Baseball’S Brotherhood Team

By Bryan Steverson

In the Book of Genesis, when Cain is confronted by God regarding the death of his brother, he replies, Am I my brothers keeper?

Within these pages, players respond affirmatively to this centurys age old question. They took stands against prejudice during times in our country when it was not the norm. Their courage serves as a model for all of us today. These players lived the biblical challenge of loving your neighbor.

This is the third book by the author of inspirational stories about players from our national pastime. Fifteen members of our National Baseball Hall of Fame are here as well as others of lesser fame. The examples include 19th century baseball, Babe Ruth and Pete Rose. Each player was special. Each story inspirational.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 22, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973616870

Bryan Steverson

BRYAN STEVERSON is a retired technical manager and baseball historian. He is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research, the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. In addition to numerous articles, his prior books include, Amazing Baseball Heroes, Inspirational Negro League Stories (2011) and Baseball, A Special Gift from God (2014). He provides presentations on baseball to numerous organizations, universities, churches, and national conferences. Bryan is married with five children and nine grandchildren.

Book preview

Baseball’s

Brotherhood Team

Bryan Steverson

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Copyright © 2018 Bryan Steverson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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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.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1688-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1689-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1687-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018901186

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/16/2018

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Introduction

1.   Hero

Hank Greenberg

2.   Courageous

Lou Gehrig

3.   First Friend

Joe Gordon

4.   Number 1

Billy Martin

5.   Finest Moment

Pee Wee Reese

6.   Smiling Sam

Stan Hack

7.   Three Greatest

Bobby Bragan

8.   Billy Herman

New Glove

9.   Hustle

Pete Rose

10.   The Kid

Ted Williams

11.   Bambino

Babe Ruth

12.   The Man

Stan Musial

13.   Shotgun

George Shuba

14.   Eagle to Eagle

Tris Speaker

15.   Family

Chuck Tanner

16.   Teacher

Bill Dickey

17.   Scrappy

Clint Courtney

18.   Huck and Jim

Dizzy Dean

19.   The Hug

Steve Gromek

20.   Fast

Bob Feller

21.   The Barber

Sal Maglie

22.   Oisk

Carl Erskine

23.   Number 13

Ralph Branca

24.   Preacher

Preacher Roe

25.   Don’t Say It Again

Bill Monbouquette

26.   Disguised

John McGraw

27.   Seminal Moment

Charlie Hackett

28.   The Lip

Leo Durocher

29.   Dad

J.L. Wilkinson

30.   Others

Final Thoughts

Notables in Brotherhood

Chapter Notes

Dedication

To all who believe in the brotherhood of man

and recognize we are our brother’s keeper.

Let brotherly love continue.

Hebrews 13:1

Acknowledgements

A special appreciation goes to my wife of 50 plus years, Barbara. Mimi, as she is affectionately called, may not be a baseball fan but she fully supports my love for the sport. As I have spoken to audiences and friends about these players over the years, Mimi has become baseball knowledgeable. In frequent conversations, she can be heard retelling a story with her own personal flair. These stories must be written-they must be preserved-was her encouragement. This led to the two previous books, Amazing Baseball Heroes, Inspirational Negro League Stories and Baseball, A Special Gift from God. The current book is the third in a trilogy of stories of inspirational players.

As with any researcher, I am indebted to numerous historians whose research and writings have preceded and guided me. Some are listed in Chapter Notes and the Bibliography as primary sources while many others are secondary. The stories in this book are from my research. Any errors of omission or transmission are my responsibility.

The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) friends are special and particularly Marshall Adesman, Mark Aubrey, Joe Gallagher, Peter Gorton, Skip Nipper, and Bill Nowlin among others, who contributed thoughts. The Negro Leagues Committee of SABR, headed by the noted historian, Larry Lester, along with Dr. Leslie Heaphy, Dr. Layton Revel, Wayne Stivers and Ted Knorr were an important sounding board for the subject of this book and the earlier works. My game time friends Stu Hanlein and John Schwartz always were there. Sharing lunch with Buddy Gilbert added a personal touch. Longtime friend, Rev. Bill Greason, appeared in the earlier books. He is a living example of the meaning of brotherhood.

Dwain Kitchel was the editor of my earlier books and provided important guidance here. His friendship and encouragement remain special.

