First Black Red: Hall of Fame Edition

By Marty Pieratt

Chuck Harmons life story symbolizes and transcends our countrys struggle for civil rights and equality. From his humble beginnings as one of the 12 children of Sherman and Rosa Harmon in Southern Indiana, to the pressure of a death threat as a Cincinnati player in New York City, this gentlemen big leaguer is an example of those African American pioneers who helped make a mockery of hate and injustice with integrity, decency, and iron will.

From the stories of an early meeting with Babe Ruth, to rooting for his beloved Cincinnati Reds today, Chuck Harmons compelling life adventure symbolizes all that is good about Americas pastime and its oldest professional franchise, the Cincinnati Reds. His great-great grandfathers fought and died for freedom in the Civil War. Less than 100 years later, Chuck Harmon was still fighting for justicenot with a gun and bayonet, but with a golden glove and hot bat. Chuck Harmon is proud to be called Cincinnatis First Black Red. This book is an important look at the parallel benchmarks in baseball and civil rights. Chuck Harmon is one of the quiet patriots who helped make America truly a country where all men and women should expect to be treated equally.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496927545

Marty Pieratt

Marty Pieratt is an Emmy award-winning television reporter who has also won honors for his work in newspaper, radio, and as an entrepreneur and college teacher. He owned seven radio stations and various other businesses. He is a visiting faculty member at Indiana University. From 2008 through 2014, Pieratt taught 16 different course subjects in 42 classes to more than 1,420 students on the IU Bloomington and IUPUI (Indianapolis) campuses and at the National Sports Journalism Center, in Indianapolis. He is now teaching at the IU Kelley School of Business Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. He spent much of his career around Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. He is pursuing a doctoral degree in Folklore and Ethnomusicology at IU. When not in Bloomington, he owns a farm in Southern Indiana. ,

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© 2014 Marty Pieratt. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 7/24/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-2754-5 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-2755-2 (sc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014912949

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Preface

1 The Glorious Life Of Charles Byron Harmon

2 A Hoosier Legend

3 That Special Spring

4 Right Place. Right Time. Right Man.

5 Babe, Pete, And The Cuban Fireballer The Timeline Of Mr. Harmon’s Life

6 Pearl, My Girl

7 Back Home Again In Indiana

8 Race And Rights

9 Hoosier Hoop Kings The 1940–41 Championship Season: War Seems Inevitable

10 Tenacious In Toledo

11 In The Navy

12 The Negro Leagues

13 Marvelous In The Minors

14 Major League Pioneer

15 Pete, Marge, And The Reds Today

16 Play On

Epilogue

An Essay On American Life

Career Stats

References And Resources

About The Author

1.jpg

Jackie Robinson and Chuck Harmon, the First African American in baseball and the first African American for the Cincinnati Reds. They were competitors, friends and pioneers. Image by Shalmah Lee Prince. Courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame

ChuckHarmonBatting.jpg

The keen eye and sweet swing of Chuck Harmon.

DEDICATION

To the love of my life, my Pearl, my wife, and my family

—CHUCK HARMON

I dedicate this to all people of color and all those others who were downtrodden and never had a fair chance. I’m thankful for my precious family and dear friends. If you get to know somebody, it’s hard to hate, even if you have differences of birthplace, religion, politics, opinion, income, lifestyles, or skin pigment. America is the one place on earth where we are constantly trying to figure out what life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is all about. It’s messy, but that’s what we’re trying to do here. I figure it’s about love for yourself and other people. That’s what I think freedom is truly all about. That’s what America is all about.

—MARTY PIERATT

SUMMER 2014

I WILL NEVER FORGET that the only reason I’m standing here today is because somebody, somewhere stood up for me when it was risky. Stood up when it was hard. Stood up when it wasn’t popular. And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And standing up, with courage and clear purpose, they somehow managed to change the world.

