Modesty was a characteristic rarely attributed to Williams. When asked early on in his career how he would like to be remembered, Ted reportedly responded without a moment’s hesitation. “I want people to say, there goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived.”

Blessed with remarkable eyes. Williams could pick up the spin on the ball within milliseconds of when it was released from the pitcher’s hand. This ability, along with great wrists and a fluid swing, struck fear in the hearts of opposing pitchers for two glorious decades. During his career, much was written about Williams’ outstanding eyesight. Reporters claimed that he avoided movies because of the potential harm to his vision and that he could see the stitching on the ball within a few feet of leaving the pitcher’s hand. In an interview on Canada’s Sports Network Channel, Ted debunked some of the myths that have been associated with him over the years.

When asked by the interviewer to confirm or deny these stories, Williams responded as follows. “Oh Jesus, is that a lot of baloney. Christ, I didn’t go to movies? I love movies. I could see the stitching on the ball? I could see a phonograph going like that and tell you what the name and number was? Hell no, none of that stuff. I mean I had good eyesight, I was alert. I was born in California. I played ball every day of my life…”

Despite my admiration I have to say that Ted was not the “complete” ballplayer. There were many who had better arms, ran the bases better and were better defensive players. In terms of all round ability (pitchers excluded for obvious reasons) my vote would go to Willie Mays, with Joe Dimaggio a close second. But when it comes to the science of hitting, Ted Williams reigns supreme.

Serious fans of the National Pastime are well aware of the feats of Ted Williams. His .406 average in 1941 has since been seriously challenged only once (George Brett’s .390 in 1980). This achievement should have been sufficient to clinch the M.V.P. award but that was the same year Dimaggio accomplished his milestone of hitting in 56 consecutive games and “Joltin’ Joe” was the M. V.P. recipient. Even more remarkable perhaps than the .406 average was his 1957 batting title when at the age of 39, he hit an almost unbelievable .388. Williams hit for both power and average as attested to by his 521 career home runs and his lifetime average of .344.

Devotees of Ted Williams have often pondered the question of what he might have achieved had he not lost nearly five full seasons to military service during the Second World War and the Korean Conflict. Military service caused Williams to miss all the 1943, 1944, and 1945 seasons. In addition, his service during the Korean War resulted in his appearing in only six games in 1952 and 37 games in 1953. Despite these career interruptions, Williams is number three on the all time leaders’ list in walks with 2019. Only the immortal Babe Ruth, and more recently, Barry Bonds, had more. There is no doubt that Williams would have been the all time leader in this category and this statistic is a testament to not only his great batting eye but also to the fear he generated in the hearts of opposing pitchers and managers.

No one can say with absolute certainty, of course, what numbers Ted might have posted, but let’s assume he avoided major injuries and performed, on average, at the same level during the seasons he missed as he did during the 17 more or less full seasons he played for the Bosox.

Excluding the two seasons in which he saw minimal action (1952 and 1953), Williams had a total of 7605 official plate appearances over 17 seasons or an average of 447 times at bat per season. It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that had it not been for military service, Williams would have had 447 times at bat during the 1943, 1944 and 1945 seasons plus another 437 in 1952 and another 356 in 1953 for an additional total of 2134.

Applying the ratios of his actual achievements to another 2134 plate appearances, Williams would have likely produced an additional 447 runs, 692 hits, 140 doubles, 19 triples, 128 home runs and 470 runs batted in.
Table One shows Williams’ actual lifetime record (What Was) in the left-hand column while the right hand column shows his probable career totals had it not been for his military service (What Might Have Been).

Table 1. – Actual vs. Potential

An interesting corollary relates to how Williams’ career totals would stack up against the game’s other great hitters had military service not been a factor. Table Two shows Williams’ actual ranking in the left-hand column whereas the right hand column shows what I have called his hypothetical ranking.

In my view these hypothetical career totals tend toward the conservative because during the 1943 through 1945 seasons. for example, Williams was in his middle twenties, the prime of his career, and would have likely averaged well above 447 times at bat per season. That aside, his hypothetical ranking jumps to number one in runs scored and runs batted in and to number five on the all time home run list.

Table 2. – All Time Leaders

*Not in top 50.

