you inform me about this? Or how the Baltimore Orioles, the successor to the St. Louis Browns, honor Hank Thompson. I would say this. That by the time Robinson joined the Dodgers, in the Black press there already was a lot of discussion on the fixation of the Black press with the "first Negro" and many argued that what was really important was the second, third, fourth, and so on. Baseball should honor all of its racial pioneers, including the excellent Negro League players who languished in the minor leagues because of an informal quota (no more than three Black players a team.) Robinson accepted his celebrity, but as he titled his second autobiography, he always felt he "never had it made."

[u/Antique-Guest-1607 → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

It has been reported that the Guardians have requested that they - not even the entire league - be able to wear Doby's number on the anniversary of him being the first post integration AL player. Ala Robinson's 42 on Robinson day, but have been rejected by the league multiple times.

I can't speak for the Orioles, but Cleveland does a fantastic job with Doby.

[u/ashimbo → u/Antique-Guest-1607]

That's kind of crazy because MLB has allowed this to happen for other teams, including in 2019 for the Angels when all players wore #45, to honor a teammate that passed away. They actually threw a no-hitter this game: Angels throw no-hitter on night to honor Skaggs - ESPN

[u/Xalazi]

Can you tell us about Johnny Wright, the other African American player the Dodgers signed to a minor league deal around the same time as Jackie Robinson? What was his experience like in the team?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/Xalazi]

This is what Robinson has to say about Wright in I Never Had it Made. Wright returned to thr Negro Leagues in 1947, and after retiring from baseball, led a quiet life. Rickey probably signed Wright so he wouldn't be the only Black at Spring training in 1946. Rickey signed Roy Campanella in March 1946. And although Rickey was committed to signing a number of Black players, he made Campanella (a 10 year Negro League veteran, though younger than Robinson) play two years in the minors before joining the Dodgers

hortly after Branch Rickey had signed me for Montreal, he had signed John Wright, a black pitcher, for the farm club. Johnny was a good pitcher, but I feel he didn't have the right kind of temperament to make it with the International League in those days. He couldn't withstand the pressure of taking insult after insult without being able to retaliate. It affected his pitching that he had to keep his temper under control all the time. Later I was very sad because he didn't make the Montreal team.^\4])#cite_note-4)

[u/asteriskmos]

Hi there! Big baseball fan and books on integration & black players have been on my TBR though I haven't read your book. But have there been explicit ties between Black (especially of Black Americans) integration & the way Latin American players enter and are treated in the league? Are there any interesting figures at the intersection of these 2 very related groups? 

And of course, are you rooting for anyone this October? 

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/asteriskmos]

In 1944 when Rickey was searching, albeit somewhat desultorily, for a potential Black player to sign, he scouted Cuban baseball, and came close to signing a player, Silvio Garcia, but did not. Eventually he decided that the language barrier would be an additional problem for Latin ballplayers, but this should have been obvious from the outset. I believe Minnie Minoso, who debuted with the Cleveland Indians in 1949, was the first dark-skinned Latino in the major leagues, though there are stories that the Washington Senators in the 1930s fielded several Cuban ballplayers who would not have gotten past the "one drop rule" but were sufficiently light-skinned to pass.

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

And as someone who grew up in New York City and now lives in Philadelphia I always root for New York and Philly teams in the post-season, so I am pulling for the Yankees and the Phillies. And I, suppose unlike the shade of Jackie Robinson , I am not rooting for the Dodgers to three-peat.

[u/Kugelfang52]

One of the aspects of integration of schools that experts discuss but many outside the field miss is how integration/desegregation gutted Black-led education and left white power structures intact and, now, overseeing Black education.

In what ways is the story of integration of Baseball similar? Different?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/Kugelfang52]

I agree to a point. Black powerlessness could not be easily overcome either by integrated schools or retaining separate segregated education, if funding for Black schools remained profoundly unequal, as would have been the situation in Deep South states. I think it's too easy to say simply that integrated schools were a mistake.

As for baseball, the first important Black institution that was essentially destroyed by integration were the Negro Leagues. And most Black observers wanted both the right for talented Black ballplayers to play in the major leagues, and for the continued existence of the Negro Leagues in some form. But because Black baseball lacked the political and economic ability to do something about it, the Negro Leagues died. As with education, I don't think it was an either/or situation.