— U.S. SENATOR BARACK OBAMA,

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, NOVEMBER 10, 2007

DES MOINES, IOWA JEFFERSON-JACKSON DINNER

HUMANKIND, AND ALL MEN … come from the same source, with the same potentials … posterity will look back upon what we’re doing today in our domestic issue here … and they’ll wonder what the issue was all about. I really think so. It’s solved in baseball. It’ll be solved in education. It’ll be solved everywhere in the course of time.

— BRANCH RICKEY

PRESIDENT AND PART-OWNER, BROOKLYN DODGERS, 1942–50,

WHO SIGNED JACKIE ROBINSON

THERE’S NOT AN AMERICAN IN THIS COUNTRY FREE until every one of us is free … I’m not as brave as some of these little nine- and ten-year-old kids in the South. I don’t like these big teeth that I see on these dogs, and I don’t like to see the fierce expressions of the policemen in Birmingham, Alabama. And I don’t like to read about pregnant women being poked in the stomach by policemen and their nightsticks. I don’t like to see young Negro kids—of seven, eight, nine years old—being thrown across the street by the force of a fire hose. But I believe that I must go down and say to the people down there, Thank you for what you are doing … not only for me and my children, but I believe for America. So I’m going down to do whatever I possibly can … Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on … you’re wasting your life.

— JACKIE ROBINSON,

FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO PLAY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL,

FRIEND OF CHUCK HARMON, FIRST BLACK RED

I AM SO THANKFUL I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY. I hope I set a good example and helped others who have come after me. It has been a wonderful life.

— CHUCK HARMON,

FIRST BLACK RED

PREFACE

W e all need a feel-good story now and then. It helps if it’s true.

This is one.

Sometimes, it’s hard to separate the sports scandals from those we have come to expect from the seamy side of Hollywood or Washington. Between alleged child abuse and cheating in college sports to millionaires arguing with billionaires over money in the professional ranks—not to mention the NFL’s concussion debacle and baseball’s continuing drug scandal—sometimes it seems it’s difficult to find a story in sports or the real world that gives us hope and makes us feel good about the human condition.

This is one.

This is a book you can open at any section and find goodness, wholesomeness and inspiration. The world could use a little more of those elements.

I think it’s a little extra special because we have been blessed to have Charles Byron Harmon with us here on earth for more than ninety years.

He is now one of the oldest living former Major League ballplayers, holding steady around number 60. As of July 1, 2014, he was the second oldest living former African American Major Leaguer. Monte Irwin is nearly five years older than Chuck. Mr. Harmon who was born April 23, 1924. He was raised in the same area of Indiana, as was Abraham Lincoln.

And what a life it has been for Mr. Harmon these 33,000-plus days on earth.

You don’t have to be a sports fan to appreciate this story, but it might help a little bit. It’s probably true that only one in four people truly love sports (according to my research as social scientist), but we all love legends and heroes and great stories. Since the cave days, humans have been inspired by stories.

As I tweeted not long ago, lamenting the loss of Peyton Manning from the Indianapolis Colts to the Denver Broncos, all sport at its core is personal, not business. Those of us in Indiana who miss Peyton and his immutable blue-collar character, which Hoosiers admire, take it personally that he may have been unceremoniously punted from the Hoosier state for business reasons. Owners, coaches, and players should never take fans for granted … but they do, and they will.

Loyalty is hard to come by. Mr. Harmon, as you will see, has led a life of loyalty to family, country, friends, teams, and fans.

Sometimes I find it amazing that fans hang in there even with pompous players, outrageous owners (racist-ranting LA Clippers owners Don Sterling) and egomaniac coaches (too many to mention). The people who foot the big ticket and TV bills put up with a lot of nonsense and remain loyal.

Pretty amazing, eh?

A lot of free media passes aside, I reckon I’m one of those diehard fans. Maybe I just don’t want to grow up. Maybe I’m part of the masses who want to escape the real world into sports. Maybe it’s because sports offers such a platform to study how humans go about life. That’s where you might find this story compelling even if you find sports a waste of time and energy.