In fairness, there are many other ballplayers who served their country during times of national crises and whose places in the record book have thereby been affected. If someone else wants to make a case for their favorite player, that is certainly their prerogative.

I had hoped I might meet Ted someday but unfortunately that opportunity is gone. I would also have liked my son to have met him. Had the opportunity arisen, I would have said to my son Scott; “I want you to shake hands with Mr. Williams, the greatest hitter in baseball history.

Barry Mayhew, Ph.D.

Why have modern day athletes been able to surpass many records once thought to be beyond reach? I think there are three basic reasons.

Men are, by and large, bigger and stronger than they were 60 – 80 years ago. I recall as a teenager reading about the exploits of the Minneapolis Lakers’ George Mikan who was regarded as one of the giants in the N.B.A. At 6’11” George, if he were playing today, would be challenged by a plethora of seven plus foot behemoths on every team in the league. In virtually all sports, today’s athletes are bigger and stronger than the sports icons of yesteryear.

The second factor I believe is conditioning. Training and nutritional regimens are clearly superior today to what they were even 20 years ago. In addition, today’s top athletes often have personal trainers, sport’s medicine specialists and even psychologists to give them an edge over their competitors. I have a hard time imagining Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb or Red Grange divulging their innermost fears and insecurities to some guy in a lab coat before game time. There are some who would suggest, and with good reason, that performance enhancing steroids may also be a factor.

The third factor has to do with technology or, more specifically, equipment quality. Top golfers and tennis players used to play with wood clubs and racquets and they performed pretty well. Today, however, players at all levels have titanium and other space age metals to significantly increase the length of their drives and speed of their serves. If you doubt this claim applies to baseball, take a look at a 1920’s photo of the gloves used by such  stars as Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner or George Sisler and any doubts you may have had about equipment will quickly evaporate.

I have deliberately left out some records achieved during the infancy of the game and restricted my choices to players from the so-called “modern era” which I have arbitrarily defined as post World War One. It is perhaps worth mentioning, however, that Hugh Nicol of Cincinnati had 138 stolen bases in 1887 and that another Cincinnati player, pitcher Will White, had 75 complete games in 1879.

Despite these undeniable advantages; are there still records in baseball that are unlikely to ever be eclipsed? I think the answer is yes. I suggest the following feats will likely remain unchallenged for all time. They are not shown in any particular order or ranking.

1. Cal Ripken’s 2632 consecutive games played
2. Cy Young’s 511 career victories
3. Joe Dimaggio’s 56 game hitting streak
4. Pete Rose’s 4192 career hits
5. Nolan Ryan’s 5714 career strikeouts
6. Rogers Hornsby’s feat of hitting over .400 in three seasons
7. Hack Wilson’s 191 RBI’s during the 1930 season
8. Nolan Ryan’s 7 career no-hitters
9. Johnny Vander Meer’s two consecutive no-hitters in 1938
10. Rickey Henderson’s 1406 career stolen bases

My final addition to the list occurred in the 1971 season when four Baltimore Orioles’ pitchers (Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Pat Dobson and Mike Cuellar all posted 20 or  more victories. I seriously doubt this feat will ever be duplicated although the 1920 Chicago White Sox also had four 20 game winners.

There are also other records I suspect are “relatively” secure and which I would bet (given even odds) will remain secure.

• Winning the league batting title in three different decades (George Brett)
• Two brothers, on the same team, combining for 49 wins in a single season. Dizzy and Paul Dean with the St. Louis Cardinals.
• Warren Spahn’s record of 347 wins by a “southpaw.”
• Ted Williams’ career on base percentage of .483.

There is one other feat, although not an official statistic, that I strongly suspect will never be duplicated but which  is an excellent question to ask if you find yourself engaged in a game of baseball trivia. Which Hall of Fame member who amassed  3630 career hits had exactly the same number of hits in home games as he had in away games? Don’t know? The answer is Stan Musial.

I’m not suggesting my selections are infallible but I think this is an interesting cerebral exercise. I would encourage other baseball aficionados who read this piece to do one of the following.

Tell me you agree with some of my selections but not with others.

Add your choices that you think I have missed.

Tell me I should find some other productive way to occupy  my leisure time.

Tell me you think I am “right on.”

Best regards and take Ted Williams’ advice and “wait for your pitch.”