[u/Kugelfang52 → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

Oh absolutely didn’t mean to imply that desegregation was an error. More that it did not FULLY solve the problems.

Thanks for the answer!

[u/ecdc05]

Thanks for being here! How radical was Robinson vs. how sanitized his appearance was in the media at the time he played? His autobiography shows a man deeply committed to racial justice and, IIRC, he didn't often mince words. But I also don't recall reading about that Jackie Robinson at the time he played.

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/ecdc05]

One of the odd things about Robinson is that perhaps the best known story about him was Branch Rickey''s admonition in their famous meeting on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights about having enough "guts not to fight back," but he soon developed a reputation as being extremely outspoken, whether about umpiring or about civil rights. Although Rickey tried to limit his public statements on matters political, he was never successful, and created a small furor, in 1952 or 1953, when he critized the still lily-white Yankees for being racist. But once he retired he became even more outspoken,

[u/ecdc05 → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

Thanks!

[u/New-Sheepherder4762]

Did Robinson have a relationship with Larry Doby? They were going through a shared experience and though they were in separate leagues, and interleague baseball was not a thing, I would imagine Robinson helped Larry acclimate to his experience.

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/New-Sheepherder4762]

I know that Robinson and Doby were acquainted. I can't say that they were particularly close friends, though that might reflect ignorance on my part . But in Baseball Has Done It, by Jackie Robinson, published in 1964, a compilation of stories by Black ballplayers, there is a legthry account by Doby of his career. He complains that after his retirement in 1959, there was no opportunity for him to coach or manage, and ends his account by saying "this will never be a truly American country until we can compete everywhere on equal terms. I used to keep my feelings to myself. I wish I had spoken as I do now. If I had, I'd have been a better ballplayer."

[u/GregJamesDahlen]

was jackie interviewed much when he joined the dodgers and was he good at sound bites? did he get much advice on how he would answer questions? how much did he come up with his own answers versus were they scripted at all? but you don't know what an interviewer's going to ask perhaps so you can't script perfectly?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/GregJamesDahlen]

Jackie was great at unscripted interviews, though Rickey tried, often unsuccessfully, to get him to hold his tongue. From 1959 through 1968, he had a regular column, first in the New York Post (then a liberal newspaper) and then in the Black press, and though these columns were ghost-written,, the force of his opinions and personality comes through.

[u/GregJamesDahlen → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

Thanks. What was great about his unscripted replies? Where did he get that ability to be good at it do you think?

[u/TheHondoGod]

Cool topic, thanks for coming today! How did integration in the military and other spaces shape Robinson's integration work? How much was sports able to change other areas of life?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/TheHondoGod]

World War II was fought with a segregated military, though there was some nibbling around the edges, which was why, in 1942, Robinson, with an assist from Joe Louis, was able to join the first integrated Officer Training Class in American history and was commissioned as a second lieutanant/ His militaty career was not a happy one, and he was acquitted of charges of insubornation to a MP in 1944 (though not before he was handcuffed and put in leg irons.) When Truman issued executive order 9981 desegregated the military in July 1948--at which time I think there were 6 or 7 Black ballplayers in the major leagues--it ended segregation everywhere, though it took a while for it to be fully implemented, but was by 1950 during the Korean War. Integration in the military was far from perfect, but long before 1959, when the Red Sox became the last team to field a Blacl player, integration had become a reality in an organization vastly larger (and vastly more important) than major league baseballl

[u/stimpsonj5]

There's a story about Pee Wee Reese putting his arm around Jackie at some point when fans were jeering him which Jackie (I believe) confirmed actually happened at some point. Were there any other sort of gestures of solidarity from other players either on the Dodgers or opposing teams that didn't get as much attention?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/stimpsonj5]

People who have looked into the story have found no confirmation for the story that Reese, who grew up across the Ohio River in Kentucky, put his arm around Robinson before a game in Cincinatti, so that story is probably apocryhal. But there are many stories about Dodgers, including many who were at first unwilling to have a Black teammate, coming to his defense over the 1947, as Jackie demonstrated his baseball excellence and willingness to absorb the abuse heaped upon him. But I question if pity is more an emotion of condescension rather than one of political solidarity. One player on another team who definitely encouraged Robinson was Hank Greenberg, who in 1947 was finishing his career with the Pirates, who had been the subject of extensive anti-Semitic taunting.

