Happy Jackie Robinson Day

Sixty three years ago today, the Brooklyn Dodgers opened their season by hosting the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field. When the local nine took the diamond in the top of the first, they had a rookie, the reigning International League MVP, manning first base. That man was Jackie Robinson, and he was the first African American to appear in a Major League game since the 1880s.

Today, Major League Baseball will observe Jackie Robinson Day, commemorating the anniversary of Robinson's debut. Robinson will be remembered not just because he was the first, but because of the grace and dignity with which he carried himself during Branch Rickey's great experiment. He laid a firm foundation for those who followed, and assured once and for all that baseball's long-standing gentleman's agreement would be finally cast aside.

Three months after Robinson debuted, Larry Doby broke the American League's color line, when he debuted with the Cleveland Indians. Robinson's Dodgers won the NL Pennant in '47, but lost to the Yankees in the Fall Classic. The following year, Doby's Indians, fortified by 41 year old rookie and Negro League legend Satchel Paige, beat out the Yankees and Red Sox in a three team pennant race, and went on to capture the World Series.

Quickly, most Major League clubs followed suit. In 1948 the Dodgers added Roy Campanella and in 1949, Don Newcombe, both key cogs on five pennant winners. Over in Upper Manhattan, the Giants brought on Monte Irvin and Hank Thompson in 1949, and Willie Mays in '51.

But New York's other club was slow to change. The Yankees won the World Series, their seventh in twelve years, when Robinson debuted in 1947. After being usurped by Doby, Paige, and the Indians in '48, the Yankees went on an unprecedented, and as of yet unmatched, run of five consecutive World Series championships from '49 through '53, ousting the Dodgers in '49, '52, and '53, and the Giants in '51. The Yankees may have been slow to react to the changing times, but it was hard to argue with the results.

However, their extended run of success may not have been the only reason the Yankees were hesitant to change. It's been widely reported that George Weiss, the club's Hall of Fame general manager during that era, was a racist. According to Peter Golenbock's Dynasty, a socially lubricated Weiss once said at a cocktail party "I will never allow a black man to wear a Yankee uniform. Boxholders from Westchester don't want that sort of crowd. They would be offended to have to sit with [redacted]".

Weiss' stance cost the Yankees the opportunity to sign some incredibly talented Negro Leaguers, including Willie Mays. Instead they opted to sign lesser talent who would populate their farm system, but had little real chance of making the Major League club. But as long as the Yankees kept winning, Weiss had a plausible defense.

In 1954 the Yankees won 103 games, their highest total since 1942. It was only good for second place. Cleveland, with Larry Doby in the heart of their lineup and patrolling center field, finished at 111-43, a whopping eight games ahead of the Yanks. They would eventually fall to Mays, Irvin, Thompson, and the Giants in the World Series.

With the Yankees dynastic run of five consecutive championships at an end, they could no longer hide behind the excuse that they were good enough to win without African American players. The club was under pressure - from pickets at the Stadium to allegations leveled by Robinson himself. The Yankees had traded away their best African American minor leaguer, Vic Power, at the conclusion of the 1953 season. But they had another viable prospect waiting in the wings.

On April 14, 1955, fifty five years ago yesterday and one day short of the eighth anniversary of Robinson's debut, Elston Howard became the first African American to play for the New York Yankees, making them the fourth to last club to integrate. Like Robinson, Howard was the reigning International League MVP at the time of his debut. Like Robinson, Howard had the proper character to carry the burden of being the first Yankee to break the color line; his plaque in Monument Park aptly describes him as "a man of great gentleness and dignity".

Though blocked behind the plate by Yogi Berra, Howard was a valuable contributor to the Yankees as a back up catcher, and spent some time outfielder and fist baseman. By 1960, with Berra aging, Howard took over as the primary catcher. In 1963, he earned the American League MVP, becoming the first African American to do so.

After twelve and a half productive seasons with the Yankees, Howard spent the final year and a half of his career with the Red Sox. Upon his retirement, he immediately returned to the Bronx as a coach. He served on the staffs of four different managers from 1969 through 1979, earning two more World Series rings to compliment the four he captured as a player. Even when the Bronx Zoo was at it worst during those years, Howard remained a calming presence, perhaps best illustrated by his role as a peacemaker when Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson nearly came to blows in the Fenway Park dugout during the summer of '77.

Despite the turmoil and turnover that marked the Yankees of that era, Howard was a constant. Coaches and managers came and went, but Howard remained. There was a good chance that he would eventually become the first African American manager of the Yankees. Instead, Howard fell ill with myocarditis, a rare heart disease. It kept him out of the Yankee dugout for the entire 1980 season, and eventually took his life that December. The Yankees retired his number and dedicated his Monument Park plaque in 1984.

Major League Baseball owes a debt of gratitude to the likes of Rickey, Robinson, Doby, Paige, Campanella, Newcombe, Irvin, Thompson, Mays, Howard, and all the other men who were strong enough to change the game's bigoted practices. At the risk going all Ken Burns/George Will here, baseball has long been an integral part of the fabric American life, and the changes that these men precipitated within the game foretold, and perhaps even influenced, the changes that would take place in society at large over the following decades.