Barry Mayhew, Ph.D.

In the early years of the twentieth century the game of baseball was experiencing its biggest growth in its history. America was embracing the game as its national pastime and the players were becoming celebrities. In 1910, President William Howard Taft began a new tradition by throwing out the first pitch of a baseball game. Taft later declared “The game of baseball is a clean, straight game.”[2] The players had become idols for children across the country.[3] The attendance levels for all teams were continually climbing as more and more Americans latched onto the game. Industries of all types formed baseball leagues as the game’s popularity continued to skyrocket. Newspapers regularly ran articles, columns, photographs or even cartoons depicting ball players as heroes and champions of good.[4] The game itself came to represent morality, honesty, virtue, and even America itself. Nicknames such as “the national pastime” or the “Great American Game” illustrated this connection and even served to strengthen bond between America and baseball.[5] Even in 1920, despite rumors of rampant corruption in the game and even an attempt to “fix” the World Series, attendance figures nearly doubled and “money was made by every club in the major leagues.”[6] So much money was being made in fact, that the owners agreed to extend the World Series to a best of nine format in hopes of creating more ticket sales. The business of baseball was booming. According to John Rupert, the owner of the New York Yankees, “Baseball has never had a brighter outlook that it does today.”[7] Indeed, the game of baseball had never enjoyed such popularity or had such a devoted following as it did at the start of the 1920 season. Even women were becoming baseball fans or even starting up their own leagues. The bright outlook would soon be overcome with storm clouds that no one had been able to forecast. All the success that baseball had recently achieved was about to come crashing down.

By the fall of 1920, eight baseball players had put not only the recent decade’s successes in jeopardy but also the very game of baseball itself.[8] The scheme itself was simple: eight players on the heavily favored White Sox would intentionally lose the World Series to the underdog Cincinnati Reds. The gamblers who were paying for this fix would then wager large amounts of money on the Reds, thus making a large profit when the White Sox did indeed lose. Arnold “Chick” Gandil, the White Sox first baseman, had pitched the idea of a “fix” to some of his gambling contacts. Just before the series was to begin, Gandil was taken up on his plan. While rumors of the conspiracy were widespread, only four men, all gamblers, ever had direct contact with the players, Bill Burns, Abe Attell, a mysterious man named only Brown, and Sport Sullivan. Burns and Attell promised the players $100,000, while Sullivan had promised them $80,000.[9] The payoff amount was staggering enough to impress the seven players Gandil had recruited to participate in the conspiracy.

Gandil, Edward Cicotte, Claude “Lefty” Williams, George “Buck” Weaver, Charles “Swede” Risberg, Fredrick McMullen, Joseph “Shoeless Joe” Jackson, and Oscar “Happy” Felsch agreed to throw the 1919 World Series. Everything was set and the only question left was whether the players would actually go through with it. As a signal to the gamblers who were paying for the fix, Eddie Cicotte pitched to the first batter of the series and struck Cincinnati’s Rath in the middle of his back. The fix would go ahead as planned.

Money became the determining factor of each series game. The “Black Sox”, as the recent White Sox teams had become to be known, lost the first two games as promised. When the players did not receive as much money as promised they began to play the games to win. After more money was delivered, the players involved in the “fix” began to play to lose once again. Eventually, in the eighth game of the series, the White Sox came through on their end of the deal and lost their fifth game of the series. The underdog Reds had felled the once might White Sox.

When all was said and done, Chick Gandil, who had come up with the idea and planned the whole fix, kept $35,000 for himself. The most any other player received was Risberg’s $15,000 ahead of Cicotte’s $10,000. Buck Williams was paid nothing as he had tried to distance himself from the conspiracy. Jackson, Williams, Felsch, and McMullin all settled for a mere $5,000, ironically the same amount that the players from the winning team ended up receiving from their share of the attendance records. Essentially, those four players threw the series merely for an extra $3,254, the amount the players on the losing team received from tickets sales.[10]