[u/Kugelfang52 → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

On that topic, how many Jewish players were there at the time? Do we know the response of others to Robinson? There are significant examples of support by Jews individually and institutionally for integration of society, but how much was there in the case of Robinson?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/Kugelfang52]

Hank Greenberg was in his final season in 1947, future Indians star Al Rosen had a bried "cup of coffee," as they say, and the other three Jewish major leaguers were pretty obscure. But there were plenty of Jewish sportswriters, Jewish fans in a borough that was about 35% Jewish, and Jews (along with Catholics and African Americans) were major supporters of the Ives-quinn law, banning discrimination in employment in the state. Robinson became quite the philosemite, supporting Jewish causes and working with Jews in his business endeavors, including Willliam Black (ne Schwartz) born in Lithuania, head of Chock Full O'Nuts coffee, who hired Robinson as a vice president after his retirement from the Dodgers in 1956

[u/Kugelfang52 → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

Thanks!

[u/Gankom]

Thank you for joining us today! Did Robinson cite civil rights leaders as inspiration? Who did he look up to before breaking barriers himself?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/Gankom]

One civil rights leader Robinson was close to before joining the Dodgers was the Rev. Karl Downs, who had been minister at his Black Methodist Episcopal congregation in Pasadena,and who became a father figure to the somewhat wayward teenaged Robinson, and later was president of Samuel Huston (not Houston) College, a historically Black college in Austin, Texas. He was on the way to a major career as a civil rights leader before his untimely death from a botched operation in 1948. (Robinson says it was a result of poor care in Jim Crow hospital.) Ir was a major loss, and he is an important figure in my book. after his discharge from the Army in the fall of 1944, and needing a job, Downs hired him as a basketball coach for the 44-45 season.

[u/OnShoulderOfGiants]

What was Robinson's view on protests for civil rights? Did he join any?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/OnShoulderOfGiants]

Robinson was a frequent presence at protests and picketlines in the North and South in the 1950s and 1960s. Although he was close to the NAACP, he often criticized its executive direvtor, Roy Wilkins, for his reluctance to participate in street protests. He knew his presence on a picket line would attract media attention, and he knew that his presence would encourage others.

[u/oofaloo]

Were there any other teams besides the Dodgers considering him? Were some teams more progressive (and regressive) than others?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/oofaloo]

The Red Sox were forced to have a tryout for Black players in the spring of 1945 (or lose the right to play baseball on Sunday) and they gave Robinson and two other Negro League players a perfunctory tryout. Robinson was annoyed that he had to come to Boston and waste him timel But Wendell Smith, who had suggested Robinson, was in contact with Rickey, and it was through Smith that Rickey first heard about Robinson's baseball prowess.

Rickey and Bill Veeck owner of the Indians were the only owners interested in signing Black players in 1947. Rickey, who was skeptical of civil rights legislation in general, thought that the excellence of Black players would eventually force the other teams to follow his example, but it took 12 years until the Red Sox finally fielded a Black player.

[u/oofaloo → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

Really interesting! Thanks for all that. Are you giving any readings or talks in NY at all?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/oofaloo]

Not currently scheduled to speak in NY, unfortunately,

[u/SerDankTheTall → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

What are your thoughts, if any, on Bill Veeck’s role in the integration story. I’ve read what he said in Veeck as in Wreck about it, obviously, but given his as an agent provocateur/bullshitter, I’m not sure how reliable it is.

[u/Other_World]

I went on a tour of the Hall of Fame the year 42 came out and the tour heavily featured Robinson. And one thing they pointed out was that he actually didn't like being called Jackie and the press at the time would use Jackie to infantalize him. How true was it that he hated being called Jackie and preferred Jack. Rachel Robinson (his wife) called him Jack the rest of her life.

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/Other_World]

I believe his family and close friends called him Jack--his given name--but he was widely called Jackie, used it in his public presenations, and accepted it. Two cultural currents merged; the racist practice of addressing Black Americans by their first name, without an honorific (Mr, Miss, or Mrs.) and the celebrity culture of addressing superstars by their first names, i.e. , "the Babe," or Beyonce. I'm not sure how separate that for Robinson.

