The Man Who Should Have Gotten Some Credit for Baseball's Integration, But Didn't

By Michael Goro Takeuchi

Lester Rodney, one of the first journalists to call for the end of segregation in baseball.

   "I ain't gonna play with no n---"  

Brooklyn Dodgers player Carl Furillo in 1946  prior to meeting Jackie Robinson

If there is a heaven, I'm hoping that Lester Rodney is sitting next to Jackie Robinson and Wendell Smith eating a hot dog and smiling down upon Dodger Stadium enjoying watching all the 42's run around the field.  Because God knows, he enjoyed it from the press box...and although uncredited, he played a part in it.
  Rodney, who died in 2009, was one of the first journalists to decry the unwritten but very much in existence rule of segregation in baseball starting in 1936, 11 years before Robinson played his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers.  He, along with black journalists like Wendell Smith of the Pittsburgh Courier, would shout out in print that players like Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige should get there due.  And when Robinson became known,  he became Mr. Rodney's personal crusade.
   However Rodney, a WWII veteran in the South Pacific, was until a few years ago, a mere footnote in the books about Branch Rickey because he was rarely acknowledged due to one factor, the publication that he worked for was the Communist paper, the Daily Worker.  Although it may be difficult to comprehend in this modern age and political climate, but during the Great Depression the Daily Worker was one of most widely read publication in this country.
  Rodney, who was an unemployed college graduate, wrote to the Daily Worker complaining about its lack of sports coverage.   Tiring of this harangue, the editor promptly hired him as the publication's first editor.   The sports page was just like any other, covering sports and writing feature stories.  But it also included commentary about the social impact of sports. His bent caught the attention of one entity, only it wasn't MLB.  It was the FBI.  According to this "Forbes" article (http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampbarrett/2010/12/23/fbi-kept-tabs-for-decades-on-press-box-red/), Rodney was on the "watch list", even getting the attention of J. Edgar Hoover himself.  In fact, unbeknownst to him, Rodney was mentioned in Hoover's book "Master's of Deceit".   His typewriter was considered lethal by the government.
  It was from behind this typewriter that Rodney began to campaign for the integration of baseball.
  In an interview with him several years ago,  Rodney said this.
  "Blacks were denied the right to compete with and against the 'best Major League players'. Here were these wonderful players like Josh 'Hoot' Gibson, Buck Leonard and later, Satchel Paige.  This was a terrible wrong that needed to be righted." 
  Starting in 1936, Decade began waging a virtually one-man decade-long campaign by getting players and managers to speak out against segregation.  He called out baseball's Commissioner Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis and many others.  The actions of Rodney, Smith and others were instrumental in Dodger president Branch Rickey's signing of Robinson to a minor league contract in 1946.  A year later, he would be promoted to the Dodgers.
  Rickey, a staunch anti-communist, refused to credit Rodney and the Daily Worker in playing any role.
  "It didn't matter who got the credit, because we just wanted to end the f--- ban," Rodney said.
 As a regular writer covering the Yankees, Dodgers and Giants, Rodney was "privileged" to cover many players like Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays.  Rodney was covering the game when Mays made his famous catch off the bat of Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series (http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/6479266/v3218956/bb-moments-54-ws-gm-1-willie-mays-amazing-catch).
   "I just remember in the press box everyone going 'whoo!" Rodney said with a laugh.  "There was almost a breach of protocol (of no cheering) in the press box."
  Rodney, who was featured in a 2010 ESPN "Outside the Lines" episode,  also was privy to some private moments that were equally memorable.  One occurred in 1947 shortly after it was announced that Robinson was promoted from the Dodgers farm team, the Montreal Royals, to the Big League club.  Some of the members of the Dodgers were none too happy that "a negro" would be joining them.  Among those voicing their displeasure were Dixie Walker, who was particularly against Robinson joining him.  Others expressed themselves as well, including outfielder Carl Furillo who uttered something within Rodney's earshot.
   "I ain't going to play with no niggers," Furillo said.
  "Carl wasn't as vocal as some of the others, especially some of the players from the South.  He was just a kid from a coal mining town in Pennsylvania who didn't know any better." 
 Eight years later, after the Dodgers finally defeated the Yankees in the 1955 World Series, was Furillo, joyfully dancing cheek-to-cheek with Robinson at the team's victory party.
  "That one moment spoke more to be about the change of a man's attitudes more than any words could."
  Another memorable time came during a game against the St. Louis Cardinals.  Rodney decided to walk around the concourse of Sportsman's Park when he came across an exchange between a Black fan and a white fan.  Robinson had just gotten a hit, when the Black fan stood up and started cheering.
  "The white fan said 'Hey pal, what's the big deal rooting against the Cardinals?  They're the home team.'  The Black guy rolls his sleeve up and points to his arm and says "Once the Cardinals gets one of these, I'll root for them.  But today I'm cheering for the Dodgers." 
  For an afternoon in Walnut Creek, Lester Rodney delighted my wife and I with story after story about the golden age of baseball.  It was something that I won't soon forget.   And he is someone I won't ever forget.