After the disastrous series, the talk of a fix continued to run rampant. With so many different people involved in the plot it was hardly kept secret. The public had been so aware of the fix that the betting odds dropped to even money or even favored the Reds![11] Talk, however, is only talk and nothing ever came of it. Most people did not believe the rumors. Retired pitcher, turned sports writer, Christy Mathewson had written that the “punch of [the] Reds [had been the] deciding factor” and that the Reds “have earned this title.”[12] Even the box score for the series, while exhibiting some peculiar numbers, showed that Chicago scored more runs off errors than the Reds.[13] The fact that the Sox’s errors had resulted in fewer runs than Cincinnati’s errors had suggested there was little truth to the rumors of a “fix”. Many believed the rumors were merely sour grapes on the part of White Sox fans and held no truth whatsoever. But, not everyone was in the dark about the fix. The White Sox owner, Charles Comiskey, had become aware of the fix and knew that the talk was true. Fearing the results, however, Comiskey did nothing. In fact he went on a mission to dispel the ugly rumors of a fix. He offered a $20,000 reward to anyone who could prove that there had been any wrongdoing by his ball club. This offer of a reward provided Comiskey with even more evidence through the various stories he was told. He continued to cover up the conspiracy and certainly would never actually pay out the reward. Comiskey’s efforts appeared to have worked until several incidents involving thrown games or false news reports surfaced and drew the public’s ire. After the Chicago Tribune ran an article demanding that a grand jury be convened the floodgates finally opened. On 7 September 1920, the Cook County Grand Jury began its investigation into the allegations of crookedness in the game of baseball.[14]

After starting off slowly, the Grand Jury proceedings became a media feeding frenzy when the 1919 World Series became the focus of inquiry. When Eddie Cicotte was cornered into testifying by American League President, Ban Johnson, the biggest story to ever come out of sports began to unfold. Cicotte told the Grand Jury everything he knew in regards to the fix. He gave them the names of all the players involved and as many names of the gamblers as he knew. Joe Jackson was also called in to testify. Jackson insisted that despite taking $5,000 he “played every game to win”[15]. He did not deny, however, the existence of a conspiracy or his knowledge of it and gave further confirmation to the accuracy of Cicotte’s testimony. Jackson’s testimony was the final straw in the court of public opinion. If “Shoeless” Joe Jackson admitted to participating in the fix then how could anything in the game of baseball be trusted? This sentiment even led to the coining of a famous phrase “Say it ain’t so, Joe” to which Jackson reportedly answered “I’m afraid it is.” Jackson, however, continually asserting his innocence, insists the incident and phrase was made up and never actually happened.[16] Newspapers all across the country headlined the story of the eight White Sox players who threw the World Series. The many articles, columns, pictures and cartoons that had once hailed ball players and praised their skill were now being replaced by press that damned, condemned, and lamented the underhanded actions of the once beloved players. Headlines no longer used words like “champions” or “heroes” to depict the players, rather words such as “crooked” became the norm.[17]

All innocence and virtue that the game once stood for had been lost. The fans, sports writers, players and the game itself had all been stung by this controversy.[18] The game of baseball was no longer the clean game that President Taft had spoken of. Children saw their indicted heroes in court smiling and were disgusted.[19] In the eyes of many fans the game had been given a black eye by this gambling scandal.[20] Countless cartoons and columns addressing the scandal appeared in papers across the country. A column printed in the New York Times stated that “The public no longer trusted the game’s fairness and ‘honesty of endeavor’.”[21] A cartoon, published in an East Saint Louis paper, depicts the “crooked players” running side by side with the “baseball gamblers,” out of the “temple” that was baseball.[22] Tellingly, this cartoon was not even placed in the Sports section of the paper! The scandal had become a national problem that affected the country’s general population. Entire pages in prominent newspapers were dedicated to commentary about the problems facing the national pastime. Writer William L. Chenery authored an article that outlined “Why Gambling and Baseball are Enemies.”[23] The existence of these, and many other similar documents, as well as their placement within the newspapers, illustrate the outrage the scandal had created, not only in the sports world, but in the general public as well.