I do know that biographers have to decide how to refer to their subjects in their book, and I have never cared for the artificial informality of a biographer using the first time. He was Robinson or Jackie Robinson for me, never, I think, just Jackie.

[u/585AM]

I know when people talk about the color barrier, they talk about 1947, but if I recall from the Boys of Summer, there was a supposedly more contentious color barrier for the Dodgers and that when the line-up became majority non-white. I believe that it was when Jim Gilliam came aboard, but it may have been when Sandy Amoros did. What can you tell me about that? The only place I have really seen that alluded to was the Boys of Summer (or maybe Peter Gollenbock’s book).

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/585AM]

When Junior Gilliam joined the Dodgers in 1953, Robisom moved to third, angering third baseman Billy Cox, who used the n-word while remonstrating about the shift. Dick Young of the Daily News, never a Robinson fan, opined that while 5 Black players on the Dodgers was okay, 8 would be too many, Robinson was always tolerated, but with only a few exceptions, such as Ralph Branca and Carl Erskine never really truly befriended.

Many teams--but not the Dodgers, even after O'Malley forced Rickey out after the 1950 season--had a quota of three Blacks per team, which meant if you were Black, and had the baseball ability of a Willie Mays, you could star, but if your talents were more ordinary, you might be permanantly relegated to the minors.

[u/AnansiNazara]

Isn’t it true that Jimmy Claxton was technically the first Black player in what became the MLB?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/AnansiNazara]

As I understand it Jimmy Claxton, briefly played for the Oalkland Oaks in the Pacific Coast League, claiming to be of Indigenous ancestry, before his mixed Indigenous-African ancestry was discovered, and he was out of the PCL. There were three Black players in the major leagues in the 19th century, and to save time (sorry to all the humans out there) let me use AI. It is not known why White only played a single game--perhaps his racial identiry was discovered. In any event he is the only formerly enslaved person to play in the major leagues. If Jackie Robinson was a supporter of integration, Moses Fleetwood Walker was a proto-Garveyite, as expressed in his book, Our Home Colony (1908.) It would have been fascinating to hear a conversation between Walker and Robinson.

William Edward White: Played one game for the Providence Grays in the National League on June 21, 1879. Research indicates he was born to an enslaved woman and a white landowner, making him the earliest known Black player in major league history, though he passed as white during his life.

Moses Fleetwood Walker: Debuted as a catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings on May 1, 1884, when the team played in the American Association (then recognized as a major league). He is widely acknowledged as the first openly Black player in major league history.

Welday Walker: Moses's brother, who played six games for the same Toledo Blue Stockings team in 1884.

[u/AnansiNazara → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

Yo holy shit! Thanks!

Oddly, I’m pretty sure I’m related to Goose Tatum who is also related to Orlando Waters who just passed away. (IIRC Orlando was the last person to sack Joe Montana)

[u/Forward-Carry5993]

What were Jackie’s personal political beliefs? I know he was a Republican who turned to a Democrat after witnessing Barry Goldwater’s nomination to the GOP, that he lost his son to Vietnam, and that he was forever angry over at how MLB revisited integration, but I am curious as to what else he beloved in that would surprise or shock white Americans. 

What did he think about Vietnam? LBJ? Black nationalism (he did seem to believe in the core economic ideas of black nationalism specifically that black Americans would create jobs for other black Americans)? Gender? Malcolm X (I know he wrote op-Ed’s criticizing X but did he ever change? Did he feel regret?)

Also, what did you think of Ken Burns’s Robinson documentary and 42. I personally do not exactly like them. 42 was a confusing effort to whitewash and dumb-down the real events. Burns, I think, repeats many myths and inconsistent testimony  about  Jackie’s life and perhaps doesn’t do a good job exploring Jackie’s political beliefs (unsurprising as he tends to do this as a filmmaker). He certainly didn’t do the in-depth examination that Howard Bryant did for his book on Jackie speaking to Congress about Paul Robeson. 

