Johnny Roseboro caught 1,476 regular-season games for the Dodgers between 1957 and 1967. He won four pennants and three World Series titles. He caught Sandy Koufax's perfect game on September 9, 1965. He was a two-time All-Star and a Gold Glove winner.
And in a sport that, in the 1960s, was profoundly hostile to Black catchers — there were almost none, and the ones who tried were quietly steered to the outfield — Roseboro was the steadiest, smartest battery mate of his generation.
The bat to the head
You can't write about Johnny Roseboro without writing about August 22, 1965, when Juan Marichal swung a bat at his head. The wound took 14 stitches. The Dodgers won the pennant anyway. Roseboro caught Koufax's perfect game eighteen days later.
What he did after is the part that gets less attention. He forgave Marichal publicly. Years later, when Marichal's Hall of Fame candidacy was stalling — voters held the incident against him — Roseboro lobbied the writers on his behalf. Marichal got in in 1983 and called Roseboro one of his closest friends. That is the kind of man Johnny Roseboro was.
He died in 2002. The Dodgers retired his number 8 in spirit if not in monument. They should make it official.
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