If the players had been scorned and lambasted, gamblers, specifically those who bet on baseball, had become despised. In the cartoon mentioned above, the gambler is shown clutching a large bag of money.[24] Another cartoon depicts two separate scenes in order to comment on the scandal. The first scene shows people labeled “Fixed Players Banished from the Game Forever” walking out of the scene into darkness. Another player labeled “Stung Magnates and Square Players” points the previous players towards their exit while holding his head in his hand. A judge is holding a paper with “Indictment against Players Caught in Baseball Gambling Probe” written on it for all to see. “Stung Fans” and “Stung Newspapers and Sport Writers” dejectedly stand near the judge’s bench. The second scene shows three men sitting at a table enjoying wine with a bag labeled “the Dough” at their feet. This powerful imagery depicted the players almost sympathetically as “weak tools” while the gamblers are portrayed as villainous fat-cat, rich men who “pulled the dirty deal” and “got away with it.”[25]

While many people viewed this scandal as dangerous the existence of the entire game, others had a more optimistic outlook. Columnist Will Chenery described the scandal almost as a cleansing by fire, as did Yankees owner John Ruppert, whom Chenery quotes extensively in his article.[26] Both men believe the scandal will allow baseball to eliminate all elements of gambling from the game, thus leaving the game in a better position than before the scandal broke. A commentary which appeared in the New York Times states that “The game itself will suffer temporarily as a result of the public’s confidence being shaken, but the sport will thrive under cleaner conditions.”[27] Many believed that the prominent status the game had gained would allow it to recover from the shocking scandal that currently gripped it. Even the negative or critical cartoons, while showing baseball getting a black eye, did not show the game dieing off completely. Baseball, supporters argued, would recover and heal from the wounds inflicted by the “Black” Sox and their 1919 World Series performance.

Any modern baseball fan when asked about the Chicago “Black” Sox would be able to tell you that they threw the World Series. Why is this single event so well remembered? What made this scandal so much worse than any other sports controversy? Why is this remembered better than any blown call or last minute shot or dramatic home run? The scandal surrounding the 1919 World Series was the most spectacular scandal ever to hit sports because it affected more than just baseball, more than just sports, it affected the nation. It had stripped the game of baseball of its innocence and betrayed the trust of countless number of fans. The game of baseball, the “kids’ game”[28], the “clean, straight game”[29], had been dealt what appeared to be a “murderous blow.”[30] The proverbial “temple”[31] of baseball, and everything the game stood for, had been defiled and “besmirched.”[32] The players who had once been viewed as heroes, or even modern day gladiators, were now seen as traitorous “Benedict Arnolds.”[33] The game America had come to adore had been dishonored and changed forever. The scandal called into question not only the game of baseball but all the virtues the game had once stood for. The public and media which had latched onto the game of baseball, embraced it, and called it the national pastime, had been wronged and lashed out. They turned all the passion they had once had for the game, towards the “dirty” players, the gamblers, and even the game itself. The game did indeed eventually rebound and reclaim its position as America’s sport and our national pastime. Millions of fans now attend games each year, but the public’s innocence and unquestioning confidence for the game had been destroyed forever in 1919 by something ironically called a “fix.”

Jack Roosevelt Robinson retired with 137 home runs, 734 runs batted in, 197 stolen bases, and a life time batting average of .311.[1] He was inducted into the hall of fame on July 23rd, 1962. However, “To see Robinson’s career in numbers, is to see Lincoln through Federal budgets and to miss the Emancipation Proclamation.”[2] The true scope of what Jackie Robinson accomplished during his career could not be measured by simple statistics, at least not baseball statistics. His entry into the majors, and the success he had at that level, carried with it a social, economic and even political impact. A single man, playing a game, changed the face of the nation.

In 1945, just as Robinson had finally become fed up with the Negro leagues, an interesting opportunity presented itself.[3] Branch Rickey, president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, had a proposition for the black ball player. Rickey wanted to sign Robinson to become the first black player in white organized baseball. The deal came with a condition though. Rickey demanded that Robinson not lash out or retaliate, no matter what provocation he encountered. Robinson would start out in the Dodgers’ minor league system and, if he played well enough, work his way onto the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson accepted the deal as well as Rickey’s challenge not to fight back. The move was the equivalent of Rickey “toss[ing] a bomb into baseball and [sticking] his fingers in his ears.”[4]

It didn’t take long for most people to realize that Rickey’s strategy had worked. In the first year of the “experiment”, Robinson led the International League in batting average (.349) and fielding percentage (.985).[5] He played so well in the minors that a call up to the majors was inevitable. On April 15^th, 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black player to play in the Major Leagues. Continuing his string of success, Robinson won the Rookie of the Year award that year and the Most Valuable Player award in 1949. Seizing on his new celebrity status, Robinson became a spokesman for African Americans. He addressed issues anywhere from segregation and racism to government and politics. Robinson had overcome amazing odds and hardships, countless sleepless nights, innumerable threats to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball (MLB), and become a champion for the African American people.

