Jackie Robinson in the Negro Leagues
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Jackie Robinson before a game for the Kansas City Monarchs at their home field.
Jackie Robinson only played one season in the Negro Leagues, but it ended up being extremely important. Robinson played shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945, but he only played in 47 games. However, his statistic line was very impressive. Jackie hit .387 with the Monarchs, including 63 hits, 18 extra-base hits, 5 homeruns, and 13 stolen bases. Newt Allen, Jackie’s manager with the Monarchs, had this to say about his sparkplug shortstop. “He was awfully smart. He didn’t have the ability at first, but he had the brains. Jackie was one-third ability and two-thirds brains, and that made him a great ballplayer.”
Jackie wasn’t very happy when he found out what he had to put up with in the Negro Leagues. Buck O’Neil said, “Growing up like he did in California, Jackie went to integrated schools and played on integrated teams. So when he got to the all-black Monarchs and he saw all the things he had to put up with—the Jim Crow laws, the separate drinking fountains and restrooms—he became furious.” This showed especially when an incident arose in the town of Muskogee Oklahoma. The Monarchs had been stopping at a gas station there for a long time, where there was only one restroom that they weren’t allowed to use (because of their race). They pulled into Muskogee and stopped at that station, and Jackie Robinson got out to use the restroom. He started walking towards the restroom when the owner of the gas station (who was pumping gas) called after Jackie. He said, “Hey boy! You know you can’t go in there.” Jackie then asked why. The owner’s answer was, “Because we don’t allow colored people in that restroom.” The whole team knew about Robinson’s hot temper and wondered what he would do about the situation. He turned and looked at the owner and said, “Take the hose out of the tank.” When the owner just stood there and looked at him, he repeated himself. He then turned to his Kansas City teammates and said, “Let’s go. We don’t want his gas.” The owner knew about how much gas the team wanted to buy, and knew that he wouldn’t sell another 100 gallons of gas (what the bus held) until the team came back in a few weeks. So, he said, “All right. You boys can use the restroom. But don’t stay long.” The most important part of this is that the Monarchs decided to not patronize a place where they couldn’t use their facilities.
Robinson could be considered an outsider when it came to the world of Negro League Baseball. Jackie was a non-smoker and a non-drinker, something that you didn’t find too often in the Negro Leagues. According to Jules Tygel’s book Jackie Robinson and His Legacy, Robinson was accustomed to intercollegiate competition so he found “the loose scheduling and erratic play” of the Negro Leagues “appalling.” Jackie Robinson often spoke of impending integration. Othello Renfroe, Robinson’s teammate on the Monarchs, once said, “We’d ride miles and miles on the bus and his whole talk was ‘Well you guys better get ready because pretty soon baseball’s going to sign one of us.’” As we all know, he eventually would be correct about that.
In Robinson’s own autobiography, he talks about the difficult lifestyle of a Negro League baseball player. “These teams were poorly financed, and their management and promotion left much to be desired.” Robinson also added that traveling was a hassle. “…we left Kansas City on a Sunday night, traveled to Philadelphia, reaching there Tuesday morning. We played a doubleheader that night and the next day we were on the road again.” The meals provided and the hotel reservations were not exactly top of the line either. “This fatiguing travel wouldn’t have been so bad if we could have decent meals. Finding satisfactory or even passable eating places was almost a daily problem. There was no hotel in many of the places we played. Sometimes there was a hotel for blacks which had no eating facilities. No one even thought of trying to get accommodations in white hotels. Some of the crummy eating joints would not serve us at all. You could never sit down to a relaxed hot meal. You were lucky if they magnanimously permitted you to carry out some greasy hamburgers in a paper bag with a container of coffee. You were really living when you were able to get a plate of cold cuts. You ate on board the team bus or on the road.” Jackie Robinson said that he felt trapped in Negro League baseball, but the solution to his problem would be only days away when Mr. Branch Rickey offered him a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the first Major League Baseball organization to ever harbor an African American baseball player.
Jackie wasn’t very happy when he found out what he had to put up with in the Negro Leagues. Buck O’Neil said, “Growing up like he did in California, Jackie went to integrated schools and played on integrated teams. So when he got to the all-black Monarchs and he saw all the things he had to put up with—the Jim Crow laws, the separate drinking fountains and restrooms—he became furious.” This showed especially when an incident arose in the town of Muskogee Oklahoma. The Monarchs had been stopping at a gas station there for a long time, where there was only one restroom that they weren’t allowed to use (because of their race). They pulled into Muskogee and stopped at that station, and Jackie Robinson got out to use the restroom. He started walking towards the restroom when the owner of the gas station (who was pumping gas) called after Jackie. He said, “Hey boy! You know you can’t go in there.” Jackie then asked why. The owner’s answer was, “Because we don’t allow colored people in that restroom.” The whole team knew about Robinson’s hot temper and wondered what he would do about the situation. He turned and looked at the owner and said, “Take the hose out of the tank.” When the owner just stood there and looked at him, he repeated himself. He then turned to his Kansas City teammates and said, “Let’s go. We don’t want his gas.” The owner knew about how much gas the team wanted to buy, and knew that he wouldn’t sell another 100 gallons of gas (what the bus held) until the team came back in a few weeks. So, he said, “All right. You boys can use the restroom. But don’t stay long.” The most important part of this is that the Monarchs decided to not patronize a place where they couldn’t use their facilities.
Robinson could be considered an outsider when it came to the world of Negro League Baseball. Jackie was a non-smoker and a non-drinker, something that you didn’t find too often in the Negro Leagues. According to Jules Tygel’s book Jackie Robinson and His Legacy, Robinson was accustomed to intercollegiate competition so he found “the loose scheduling and erratic play” of the Negro Leagues “appalling.” Jackie Robinson often spoke of impending integration. Othello Renfroe, Robinson’s teammate on the Monarchs, once said, “We’d ride miles and miles on the bus and his whole talk was ‘Well you guys better get ready because pretty soon baseball’s going to sign one of us.’” As we all know, he eventually would be correct about that.
In Robinson’s own autobiography, he talks about the difficult lifestyle of a Negro League baseball player. “These teams were poorly financed, and their management and promotion left much to be desired.” Robinson also added that traveling was a hassle. “…we left Kansas City on a Sunday night, traveled to Philadelphia, reaching there Tuesday morning. We played a doubleheader that night and the next day we were on the road again.” The meals provided and the hotel reservations were not exactly top of the line either. “This fatiguing travel wouldn’t have been so bad if we could have decent meals. Finding satisfactory or even passable eating places was almost a daily problem. There was no hotel in many of the places we played. Sometimes there was a hotel for blacks which had no eating facilities. No one even thought of trying to get accommodations in white hotels. Some of the crummy eating joints would not serve us at all. You could never sit down to a relaxed hot meal. You were lucky if they magnanimously permitted you to carry out some greasy hamburgers in a paper bag with a container of coffee. You were really living when you were able to get a plate of cold cuts. You ate on board the team bus or on the road.” Jackie Robinson said that he felt trapped in Negro League baseball, but the solution to his problem would be only days away when Mr. Branch Rickey offered him a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the first Major League Baseball organization to ever harbor an African American baseball player.
"Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games."
-Babe Ruth