Regardless, from the small-town gyms and playing fields in Indiana to the monolithic arenas and stadiums in America’s great cities where world-class athletes like Chuck Harmon play, without the fans, any sport would be just another game.

If you want to find out how we got to where we are at now, you must look at where we have been. As I tell my kids, the world didn’t start five years ago, try to appreciate history.

The sporting world seems to mirror what’s happening in society.

Civil rights happened in sports before it happened in the streets; although it’s arguable we have a ways to go even today.

Chuck Harmon was a friend of the legendary Jackie Robinson. He played against him many times and got the best of him in more than a few games. They respected each other as smart, tough ballplayers and intellectual men. There’s a strange irony in the fact that those who called them horrible names from the grandstands were neither as smart nor as sophisticated as Robinson and Harmon. Both were well-spoken, college graduates.

Knowing Jackie as a friend and being the first Black Cincinnati Red is enough for Mr. Harmon’s story to be important. I’m sort of surprised nobody tried to write a book about Chuck before me, but I’ll take the ball and run with it.

This is our second edition. We’re calling it the Hall of Fame Edition because Mr. Harmon is being honored in the Reds Hall of Fame.

I hope it’s better than the first. The first was done a few years ago with the deadline of Major League Baseball’s Civil Rights Game between St. Louis and the Reds; no editor, my multiple eye surgeries, and a full teaching load at Indiana University, not to mention running a few businesses and chasing my kids, led to things we wanted to clarify this time around.

Someone not long ago called me Chuck Harmon’s biographer. Wow, that’s about as good a label as I’ve ever had, except for maybe Dad.

I thank Mr. Harmon and his wonderful family for allowing me to enter their lives over the past few years. A special recognition goes out to Bill and Tom Harmon and everyone at Harmon Construction, Inc., one of America’s great companies created by Chuck’s brother, Bill Sr. Without them, this project would not have been possible. Of course, our families mean everything to us. They are our greatest accomplishment and the source of our abiding love, passion, and pride. Both of us have many special people in our inner circles whom we love and cherish.

We also thank the fine folks at the offices of the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame. What a wonderful franchise. What a wonderful city. I am proud to have spent many years working there in broadcast journalism. I was with a great team at WLWT Channel 5, the NBC affiliate, and at the time, the TV home of the Reds. It was fun to win a World Series while I was there. It was horrible to cover the fall of Pete Rose. I appreciate Pete helping us out in this book.

Not long ago, I was invited to a reception at Pinecroft, the Cincinnati estate built and owned by the late Reds owner and ultimate entrepreneur, Powel Crosley. He’s the guy who agreed to sign Mr. Harmon. I had a few quiet moments in Powell’s study that night just thinking about how important that was, and how brave for the Southernmost team to sign a Black man. It took about another ten years for all baseball owners to see the idiocy in not allowing African Americans. I’m not much on ghost stories, but sitting there late at night in Powell’s home of nearly thirty years, just a few feet from where he died near his kitchen by a custom-made sink, was quite a moving experience.

Ironically, Mr. Crosley owned a farm in Indiana just a few miles from our family farm. It is now known as the Crosley Fish and Wildlife Area, near North Vernon, Indiana. It includes 4,228 acres and seven miles of the Muscatatuck River runs through it. Mr. Crosley, known for the Reds and as maker of the Crosley car and appliances, bought it in 1931 to hunt and fish and dream.

You can go there and dream today.

Mr. Crosley was a business role model for the likes of Ted Turner and Mark Cuban. An inventor and entrepreneur, he owned the Reds, owned the radio station that carried them, and even made and sold radios so you could listen to the games. The baseball team played at Crosley Field from 1912 to 1979. Heck, the Beatles played there on August 21, 1966.