Perhaps the most obvious and publicized results of Robinson’s triumph were the social effects his actions brought about. As soon as the announcement of Robinson’s signing reached the world, Robinson was saddled with the hopes and dreams of his entire race. Conversely, Rickey had scorn and insults heaped upon him. Many claimed Rickey was trying to set himself up as baseball’s version of Lincoln. One picture of Robinson in Time magazine showed Robinson during his UCLA football career with the caption of “Rickey’s Robinson” while giving Rickey, not Robinson the credit for breaking the color line.[6]

Despite the mixed reception, Robinson became a figure for all African Americans to look up to as well as one of the most visible representatives of his race. If Robinson failed, white owners, not to mention fans, who had resisted integrating baseball, would use his performance as “evidence” to support their stance. Every time he stepped on the field, Robinson strapped his race to his back and carried it on his journey with them. One teenager at the time, years later reminisced that

Jackie Robinson was as important to me and other blacks, especially young blacks, as a parent would have been … he brought pride and the certain knowledge that on a fair playing field, when there were rules and whites could not cheat and lie and steal, not only were they not supermen but we could beat’em[7]

Robinson did not flinch at this challenge. In fact, he inserted himself even further into the social scene. After his successful rookie season, Robinson performed in vaudeville shows, spoke at several public appearances, and even agreed to star in a movie.[8] Later in 1947, “a nationwide contest placed him ahead in popularity of President Truman, General Eisenhower, General MacArthur, and comedian Bob Hope, and second only to Bing Crosby.”[9] In contrast, the previous year, six African Americans had been lynched.[10] Just a year later, Robinson was voted more popular than the President of the United States!

Robinson’s success not only made him a celebrity, but also opened the door for more African American players to enter MLB. The year after Robinson broke the color line, five African American players had played games in the majors.[11] By 1958, “baseball no longer symbolized the inequities of racial segregation;” rather it “offered a model [of race relations] for the nation and the world.”[12]

Even with the victories Robinson won for African Americans socially, not all viewed his entry into the Major Leagues as a positive development. As it became more and more apparent that African Americans had a permanent place in the majors, the Negro leagues began to struggle. Scouts from major league teams began to harvest the talent, signing black players into their farm systems. Also, African American fans who had previously only been able to see black players by going to Negro league games, could now watch their heroes compete on the playing field against whites. Robinson biographer, Arnold Rampersad, went so far as to say that “Robinson’s success in the majors [helped] to destroy the Negro leagues as an attraction.”[13] The collapse of the Negro leagues was no small matter to African Americans. During the depression, the leagues had been the number one employer of African Americans. The relatively swift collapse of the leagues dealt a large economic blow to many in the community.

Despite that fact, one would be hard pressed to find evidence that Robinson was sad to see the Negro leagues go. In fact, his verbal attacks against the leagues probably hastened the collapse. In 1948, Robinson initiated a “devastating attack on the Negro Leagues.”[14] For the leagues to continue, Robinson argued, they needed “a lot of house cleaning.”[15]

The main factor to the Negro league’s demise was not as direct as Robinson’s comments, but just as lethal. As more teams integrated African American’s into their farm systems and teams, fewer fans attended the Negro league games. They soon played a second fiddle to watching Robinson. The Negro leagues’ loss of attendance, however, was the Dodgers’ gain as they saw an extra $150,000 come in from admissions.[16] As one writer for Time magazine put it, “Wherever the Dodgers have played, Negroes have turned out in force.”[17]“Walter White of the NAACP (National Association for Advancement of Colored People) estimated the extra income for the league [strictly due to Robinsons' entry] at $200,000.”[18] In following years new heroes such as Campanella and the great Satchel Paige would only accelerate the shift in attendance. MLB’s integration had killed the Negro leagues, and with it, one of the primary employers of African Americans.

