May 11, 1947: After his despicable racist taunting of the week before, Philadelphia Phillies manager Ben Chapman is ordered to pose for a photograph shaking hands with his target, Jackie Robinson.
He refused. As with his previous offense, he was not fired on the spot. A recommendation was made: They would pose, both holding a bat.
Robinson, the 1st black player in Major League Baseball in 63 years, debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. One week later, on April 22, the Phillies came to Ebbets Field. Chapman, who was named their manager in 1945, had retired as a player in 1946, following a career that began in 1930 with the New York Yankees. Mainly a left fielder, he batted .302, led the American League in stolen bases 4 times, helped the Yankees win the 1932 World Series, and played in the 1st 4 All-Star Games.
But he was a Southerner, born in Nashville, Tennessee and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1933, he started a brawl with the Washington Senators by intentionally spiking 2nd baseman Buddy Myer, because he thought (incorrectly) that Myer was Jewish. He once saw some fans at Yankee Stadium wearing yarmulkes, indicating that they were Jewish, and hurled anti-Semitic slurs and raised a Nazi salute at them. And in 1935, his wife Mary divorced him, citing domestic violence.
On April 22, 1947, he showed that his hatred was not limited to religion. It's one thing to hear of the typical racist remarks of the times yelled at Robinson, like:
* "Go back to the cotton field!"
* "Hey, boy, how 'bout a shine?"
* "Which one of the white boys' wives you fuckin' tonight?"
It's another thing to actually see it. The year 1947 would be a pioneering year in television, with the World Series being televised for the 1st time. But no TV broadcast, or radio broadcast, or film of this game survives. Only newspaper accounts.
But there were witnesses. And when the film 42, about Robinson's 1st season in the majors, was released in 2013, starring Chadwick Boseman as Jackie and Harrison Ford as the man who signed him, Dodger president Branch Rickey, Alan Tudyk played Chapman, and -- knowing that he had to be true to the story, even if it risked his career -- Tudyk spoke the words that the surviving witnesses said that Chapman spoke, mostly "the N-word" repeated over and over again, ad infinitum, ad nauseam, loud enough for not just Robinson, but the Dodger dugout, to hear. This was done each time Robinson came to bat, in an attempt to rattle him and disrupt his ability to play.
After 2 flyouts, he singled in the 6th inning. As he led off the bottom of the 8th, Chapman went at it again, perhaps harder now that Jackie had gotten a hit, to show that he, Chapman, was not rattled, and was prepared to attempt to rattle him, Robinson, again. It was well-known, all over baseball, that Jackie had signed the contract on the condition that, for 3 seasons, he could not verbally answer any of the insults hurled his way.
Finally, even Dodger 2nd baseman Eddie Stanky, a native of Philadelphia but living in Birmingham, who signed a petition to keep Jackie off the team because he was afraid he would lose business in his adopted hometown, could stand it no longer. He called time out, walked over to the Phillies dugout, and told Chapman to fight someone who could fight back. Stanky was known as a brawler, so the message was clear: You mess with Jackie, you mess with me, and I will knock you out.
Chapman shut up. The entire Phillie dugout followed his lead, and shut up. Jackie singled, and later scored on Gene Hermanski's single. That was the only run of the game, as Hal Gregg pitched a 1-hitter for the Dodgers.
Chapman kept quiet for the rest of the series. But, knowing that the Dodgers had to go to Philadelphia for a series at Shibe Park starting on May 11, the photograph was set up. Jackie Robinson faked a smile for the camera. Ben Chapman did not.
For one day, Chapman had revenge: The Phillies swept a doubleheader, 7-3 and 5-4. Robinson went 2-for-7 in the doubleheader. Gene Hermanski hit 2 home runs in the opener, and Bruce Edwards hit one in the nightcap.
Jackie's debut was made possible due to the death, after the 1944 season, of baseball's 1st Commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis. He would not let black players into "organized ball," under any circumstances. He was replaced by Senator Albert B. "Happy" Chandler, of the Southern State of Kentucky. But he accepted the idea of civil rights activists that if black men could serve their country in time of war, they could play professional baseball.