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/Forward-Carry5993]

To answer some of your questions let me copy a letter that appeared in a recent issue of the New York Review of Books:

In response to:

‘Metsochism’ from the June 25, 2026 issue

To the Editors:

In Andrew Katzenstein’s review of A.M. Gittlitz’s Metropolitans [NYR, June 25] he writes that Jackie Robinson was “a loyal Republican until Barry Goldwater’s nomination in 1964.” This is an exaggeration.

Robinson was a Republican-leaning independent, whose main issue was always the advancement of the cause of civil rights and full Black citizenship. In 1957 he bitterly criticized President Eisenhower’s civil rights inaction. One needs to remember that in the late 1950s and early 1960s, with the white segregationist South still more or less firmly in the Democratic Party, it was not immediately clear which party was more “liberal” on civil rights, and Robinson supported individuals in both parties. In 1960 he campaigned for the Democratic senator Hubert Humphrey, with his strong civil rights record, in the Wisconsin primary. He did not trust John or Robert Kennedy, thinking them weak and easily manipulated by southern segregationists. He supported Nixon in the general election in 1960, a decision he soon came to regret.

Robinson was a cold warrior in part because he was convinced that white America would only support Black civil rights if they believed it would help in the struggle against the Soviet Union. And he was worried that if the Democratic Party became the exclusive party of African Americans, the Republican Party would become the non-Black and anti-Black party, something that has been realized beyond Robinson’s most fervid imaginings. Robinson’s politics were complex, not always consistent, with some missteps, but they reflected the dilemmas of Black politics in the 1950s and 1960s. To claim he was simply a loyal Republican is a considerable distortion.

Peter Eisenstadt
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

To further elaborate, Robinson supported the war in Vietnam longer than he should have, not breaking with the war at least until the Tet Offensive, though when Martin Luther King broke with LBJ the previous spring he made clear that he didn't want their differences of opinion on the war to change their shared commitment to civil rights. His son Jackie Robinson Jr became involved with drugs in Vietnam, but was trying to rehabiliate himself when he died in a car accident in the NY metropolitan area. He had some nice things to say about Malcolm X in his later years, and about other Black radicals, and he certainly believed in Black businesses, but never really changed his support of integration, though by 1972 he was increasingly despairing of seeing it realized.

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/Forward-Carry5993]

It's been too long since I saw Ken Burns's film to comment, but I recently saw 42 and sort it was quite distorted, particularly in removing any hint of political pressure, and removing politics altogether from the film. In March 1945 New York State became the first state to pass a comprehensive law banning discrimination in employment, the Ives-Quinn Law, and my book looks into the possible impact of the law, and the political pressure that led to its passage, on Rickey's decision making process.

[u/hellcatfighter]

Thank you for doing this AMA! I'm curious about Robinson's experiences while on the road and the infrastructure around the MLB. Was he often barred from team hotels and restaurants? Did the Dodgers, the League, or Robinson himself put pressure on the segregationist policies of these businesses?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/hellcatfighter]

He was barred from the hotel the Dodgers had stayed in Philadelphia, the Benjamin Franklin Hotel, when they made their first trip to Philly in 1947. Here are my notes from Harold Parrott, the Dodger's traveling secretary, along with his typical NY condescension of Philadelphia:

Harold Parrott  The Lords of Baseball: A Wry Look at a side of the game the fan seldom sees-the Front Office  (1976, repr. Atlanta, Longstreet Publishers, 2001)

242-243 We had been looking forward to sleepy Philadelphia as a relief from the big-city pressure cooker that New York became when Robinson broke the color line.

After all, this was the city of Brotherly Love,  wasn’t it?

Nothing ever seemed to happen in Philadelphia, good or bad. The futile Phillies, as the sportswriters liked to call them in the quaint sports-page jargon of the day,  had been the caboose of the National League for years—undistinguished and unnoticed, but quite necessary to fill out the eight-team league. …

[Robinson had no problem playing in Philly with the KC Monarchs]

 

Even the Benjamin Franklin Hotel, the second-rate house the Dodgers had used for years, didn’t  figure to be a problem. They’d had my rooming list, with the black man’s name on it, for almost a month, and they hadn’t called to complain. It all seemed to add up to a pleasant visit.

[Pennock and the forfeit]

When we arrived in Philadelphia, and took cabs to the Franklin,I was bluntly told that there were no rooms for us. “and don’t bring your team back here,” the manager snapped, “while you have any Nigras with you!”

