Chapter 2 The Big Leagues and Beyond Jackie Robinson broke into the majors with Brooklyn in 1947. His trials and tribulations have been well documented. But despite his breaking the color barrier, there was no real rush by any major league team to follow the Dodgers lead. Larry Doby was signed by the Indians, 3 months after Jackie made his debut and went straight to the majors from the Negro…
Part One The Beginning Leroy “Satchel” Paige. He threw his first professional pitch in 1926. He threw his last in 1966, forty years later. In between those years, he threw more pitches in more games and ballparks than any other pitcher in baseball history. He was, in fact, a living legend. He was also a great promoter, of himself. But beyond that, he was probably one of the most talented…
A little premature to know if AF is finished yet, but the Dodger bullpen has already been overhauled some. Knebel, Cleavenger, Kahnle, the new kids on the block. Kahnle will not pitch this season, and Cleavenger has never pitched above AA. Wood and Baez have gone to SF and Houston respectively, and McGee so far has not been signed anywhere. And the roster sits at 40. There are all sorts…
I have had over the years many favorite comedians. Red Skelton, Robin Williams, Richard Prior, George Carlin, just to name a few. But there have been some people connected to baseball who I found to be very funny also. Probably the first I remember was Joe Garagiola. As most of us know, Joe played for the Cardinals and Pirates. He was a decent catcher, but not as good as his…
There’s a pretty good chance, unless you are an ardent student of “old-time” baseball and you are a scholarly student of the Negro Leagues, that you have never heard of Bullet Rogan. I have to confess that I knew very little of Bullet Joe Rogan until my recent article on the Negro Leagues. Frankly, even with the information we have, there is far too little known about him. From those…
I love history of all kinds. US History and baseball history are at the top of my list. I like to gather as much of that history as I can. And Dodger history is peppered with many colorful individuals. Zachariah Davis Wheat was born in Hamilton Missouri on May 23rd, 1888. His mother, Julia, was a full blooded Cherokee. Hamilton is located about 60 miles northeast of Kansas City. Back…
The other night I watched a few innings of the Dodger intra-squad. Even though they added piped in music, and “fan noise” it was still difficult for me to get excited about the game. One thing I did enjoy, however, was watching Josiah Gray pitch. He is a good one folks! And, if baseball ever returns to some semblance of normalcy, I can see great things ahead for him. Both…
Let’s face it, there has never been another Jackie Robinson and there never will be. However, there was another young man who broke the color barrier in major league baseball as a pitcher. Some time ago I heard a trivia question to which I knew the answer. The question was: “Who was the first black pitcher in major league baseball?” This has the makings of an Abbott and Costello skit….