The Brooklyn Dodgers became the Los Angeles Dodgers as the team made its historic move to the West Coast in 1958. I was 15 years old and I haven’t been the same since that move.
My team was the Brooklyn Dodgers. In my mind the Dodgers never moved from Ebbets Field. They are still in Brooklyn. Dodgers like PeeWee Reese, Don Drysdale, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Sandy Koufax, Don Newcombe, and my hero, Roy “Campy” Campanella, they are still in Brooklyn.
Campy was a catcher. He earned 3 MVPs and was on 8 All-Star teams. After 9 years in the Negro and Mexican leagues he entered the minors in 1946. Campy was one of the earliest Black players to enter major league baseball.
I used a bat with Campy’s signature burnt into it. I followed his stats. He was a great hitter as well as the best behind the plate.
I was a catcher from my first year in little league until my junior year of high school. To me there was no other position to play. I loved putting on the chest protector, the shin guards, the mask, and the cup. I worked every pitch. I had a view of the entire field. I loved the action. In fact I was known for my catching ability. In grade school I would go to the men’s Sunday afternoon league games at our local ballpark. The players would give me a catcher’s mitt and say, “Come watch this kid catch these fast balls. Hell, he even grabs the curves.” They couldn’t throw hard enough or have enough stuff on the ball that I couldn’t catch it. I caught everything! Later on in junior high and high school I had good stats for hitting. I was in the top five with batting average and hits. Occasionally I would line a shot over the fence. A local guy was a regular at games at Rogers Park (not named after me) and had watched many players come and go. He said I was one of the best catchers he had ever seen!
The summer parks director and high school baseball coach came to our home one day to see if my parents could take me to a practice batting cage with a pitching machine, where one just takes a stance and keeps swinging. Mr. Peck said he would assist me in getting a baseball scholarship at Tulane University in New Orleans, Mr. Peck’s Alma Mater.
At the time I was playing tennis tournaments and also trying to keep up with the baseball commitment. It seemed that I was always running with a sore arm. The combination of the forehand tennis stroke motion and the overhand throw to second base wasn’t working. I could throw and hit the bag for a put out but my bicep was screaming with pain. Another thing was happening. Catchers in our high school conference — Michigan City, LaPorte, South Bend Adams and Central, were big dudes. Very strong arms for tossing out base runners. And they had the brawn to take a collision at home base when a runner was trying to score. It became more obvious that I was not big enough, tough enough, to go far in baseball. And my hitting was suffering. I faced pitchers that were later on called into the majors. And I really loved tennis. And my tiny, weak bicep needed to recover.
Yeah, like Marlon Brando’s character said in On the Waterfront, “I coulda been a contender”, but it was not to be. My hopes were shattered. I was left with beating the fuzz off a tennis ball.
A note on Campy:
His playing career ended when he was paralyzed in an automobile accident in January 1958. He is considered one of the greatest catchers in the history of the game.
After he retired as a player as a result of the accident, Campanella held positions in scouting and community relations with the Dodgers. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969. Wikipedia
Great to hear from you. Yes, Howard was so good. And yes, he was the first Black with Yankees according to Wikipedia. Fun memories of those years. Hope all is well.
Roger,
I was born in 1951.
My favorite catcher is Elston Howard, who, if I remember correctly, took over catching from Yogi Berra. Great catcher - great hitter.
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Was Elston the first African American hired by the Yankees to play MLB?