As with my precious two books, this one is enhanced by Ronnie Joyner’s amazing illustrations. His book, Hardball Legends and Journeymen and Short-Timers, makes a wonderful addition to any baseball library or collection. Our National Baseball Hall of Fame Library provided images and Gary Cieradowski’s card from his set was appreciated. Billy Harner of the Brooklyn Cyclones provided the important Reese-Robinson statue photo. The Library of Congress and our National Baseball Hall of Fame Library were valuable sources of photos.

WestBow Press has been very patient and an encouraging supporter as my publisher.

I am forever indebted to Bill and Holly, Brad and Cyndi, Charles and Beth, Al and Katie, Manny, and Craig and Patsy, without whose support this book would not have been possible. My thanks also to our nine grandchildren who have patiently listened to the many stories while attending games with me. Without the computer assistance of granddaughter, Amy, this book may not have been published.

Those highlighted in this book are worthy of a personal acknowledgement. They had the courage. They set the example. They became a role model for me and hopefully others.

Finally, my appreciation for God’s grace which guided the writing this book. It has been an experience which enhanced my faith in the goodness of others and reinforced my love of the game.

Prologue

The second paragraph of our Declaration of Independence reads,

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Image1RobinsonwithReese.tif

Teammates Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese

(photo courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.)

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Leviticus 19:18

Matthew 22:39

Introduction

"A life is not important except in the impact

it has on other lives." Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson’s quote, inscribed on his gravestone in Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, captures much of the essence of brotherhood. Players featured in this book favorably impacted others. Therefore, they serve as positive models of brotherhood. The fact we still recall their acts gives a continuing heartbeat to their lives. None were saints. Like the rest of us, they were all human and some had serious shortcomings. The message is clear. At a moment in time, each did as described by Robert Frost in his wonderful poem, The Road Not Taken,

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

The roads taken by these men made a difference; a difference reflective of brotherhood. Brotherhood involves offering more than friendship, it involves caring and extending support regardless of the others’ background or circumstances. Brotherhood offers a hand, gives a hug, presents a smile and renders support. Former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali said, The service we give to others is the rent we pay for the life we have here on Earth.¹

Former major league baseball catcher and 1991 Baseball Hall of Fame Ford C. Frick Award winner for broadcasting, Joe Garagiola, correctly characterized baseball when he said, Let a double play ball come to the shortstop. Does he ask himself if the second baseman is Catholic, Baptist, Jew, Methodist, black, white, or polka dot?… Baseball is a game of race, creed, and color. The race is to first base. The creed is the rules of the game. The color? Well, the home team wears white, and the visiting team wears gray.²

Within these pages, a team is created representative of brotherhood. There are 17 position players, eight pitchers, a manager, two coaches, and an owner. No attempt is made to say this team is all-encompassing, or that others are not equally representative, or more noteworthy. This team could win a World Series. More than that, their noted acts place them in a special hall of honor.

Dante Alighieri, in his epic poem, The Divine Comedy, depicting the soul’s journey to God, wrote,

"The Hottest Places in Hell Are Reserved

for Those Who in a Period of Moral Crisis

Maintain Their Neutrality."³

When faced with a difficult situation, our team members did not remain neutral. At a significant moment in their careers, they stepped up to the plate and hit the equivalent of a the walk-off home run.

Who can quantify the totality of these men’s lives? Noted sportswriter Grantland Rice once said,

"For when the One Great Scorer comes

To mark against your name,

He writes – not that you won or lost –

But how you played the Game."⁴

One can only hope these and similar ripples of brotherhood continue to flow well into the rivers of life.

Baseball is special. Within these pages, players provide a template of racial acceptance. The color of a man’s skin was not and would not be the measure of a man. It was their game, baseball, our national pastime, which led the way. It became the first American institution to desegregate voluntarily.⁵ These players had a role in it. We can learn from them. They offered a lighthouse in the sea of brotherhood.

In the Torah, Genesis 4:9, after killing his brother, Abel, Cain responded to God with the question, Am I my brother’s keeper? It is a century’s old rhetorical question. There is only one answer.

Image2Mosaic.jpg

Cain killing Abel

Byzantine mosaic, Cathedral of Monreale (Italy)

Our nation and the world need not be polarized along racial or ethnic lines. We can learn from this team and these players. Each in their own way, in their own time and under circumstances unique to them, provided an answer to Cain’s question.