It's a shame that the Mets, with their Brooklyn Dodgers obsession and Jackie Robinson Rotunda, are not home today to commemorate Jackie Robinson Day. But all 30 clubs will mark the day in one way or another. Mariano Rivera remains the final grandfathered player in baseball to wear #42, retired league wide by Bud Selig in 1997 in marking the fiftieth anniversary of Robinson's debut. In years past, Derek Jeter, Joe Torre, and Robinson Cano - named for Jackie Robinson and who switched to #24 three years ago to honor him - have joined Mo in donning Robinson's number for the day. I'm sure we'll see them and others rightly pay tribute him in that manner again today.

Remembering Old Reliable

Good morning Fackers. And of course, this particular morning is an especially good one, as yesterday the Yanks clinched the AL East and did so against the arch-rival Red Sox. Sixty years ago the Yankees also clinched against the Red Sox, but under circumstances that were far more dire.

On Saturday October 1, 1949, the Red Sox came into the Bronx for a season-ending two game series. They held a one game lead in the race for the AL flag, meaning the Yankees needed to sweep to take the pennant.

Saturday, the Yanks fell behind 4-0 in the third inning, then clawed back into it, pushing the go ahead run across in the bottom of the eighth to stay alive and make Sunday's contest the American League Championship Game.

The Yankees jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first, and the score remained that way until they tacked on four more in the bottom of the eighth. Those runs would be needed, as the Sox plated three in the ninth. With Birdie Tebbets at the plate as the tying run, Yankee ace Vic Raschi got him to foul out to end the game and give the Yankees the pennant.

The final out was caught by veteran Tommy Henrich, "Old Reliable" as Mel Allen had dubbed him due to his knack for big hits in big spots. Henrich was mentioned by Peter Abraham last weekend, as the death of former Yankee Lonny Frey left the 96 year-old Henrich as the oldest living Yankee.

Before Catfish Hunter, before Reggie Jackson, Henrich was the Yankees' first big free agent acquisition. Born in Ohio, Henrich signed with the Cleveland Indians in 1934. After being buried in the Cleveland system for three years without being advanced appropriately, Commissioner Kennesaw Landis declared Henrich's contract void, freeing him to sign with whichever club he chose. He signed with the Yankees in April 1937, and after a brief stint with the Newark Bears, he moved up to the big club.

Two weeks ago the New York Times ran an article mentioning how the Yankees - like many slow to integrate clubs -passed on an opportunity to sign Willie Mays after that 1949 season. After the article ran, River Ave Blues, Bronx Banter, The Yankees Universe and others salivated at the possibility of a Mantle-Mays-Maris outfield in the 1960s. While that assuredly would have been the greatest outfield in Yankee history, the greatest that did exist consisted of Henrich, Joe DiMaggio, and last Monday morning's topic, Charlie Keller.

DiMaggio debuted in 1936, a year before Henrich, and was an instant star. Henrich spent his rookie year as a bench player - albeit a productive one - before becoming the regular right fielder in 1938. Despite posting an OPS+ of 119, it wasn't enough to establish Henrich as a permanent starter. The arrival of Keller in 1939 pushed Henrich back to the bench, as the Yankee outfield consisted of DiMaggio, Keller, and George Selkirk, all of whom posted an OPS+ of at least 143.

Selkirk had another fine season in 1940, and still received the majority of the time, but Henrich posted better numbers in his part time duty and missed a large portion of the year due to knee surgery. In 1941, he finally became the regular right fielder, joining DiMaggio and Keller. The trio combined for 94 home runs, with the right handed DiMaggio's 30 trailing the two lefties. Henrich's 31 longballs was third in the league, while his OPS+ of 136 was good for tenth in the league, but last in his own outfield.

That fall, Henrich was at the plate for one of the more notorious moments in World Series history. He was at bat in the ninth inning of Game 4 with Dodgers about to even the Series at two games apiece. Henrich struck out for what would have been the game's final out, but Dodgers catcher Mickey Owens allowed the ball to get by him. Henrich ran to first, the Yankees rallied, with Keller driving in Henrich and DiMaggio to give the Yankees the lead. Rather than being tied at two games apiece, the Yankees took a commanding 3-1 lead en route to their fifth championship in six seasons.

The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor two months and one day after that Series ended, bringing the U.S. into World War II and altering the landscape of Major League Baseball for the next four seasons. The trio managed to stay in tact a year longer, winning the club's sixth pennant in seven seasons, but falling to the Cardinals in the World Series. DiMaggio and Henrich missed the entirety of 1943-45 while Keller missed the 1944 season and most of 1945, all due to military service.

1946 saw the end of the War in both theaters, with most Major Leaguers returning to their chosen profession. The trio reunited for one final season before Keller's back relegated him to part time duty.

Henrich remained with the club through 1950, winning three more World Series rings to run his career total to seven. He led the AL in triples in 1947 and 48, and in runs in '48 while posting a career best OPS+ of 151. He hit the first walkoff HR in World Series during Game 1 of the 1949 Series. He made the All-Star team five times, including each of his last four seasons. After taking four seasons to establish himself as a starter early in his career, Henrich turned in what were perhaps his best seasons after WWII, in what should have been the decline phase of his career.

As we said about Keller last week and as we said of their teammate Joe Gordon earlier this summer, Henrich is something of a forgotten Yankee superstar. Given the rich history of the franchise, it's easy for such players to get lost in the shuffle behind Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra, and Mantle, particularly when it's been nearly 60 years since these men last played for the Yanks. But that shouldn't diminish the contributions that these less legendary greats made during their time in pinstripes.