More important for our project, for the first time, in April of 1954, an African American by the name of Chuck Harmon played big league baseball there. His first appearance in uniform was on the road versus Milwaukee.

Mr. Crosley maybe should be the first person to thank. I can still remember the thrill of attending games at old Crosley Field with my dad or my Little League coach Bob Bishop. Built between 1911 and 1912, the old ballpark at Findlay Street and Western Avenue was the site of so many firsts in baseball during its 86 seasons of life, such as the first night game (May 24, 1935, a 2-to-1 Reds win over Philadelphia). FDR threw the switch from the White House about six hundred miles away in Washington DC. Then there was the infamous 1919 World Series with the Chicago White Sox, known as the time Shoeless Joe Jackson and his teammates threw the series, although crusty Cincinnati fans say they would have won anyway.

I’m thankful I was able to work in Mr. Crosley’s historic, old radio and television office building at Ninth and Elm in Cincinnati, known as Crosley Square. Yes, he did like to name things after himself. So he lacked a little humility, Cincinnati and baseball wouldn’t be the same without him.

In addition, it seems we should personally thank about twenty thousand people back in and around Chuck’s wonderful hometown of Washington, Indiana. Today, it’s mostly known for being the home of the Zellers, arguably America’s first family of basketball, with stars Cody (Indiana University’s 2012–13 national preseason player of the year now coming off an All-Rookie Team for Charlotte in the NBA), Tyler (North Carolina, Cleveland – and after being traded to make way for Lebron James’ homecoming – Boston), and Luke (Notre Dame and the Phoenix Suns). Parents Steve and Lorri Zeller seemed to have guided their sons to positive attributes we would all like to see in all walks of life—passion for knowledge, honesty, and loyalty. The fact that the Zeller family appreciates Mr. Harmon and his place in local and American history is wonderfully significant. It’s amazing they all played basketball in the same old gym (now the middle-school gym) back in Washington, as did a young visitor from Martinsville, Indiana, and later California, whom you may have heard of, John Wooden. Yeah, that gentleman who coached an unprecedented ten NCAA basketball championships during a twelve-year period (1964 to 1975) at UCLA, including his last, a 75-to-74 overtime win against Louisville, a team that included Chuck Harmon’s nephew, Billy. (If you really like trivia, UCLA is coached now by former Indiana high school and college star, Steve Alford. His dad, Sam, graduated from Washington High in 1960 with 14 varsity letters before leading the nation in free throw shooting at Franklin College. Steve played for his dad at New Castle before leading Indiana University to national championship in 1987).

The sports world has seen a lot of the Zellers on national TV and magazine covers in recent years, but there was a time when Chuck Harmon was the big talk in that little Indiana town. Like the Zellers, he won high school state championships at Washington (he won two; the Zellers combined for six) and excelled in college athletically and academically. However, outside of Washington, Chuck Harmon will forever be defined as the Jackie Robinson of the Cincinnati Reds. And keep in mind, he was one of the first Black players for the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies as well.

In his humble way, he just wants to be remembered as a good guy. We are so blessed that he is walking this earth in this tenth decade of life.

Dozens of books, articles, and people were used as resources for this work. We name many in the pages to follow, and there is a general guide at the end. Surely, we left out some folks, and we’re sorry about that. As a journalist, I constantly fear I am too dependent upon others’ words or research. That’s why I believe this is a work in progress—finding information about Mr. Harmon’s time at the University of Toledo, the minor leagues, and Negro League is especially difficult, and I would like to add much more in future editions.

What I have done would not be possible without the information and help of many others. I’ve come to the conclusion I will never be a sportswriter of the likes of the fellows I first saw work in the Reds press box, like the late Earl Lawson of the Cincinnati Post and Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News. But I’ll do the best with what I have been given. I tend to repeat things. That’s not because I’m totally delusional and slightly dysfunctional. Readers, many with ADD like me, tend to jump around, so I’m purposely redundant in a few spots. You may have missed my trivia the first