Chandler's crowning achievement is, essentially, doing nothing. Nothing, that is, to stop the desegregation of the the sport.
In his role as National League President, Ford Frick, a former sportswriter, did more to help. Upon hearing that the NL's Southernmost (and Westernmost) team, the St. Louis Cardinals, would go on strike rather than play against Robinson, Frick told them that he would suspend them, and forfeit their team's games, saying, "I don't care if it wrecks the National League for five years." He also warned them that they would find that they did not have the friends in the media that they thought they had. They presumed that Frick was not bluffing -- and he almost certainly wasn't -- and they backed down. There was no strike.
Ford Frick
When Chandler was fired as Commissioner in 1951, Frick was appointed to replace him, and served until 1965.
The Dodgers won the 1947 National League Pennant, the 1st of 6 they would win with Jackie Robinson. On July 26, 1948, Chapman was fired as Phillies manager -- not because he was a disgusting bigot, but because the team was losing. Eddie Sawyer was named manager. In 1950, he led the "Whiz Kids" to the Pennant -- the last all-white team to win it in the National League. They didn't integrate until 1957 -- and didn't win another Pennant until 1980. Over that same stretch, the fully-integrated Dodgers, in Brooklyn until 1957, and thereafter in Los Angeles, won 11 of them.
Chapman died in 1993. A few years earlier, knowing that Chapman was a teammate of Lou Gehrig, Ray Robinson interviewed him for his book Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig In His Time. Chapman was only partly repentant:
A man learns about things and mellows as he grows older. I think that maybe I've changed a bit. Maybe I went too far in those days. But I always went along with the bench jockeying, which has always been part of the game. Maybe I was rougher at it than some other players. I thought that you could use it to upset and weaken the other team. It might give you an advantage. The world changes.
It was admission of guilt. It was not an apology.
*
May 11, 1947 was a Sunday. These other games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 8-7 at Fenway Park. Neither starting pitcher -- Bill Bevens of the Yankees or Tommy Fine of the Red Sox -- got through the 2nd inning. For the Red Sox, Bobby Doerr hit a home run, and Ted Williams went 2-for-3 with 2 walks. For the Yankees, Tommy Henrich hit a home run, Joe DiMaggio went 1-for-4, and rookie catcher Yogi Berra (still signing autographs as "Larry Berra" at this point) went 1-for-5.
* A doubleheader was split at the Polo Grounds. The New York Giants won the opener, 8-1. Monte Kennedy outpitched Johnny Sain. Robert "Buddy" Blattner played 2nd base for the Giants, and went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs. He later broadcast for the St. Louis Cardinals, the California Angels, the Kansas City Royals, and the NBA's St. Louis Hawks, including in their NBA Championship season of 1958.
The Boston Braves won the nightcap, 11-3. Bob Elliott -- no relation to the current comedy star of the same name, radio star of Bob and Ray with Ray Goulding -- went 2-for-5 with 5 RBIs, on his way to winning the NL's Most Valuable Player award.
* A doubleheader was split at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The Philadelphia Athletics won the 1st game, 4-0. Bob Savage allowed 10 hits, but still kept a shutout. The Washington Senators won the 2nd game, 2-1.
* A doubleheader was played at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-6. The Cards scored 4 runs in the top of the 10th inning. Hank Greenberg hit a home run for the Pirates. The 2nd game was tied, 7-7 after 7 innings, when it was called due to darkness. Stan Musial was injured, and did not play in either game.
* The Chicago Cubs swept a doubleheader from the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, 6-3 and 4-3. In the 2nd game, Lennie Merullo doubled home the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.
* The Detroit Tigers swept a doubleheader from the Chicago White Sox, 10-0 and 6-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Dizzy Trout pitched a 3-hit shutout.
* And the Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns, 16-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Joe Gordon hit 2 home runs for the Indians. The Yankees had traded him to Cleveland for pitcher Allie Reynolds, one of the few trades in baseball history that worked out really well for both teams.
Also, Butch Trucks of The Allman Brothers Band was born on this day.
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