Robinson’s reach stretched even into the realm of politics. Early on, politicians scrambled to choose sides on the controversial issue of integrating baseball. As, Robinson’s success and fame grew, he came to represent blacks on nearly every issue, including politics. The quintessential example of this was his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He had been called before the committee to express his thoughts of Paul Robeson’s comments suggesting African Americans would be sympathetic to the Soviet Union should the Cold War escalate into actual warfare. Robinson addressed the issue of communist sympathy by stating that “most Negroes…would act just [they] did in the last war: They’d do their best to help their country stay out of war. If unsuccessful, they’d do their best to help their country win the war.”[19] Robinson did not stop there though. He took the opportunity to speak out about the inconsistencies he saw in the democratic rhetoric being preached, and the type of Jim Crow democracy that he and other African Americans knew to be reality. Robinson stated:

The white public should start toward real understanding by appreciating that every single Negro who is worth his salt is going to resent any kind of slurs and discrimination because of his race… The more a Negro hates Communism because it opposes democracy, the more he is going to hate any other influence that kills of democracy in this country – and that goes for racial discrimination.[20]

This activist attitude was not a new, reformed Robinson; however, it was a version that the public was not used to seeing. In the early years of his career, Robinson had restrained himself from retaliating or causing a disturbance. He was a man of his word and had given his word to Rickey to hold back for three years. In 1949, Rickey told Robinson that he had “earned the right to be [himself].”[21] Robinson now felt that he could speak his mind about the issues of the day, including politics. After retiring from baseball, Robinson’s political activism increased as he became a prominent figure in the NAACP and often campaigned for various politicians.

When Robinson retired, only three teams in the majors did not have a black player on their major league squad.[22] The other major sports had followed baseball’s lead in breaking down the color barrier. Thousands of African American’s had watched a member of their own race compete with, and triumph over, whites. While Joe Louis had emerged first, Robinson integrated the nation’s game, its pastime. An African American was dominating the sport nearest and dearest to much of the country. Robinson’s actions on and off the field started a wave of social change that would sweep the United States.

The implications of Robinson’s actions did not stop on the social frontier. His heroic achievements led to the collapse of the Negro leagues. The money the Negro leagues had been bringing in instead paid for entry to major league games and lined the pockets of team owners. The single largest employer of African Americans during the Depression years had been brought down not by an economic collapse, but by a single man (and perhaps his words).

On the political front, Robinson was nearly as visible as he was on the baseball diamond. His entry into the major leagues was instantly political as the New York mayor endorsed Robinson’s entry in hopes of gaining the votes of the cities African American population. As his career progressed, Robinson would be called upon to take stands on political issues facing African Americans. Episodes such as his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee illustrated just how political Robinson’s career had become. Later in his career, Robinson would embrace politics in an effort to further the cause of his race.

The fact that Robinson’s entry into MLB was able to have such profound effects across such wide sectors of society makes it blatantly obvious that his career was not one merely about base hits or stolen bases. It would be more appropriate to look upon Robinson’s baseball career as a tool which he used to transcend sports and reach into every aspect of the American life. His bravery in facing the challenge, supported by his superior athletic prowess, allowed him to have a social, economic and political impact on American society, both black and white. Both on and off the field, Jack Roosevelt Robinson truly was a triple threat.

Bibliography

“Branch Breaks the Ice.” Time, 5 November 1945. 77.

ESPN Baseball. “Jackie Robinson.” Available from http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/alltime/playercard?playerId=11758&type=0. Internet. accessed 6 December 2005.

“Jackie Makes Good.” Time, 26 August 1946. 63-64.

“Jackie Robison pitching; before House un-American activities committee.” Newsweek, 1 August 1949. 18-19.

Rampersad, Arnold. Jackie Robinson: A Biography. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997.

“Riches for a Rookie.” Time, 24 November 1947. 54.Robinson, Jackie. Baseball Has Done It. Brooklyn, New York: IG Publishing, 1964.

Robinson, Jackie. 18 July 1949. “Testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee.” Academic Search Premier. Database on-line. EBSCOhost. accessed 29 November 2005.

Robinson, Jackie. Baseball Has Done It. Brooklyn, New York: IG Publishing, 1964.

“Rookie of the Year.” Time, 22 September 1947. 70-76.

Tygiel, Jules. Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.

University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Law. “Lynching Statistics by Year and Race.” Available from http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingyear.html. Internet. accessed 6 December 2005.