Jackie Robinson had openly challenged us saying, You cannot believe in the Fatherhood of God without acknowledging the brotherhood of men of all races. ⁶

Our team includes a starting lineup of Hall of Famers:

Image3HallofFame.jpg

National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY

(author’s photo)

There are others, the not so well known, too, whose stories are noteworthy and recorded. Their acts, although natural to them and seemingly minor at the time, now tingle once again in our ears.

"They loved the game

and cared for each other.

By standing together

as if they were brothers."

WBS Sept. 2017

1

Hank Greenberg

Hero

First Base

Our consideration for the Brotherhood team starts with first baseman Henry Benjamin Greenberg, or Hank as we know him. A lifetime .313 hitter covering 13 MLB seasons, Hammerin’ Hank led the American League in home runs three times: 1935 with 36 dingers, 1938 with 58, and 1940 with 41. Greenberg was named the American League MVP in 1935 as he led the league with 168 RBI. His prowess continued two years later when he accounted for a league-leading 184 runs batted in. In his last full season before the war, 1940, this prolific slugger was again named league MVP when his homers and 150 RBI yielded league-leading Slugging (.670) and On-Base + Slugging (1.103) numbers. A four-time All-Star, Greenberg was elected to our National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956.¹

Born in Manhattan to immigrant Romanian Jewish parents, David and Sarah Schwartz Greenberg,² he faced anti-Semitism most of his life. It started at the beginning when his given first name at birth was supposed to be Hyman, but the individual completing his birth certificate misunderstood his family’s pronunciation and wrote Henry instead. In his youth, the future slugger went by Hymie or Hy and it wasn’t until later he learned his official name was really Henry.³ The stereotype of the time was that Jews were supposed to be smart, but not athletic. Greenberg’s feats would splinter that perception. Hitler’s belief in a superior Aryan race would be shattered by the 36 oz. Louisville Slugger bat in the hands of an American Jew named Henry Greenberg. Famed civil rights lawyer and former Harvard Law School professor, Alan Dershowitz, would say of this Hall of Famer, I think he may have been the single most important Jew to live in the 1930s.⁴

Former major league manager (Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Cleveland) and four-time All-Star catcher, George Birdie Tebbetts,⁵ would say of his former teammate, I think Hank was abused more than any other white ballplayer or any ethnic player except Jackie Robinson.⁶

Image4Greenberg.tif

Hank Greenberg illustration

(courtesy of Ronnie Joyner)

Greenberg was very much a patriot. As the first ballplayer called up by the new draft in October 1940, he would be subsequently discharged by the Army based on his age. Once the war was officially declared, the married ballplayer reenlisted, becoming again the first player to enter the war.⁷ He thus traded a major league salary for a recruits paltry pay. Although initially receiving a cushy assignment based upon his baseball notoriety, Greenberg volunteered for combat duty and was assigned to an initial B-29 group destined for India and China.⁸ Greenberg served 47 months, longer than nearly all regular major leaguers.⁹ Hammerin’ Hank would miss over three prime playing years by volunteering to serve our country and do his part in fighting Fascism.

Having faced anti-Semitism throughout his life, Greenberg shared an intolerance for prejudice of any kind. His accepting attitude became very evident in May of 1947 when his path crossed Jack Roosevelt Robinson.

At the time, Greenberg was a 36-year-old seasoned veteran playing first base for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After leading the American League in home runs (44) and RBI (127) in 1946, the aging slugger had been surprisingly traded to the National League Pirates. The trade was costly. By 1947, Greenberg was the highest salaried player in baseball at $85,000 per annum.¹⁰

Jackie Robinson was the African-American Brooklyn Dodger rookie making his Pittsburgh debut in the three-game series at Forbes Field beginning on Thursday, May 15. It would be only Robinson’s 23rd game of his major league career and would follow a series of threats, horrific name calling and ugly treatments in St. Louis, Philadelphia and Cincinnati.

Robinson had been a four-sport letterman at UCLA, an All-American in football, a scoring champion in basketball and had excelled in baseball and track. During the war, Robinson served our country as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. In 1945, as a Kansas City Monarch, he was voted the starting shortstop for the West team in the Negro League All-Star game played before over 30,000 fans at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Playing his initial organized baseball season with the Montreal Royals of the International League, Robinson would capture the league batting crown with an amazing .349 average.¹¹, ¹²

Robinson broke major league baseball’s color barrier and long-established so-called gentleman’s agreement when, wearing the number 42 on his visiting Dodger blue uniform, he took the field in Brooklyn on April 15, 1947. Weeks later, the team would travel to Pittsburgh for the series against the home-standing Pirates.

