June 28, 1951: Everybody Turns On "Amos 'n' Andy" -- and Not In a Good Way

Top: Tim Moore as George "Kingfish" Stevens.

Bottom: Spencer Williams as Andy Brown (left)

and Alvin Childress as Amos Jones.

June 28, 1951: After 23 years on radio, Amos 'n' Andy premieres on CBS' television network. When people heard white actors on radio, pretending to be black, they loved it. But when they saw the roles they thought they knew played by actual black actors -- Alvin Childress as Amos Jones, Spencer Williams as Andy Brown, Tim Moore as George "Kingfish" Stevens, and Ernestine Wade as Kingfish's wife Sapphire -- they didn't like it. The show was a bust, lasting just 2 seasons.

A total of 78 half-hour episodes were eventually produced. Childress and Williams were instructed to keep their voices and speech patterns close as possible to those of the roles' originators, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, respectively. 

Even if the show had succeeded, they would have had to replace Moore after his death in 1958. Williams lived until 1969, Wade until 1983, and Childress until 1986.

*

June 28, 1951 was a Thursday. Chris Speier, later an All-Star shortstop for the San Francisco Giants, was born.

And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Washington Senators, 3-0 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Tom Morgan pitched 7 innings, allowing 8 hits, but no runs. Joe Ostrowski finished the 9-0 shutout. Joe DiMaggio, in his last season, went 1-for-4. Mickey Mantle, in his 1st season, struck out as a pinch-hitter.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, 5-4 at Polo Grounds. At the time, the Dodgers led the National League by 4 1/2 games. Jackie Robinson went 1-for-3 with a walk. Monte Irvin hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 8th inning to win it. Sheldon Jones was the winning pitcher, in relief of Dave Koslo. The losing pitcher was Ralph Branca. There was a bit of foreshadowing in that.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Boston Braves, 3-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The winning run came home in the bottom of the 10th inning: Batting against Warren Spahn, Eddie Pellagrini grounded into what should have been an inning-ending double play, but Braves 2nd baseman Roy Hartsfield made a throwing error that allowed Tommy Brown to score. Hartsfield went on to become the 1st manager of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1977.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-5 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Ralph Kiner went 1-for-3 with a walk, and was hit by a pitch.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Frank Hiller allowed only a walk to Tommy Glaviano in the 1st inning, and a single to Enos Slaughter in the 5th. Stan Musial went 0-for-3.

* The Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers were rained out at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on September 7. The Tigers swept, 4-1 and 2-1. The game went 14 innings, and the Tigers' Virgil Trucks and the White Sox' Billy Pierce both went the distance. Trucks himself doubled home the winning run.

* And the Boston Red Sox, the Cleveland Indians, the Philadelphia Athletics and the St. Louis Browns were not scheduled.