Rebecca T. Alpert
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195399004
- eISBN:
- 9780199897360
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195399004.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter chronicles the long history of activism that made it possible for Jackie Robinson to break baseball's color line. Sportswriters for more than a dozen African American newspapers led the ...
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This chapter chronicles the long history of activism that made it possible for Jackie Robinson to break baseball's color line. Sportswriters for more than a dozen African American newspapers led the effort. They were supported by three Jewish sportswriters for the communist newspaper The Daily Worker. Lester Rodney, Bill Mardo, and Nat Low argued for baseball's integration beginning in 1936. They organized tryouts with major league teams for Negro League players; conducted letter-writing campaigns, protests, and boycotts; and provided the only consistent coverage of Negro League games in the mainstream press. The chapter also looks at the strategic role played by Bill Benswanger, the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the only Jewish owner of a major league team during this era. It examines the roles Ed Gottlieb and Abe Saperstein played in the legendary stories about purchasing and integrating the Philadelphia Phillies when the team declared bankruptcy in 1943.Less
This chapter chronicles the long history of activism that made it possible for Jackie Robinson to break baseball's color line. Sportswriters for more than a dozen African American newspapers led the effort. They were supported by three Jewish sportswriters for the communist newspaper The Daily Worker. Lester Rodney, Bill Mardo, and Nat Low argued for baseball's integration beginning in 1936. They organized tryouts with major league teams for Negro League players; conducted letter-writing campaigns, protests, and boycotts; and provided the only consistent coverage of Negro League games in the mainstream press. The chapter also looks at the strategic role played by Bill Benswanger, the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the only Jewish owner of a major league team during this era. It examines the roles Ed Gottlieb and Abe Saperstein played in the legendary stories about purchasing and integrating the Philadelphia Phillies when the team declared bankruptcy in 1943.
Abraham Iqbal Khan
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617031380
- eISBN:
- 9781621032564
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617031380.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sport and Leisure
This book examines the public discourse surrounding Curt Flood (1938–1997), the star center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals throughout the 1960s. In 1969, Flood was traded to the Philadelphia ...
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This book examines the public discourse surrounding Curt Flood (1938–1997), the star center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals throughout the 1960s. In 1969, Flood was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. At the time, all Major League Baseball players were subject to the reserve clause, which essentially bound a player to work in perpetuity for his original team, unless traded for another player or sold for cash, in which case he worked under the same reserve conditions for the next team. Flood refused the trade on a matter of principle, arguing that Major League Baseball had violated both U.S. antitrust laws and the 13th Amendment’s prohibition of involuntary servitude. In a defiant letter to Commissioner Bowie Kuhn asking for his contractual release, Flood infamously wrote, “after twelve years in the major leagues, I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes.” Most significantly, Flood appeared on national television with Howard Cosell and described himself as a “well-paid slave.” Explosive controversy ensued. The book examines the ways in which the media constructed the case and Flood’s persona. By examining the mainstream press, the black press, and primary sources, including Flood’s autobiography, it exposes the complexities of what it means to be a prominent black American athlete—in 1969 and today.Less
This book examines the public discourse surrounding Curt Flood (1938–1997), the star center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals throughout the 1960s. In 1969, Flood was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. At the time, all Major League Baseball players were subject to the reserve clause, which essentially bound a player to work in perpetuity for his original team, unless traded for another player or sold for cash, in which case he worked under the same reserve conditions for the next team. Flood refused the trade on a matter of principle, arguing that Major League Baseball had violated both U.S. antitrust laws and the 13th Amendment’s prohibition of involuntary servitude. In a defiant letter to Commissioner Bowie Kuhn asking for his contractual release, Flood infamously wrote, “after twelve years in the major leagues, I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes.” Most significantly, Flood appeared on national television with Howard Cosell and described himself as a “well-paid slave.” Explosive controversy ensued. The book examines the ways in which the media constructed the case and Flood’s persona. By examining the mainstream press, the black press, and primary sources, including Flood’s autobiography, it exposes the complexities of what it means to be a prominent black American athlete—in 1969 and today.