Pittsburgh was a steel town with immigrant neighborhoods and proud families. How would they react to seeing a black face in a heretofore white man’s game? As sensitive as the fans might be, Jackie was even more on edge. The answer would become a benchmark of a brotherhood shared by two players from totally different backgrounds.

In the first game of the three-game set, the Pirate manager encouraged his pitchers, at selected times, to throw at Robinson. Being knocked down was something Robinson had to become accustomed to early in his career. Home team bench jockeys throughout the National League rode Robinson unmercifully with all types of racial insults. It was no different at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. As the Pirate first baseman, Greenberg could hear all the ugliness coming from his bench and the nearby fans as Robinson approached the plate, batting second and playing first base for the visiting Dodgers.

In the first game, Robinson displayed a Negro League trademark and laid down a slow rolling bunt. Fielding the ball, Pirate pitcher Ed Bahr hurried his throw to Greenberg at first base. The toss was wide. As he reached for the ball, Greenberg collided with the hustling Robinson. The ball escaped his glove and rolled away. Robinson, although stumbling from the encounter, scampered safely to second base. The crowd was stunned. It was an incident many had feared could have resulted in a nasty racial problem. Had any other first baseman been run over as Greenberg had, it may well have been, but not today. The man Robinson collided with was a man of character. Greenberg willingly accepted Robinson as a fellow ballplayer and man.

In the next inning, the Dodgers walked Greenberg. As he met Robinson at first base, he would say, Hope I didn’t hurt you, Jackie. I tried to keep out of your way but it was impossible. Jackie acknowledged he was not hurt, only knocked off balance. "Listen,’ Greenberg would say, ‘I know it’s plenty tough. You’re a good ballplayer, however, and you’ll do all right. Just stay in there and fight back. Always remember to keep your head up."¹³

Robinson would write in his Jackie Robinson Says column, Class tells. It sticks out all over Mr. Greenberg. Robinson’s friend and chronicler, Wendell Smith, would pen, The Greenberg-Robinson collision was the sort of play that integration opponents had said would provoke riots in the stands. Instead, it showed how smoothly integration was proceeding.¹⁴

These welcoming comments from an established star meant a great deal to Robinson. It was a true testament to acceptance and brotherhood. Robinson would share the memorable story with others in years to come. It was even noted the very next day with a New York Times headline that read, ‘Hank Greenberg, A Hero to Dodgers’ Negro Star.’¹⁵

After the collision, Greenberg made sure Robinson wasn’t hurt. He would become the first opposing player to welcome Robinson to the big leagues. After their get acquainted first base chat, Greenberg even invited Robinson out to dinner. Not wanting to put his new friend on the spot, Robinson declined.¹⁶

Having faced prejudice all his life, some might consider Greenberg the Jewish Jackie Robinson. His friend could likewise be called the black Hank Greenberg.¹⁷ Whichever phrase one chose to use, it would be a compliment to the other player. Pirate outfielder, Ralph Kiner (HOF 1975), a seven-time National League home run champion, said of teammate Greenberg, The one guy on our team who befriended [Robinson] was Hank Greenberg…Hank went out of his way to encourage him.¹⁸

Although the Pirates won the game, seven to three, Robinson continued to demonstrate he belonged in the majors by going two for 5 in the contest with a couple of runs batted in.

Greenberg’s inclusive nature continued as he later became the General Manager of the Cleveland Indians, serving over 10 years, starting in 1948. In recognizing the value of a man’s skills and not his race, Greenberg had an important role in the signing and development of many players of color.

Outfielder Joe Caffie was a former Cleveland Buckeye in the Negro Leagues. In organized baseball’s minor leagues with Duluth Dukes team, Caffie won the Most Valuable Player Award of the Northern League in 1952. It would be Greenberg who presented the trophy to him and later brought him to the majors. Outfielder Harry Suitcase Simpson, catcher Quincy Trouppe and right-handed pitcher Dave Hoskins were others nurtured under Greenberg’s tenure when other organizations were reluctant to sign black players.

Simpson made the Cleveland Indians roster in 1952. Grigsby¹⁹ would say of his promotion to the big club, The significance of Simpson’s career is that Hank Greenberg was willing to take a chance on him in a time general managers held out for the ‘perfect black player’. Simpson would go on to have an eight-year major league career including being named to the American League All-Star team in 1956.

In 1955, Greenberg’s second