*Note Although he was never an official member of the Communist Party, Rodney had leftist leanings.  His attitude changed around the time of the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary in 1956 when he became aware of Stalin's methods,  After leaving the paper, he moved West to become the religion editor for the Long Beach Press Telegram. Ironic, considering he was an atheist in his previous job.


For more information I recommend reading Irwin Silber's book, "Press Box Red".

Below is an article I wrote on Jackie Robinson Day in 2007.

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A Tribute to Jackie Robinson  MIKE TAKEUCHI,  Locally and afar, Jackie Robinson's impact on baseball and beyond is remembered. Today's commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Robinson's debut in the Major Leagues will be celebrated across the country. Dodger Stadium will be the focal point of all of the festivities. Led by Robinson's widow, Rachel, and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, the Los Angeles event will include Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson throwing out the first pitch, Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Hudson singing the National Anthem, and several distinguished guest speakers. About 275 miles and one level away, a former resident will honor his legacy in his own way. Las Vegas 51s (the Dodger Triple-A affiliate) and former SBCC outfielder Delwyn Young played as a September call-up for the parent club. The holder of numerous school and Santa Barbara Foresters records, Young grew up in Los Angeles and is "extremely pleased" that someone he heard so much about is getting his due. "A player of his caliber, and more importantly a man of his caliber should at be able to get at least one day in his honor," Young said by telephone. "If it wasn't for him, a lot of us African Americans wouldn't be playing today." Jeff Idleson, the vice president of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, said that his legacy extends beyond the field. "Nobody has had a greater impact on changing the face of baseball than Jackie Robinson," Idleson said. "He single-handedly helped to destroy the building blocks of segregation, not only in baseball but in American society. Robinson's strong character, energizing style of play and ability to stand tall in the face of adversity benefited baseball, which with inclusion was a much stronger sport with better athletes, and benefited America, which in many ways, learned from baseball how to integrate society." Retired journalist and former Santa Barbara Open age group tennis champion Lester Rodney, once the sports editor for the Communist Party newspaper The Daily Worker, said that this was no understatement. At the time, Rodney was a regular Dodgers beat writer for the first paper to decry its segregation 10 years prior to Robinson's debut. "Campy (Dodger catcher Roy Campanella) used to tell me all of the time that they were the first -- the first to eat at restaurants, the first in certain hotels, the first to swim pools -- and he was right," Rodney said. "They began to turn the whole country. I remember the Dodgers were playing the Cardinals in St. Louis and this fan was being chided for rooting for the Dodgers. The guy pointed to his black skin and said once the Cardinals had one of these on the team, he would root for them again." According to UCSB Black Studies professor Clyde Woods, the impact was felt beyond the diamond. Woods, who grew up rooting for Frank Robinson and the Baltimore Orioles, specializes in urban history and popular culture. He said that Robinson responded incredibly despite knowing the risks for his race in baseball and beyond. "At the time there were three views in this country: those who wanted the barriers maintained, those who wanted them to come down, and still those who didn't believe they existed," Woods explained. "Baseball was a national sport with a tremendous profile during this era. And because of this, he was thrust into the fulcrum where his role was as much political figure and leader as baseball player, and became someone that all audiences could identify with, trust, and ultimately admire." Today Robinson is paid tribute by a generation that never saw him play. Sparked by Ken Griffey Jr.'s request, several individuals and six entire teams, including the Dodgers, will wear the number 42. Young has also expressed a desire to wear it. He says it is not only for Robinson, but for his family -- particularly his grandfather Fate. "Growing up in Los Angeles, my clearest memories growing up are going to the stadium and seeing my grandfather listening to the game on the radio," Young said. "I want to honor that family memory while paying tribute to a man I owe a lot to, Jackie Robinson."