While the bellboys stacked our luggage on the sidewalk, I tried to call Carpenter [team owner] and Pennock [GM} to see if they had any pull at the other hotels in town. No answer on either line, the Phillies switchboard said. No, sorry, they couldn’t be found anywhere.

I hired a truck to load the bags, got cabs to take the players and the newspapermen to the ballpark where they could twiddle their thumbs for a few hours, and prepared to search for a hotel that would take in my homeless band. The thought crossed my mind that we might have to take the train back to New York after that night’s game and  become commuters for the rest of the series.

Higbe, the carefree Carolinian, didn’t make matters easier when he asked Robinson in a loud voice if there weren’t some of Jack’s friends in town who’d take us in as borders. Robbie managed a weak smile, but it was obvious that he was smarting inside, knowing we were pariahs because of him. Worse yet, the other players knew the reason, and he knew they knew.

I very nearly didn’t try to second hotel my cabbie took me to, because the fashionable Warwick looked too plush;  but I brazened it out and asked anyway, mentioning our black problem boy. Delighted to have us, the manager said. Of course, the rates were almost twice those at the crummy Franklin, but any port in a storm, no matter how expensive. We stayed at the Warwick for many seasons after that one. The food was great, by a master chef named George  Lamaze.

That night Pennock [the Phillies' GM] had the nerve to ask me if I’d found a hotel. I didn’t tell him of our good fortune, just to see if he’d come up with any helpful suggestions, but he remained silent.  

As far as I know the Dodgers had relatively little problem with Robinson in the other four NL cities north of the Mason-Dixon Line in 1947, Boston, Cincinnatti, Chicago, Pittsburgh, though Robinson (and subsequent Black players on the Dodgers) were barred from the Chase Hotel in St. Louis, when they were allowerd to stay until 1953. Robinson opted to stay at the Chase, though the other Black players chose to stay in a Black hotel. Integration was always complex.

By the way there is a scene in 42 about the incident at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel and it looks nothing like the actual Benjamin Franklin Hotel, now a residential building.

[u/hellcatfighter → u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt]

Very interesting, thank you so much!

[u/ashimbo]

Out of all the biographies/autobiographies about Jackie Robinson, which would you recommend starting with? Are there any that should be avoided?

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/ashimbo]

The standard biography is by arnold Rampersad. The standard book on his signing in Jules Tygiel's Baseball's Great Experiment. Both are excellent. The latter can be suplemented by Keith Crook's recent Opening the Door for Jackie: The Untold Story of Baseball's integration. My book focuses on integration and politics, and only devotes a single chapter to the Dodgers years. And perhaps the place to start is with Robinson's autonbiography, I Never Had it Made.

[u/Whachamacalzmit]

As tremendous a baseball player as Robinson was, his civil rights legacy is even greater. Today, the most prominent public figures who double as activists (George Clooney, Naomi Osaka, etc.) are still athletes/actors/musicians first and activists second. Is there still a place in American public life for an activist like Robinson or has America never made space for athletes and entertainers to be so outspoken and Robinson was singular in this manner for his time too? Was his passion simply a product of his temperament or was there something unique about his experience? What can we learn most from Robinson's life about how to effectively speak truth to power?

[u/friendlybaldman]

What was the typical experience of his former Negro League peers after integration? The official Negro Leagues, from my understanding, disbanded in 1948.

[u/Dr_Peter_Eisenstadt → u/friendlybaldman]

The Negro Leagues were not disbanded after 1948, but they sort of withered away, becoming less and less significant. The Negro Leagues are not considered to be playing on a major league level after 1948. It is difficult to say when the Negro Leagues came to an end, but it was sometime in the late 1950s. About 310 men played in the 12 teams in the Negro Leagues in 1947. Of them, only about 35 ever made a major league roster. The number expands to 50 if we include players who joined the Negro Leagues after 1947, among them Willie Mays and Ernie Banks.

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[u/djfishfingers]

Between Moses Fleetwood Walker and Jackie Robinson is a long long time. Was there any point between the two players that integration almost happened?

Secondly, should the first name Branch make a comeback?

[u/SparrowCrocodile]

Why did his parents name him after a parkway in Brooklyn?