Wednesday, September 13, 2023

On racial integration, the Yankees' past is an embarrassment

Posted by el duque at 11:18 AM

 Today's Washington Post tells the story of Jake Powell. It's not pleasant... 



10 comments:

AboveAverage said...

o u c h

September 13, 2023 at 11:33 AM
HoraceClarke66 said...

Yeah, Jake Powell was insane. And the Yankees' record on integration was not good.

The whole AL was especially terrible. As long as it took the Yanks to integrate, they still had the very first Black, AL MVP (Ellie Howard, 1963), and the very first, all-Black AL battery to pitch in the World Series (Al Downing and Howard, also 1963).

September 13, 2023 at 11:37 AM
BTR999 said...

Shamefully, many of today’s “americans ” are just as racist as their forbears.

I had never heard this tale before, thanks for sharing though I wish it was not true. I think the Yankee’s racist background is well understood, at least by those of our generation. Unsure how younger fans feel, the few I’ve discussed it with didn’t seem to feel it was of relevance to them.

September 13, 2023 at 11:48 AM
ranger_lp said...

If you are dealing with a paywall...here's another article about this piece of work...

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/10496417/jake-powell-bigot-unwittingly-sparked-change

September 13, 2023 at 1:50 PM
HoraceClarke66 said...

The guy they traded to GET Powell was Ben Chapman...who as Phillies manager was so horrendously opposed to Jackie Robinson when he came in.

In Yankees Stadium, Chapman was known to turn to the right field stands and curse the fans out with various anti-Semitic slurs.

Oy!

September 13, 2023 at 3:04 PM
Doug K. said...

Ranger that's for the link. What a shithed.

September 13, 2023 at 4:26 PM
Kevin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
September 13, 2023 at 5:10 PM
Rufus T. Firefly said...

From WaPo article comments:
"
The Jackie Robinson biopic “42” depicts Chapman as the race-baiting manager of the Philadelphia Phillies viciously taunting Robinson in his rookie season

That's because Chapman was the race-baiting manager of the Phillies who taunted Robinson during his rookie season. That's like saying "Midway" depicts Admiral Nimitz as the head of the American fleet.
"

And remember that it wasn't just the Yankees or baseball that was that way back then. It was throughout the country.

September 13, 2023 at 6:56 PM
HoraceClarke66 said...

The hypocrisy was endless. At one point, the owners voted 15-1 against integrating...mostly because Negro League teams played in their empty stadiums when the teams were on the road, and made them some excellent rental money.

September 13, 2023 at 7:48 PM
JM said...

America is and was racist. No surprise the Yankees have been also.

September 14, 2023 at 3:26 AM

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