* Announcement: Lecture series on Black Baseball

Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experience

All events are free and open to the public. Events will be held in the Veterans Room of the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake Street, Oak Park IL unless noted elsewhere.

May 10 – June 30 in Library Gallery: Stephen Green, an Oak Park resident and official photographer for the Chicago Cubs for 26 years, presents a photo exhibit “Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs.” Open seven days a week during regular Library hours.

Thursday, June 11, at 7 p.m.: Sports scholar Jim Coates from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay presents “Playing for fun: Humorous Stories from the Negro League.” Former Negro League pitcher Johnny “Lefty” Washington who played for the Chicago American Giants and Houston Eagles will join Jim Coates to share stories.

Sunday, June 14, at 2 p.m.: Pride and Passion Film Festival hosted by John Allen.
“The Sixth Inning: The National Pastime.” from Ken Burn’s series, Baseball.

Wednesday, June 17, at 1 p.m.: Join Chicago author William Brashler for a discussion of The Bingo Long Traveling All Stars and Motor Kings, published in 1973. Brashler’s novel was made into a movie in 1976.

Wednesday, June 17, from 4 to 5 p.m. Kids Book Discussion at Maze Branch Library. We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball with words and paintings by Kadir Nelson. The story of Negro League baseball is the story of gifted athletes and determined owners; of racial discrimination and international sportsmanship; of triumphs and defeats both on and off the field.

Sunday, June 21, at 2 p.m.: Pride and Passion Film Festival hosted by John Allen.

The Court Martial of Jackie Robinson. Directed by Larry Peerce. (1990). 120 minutes.

Thursday, June 25, at 7 p.m.: Negro League Scholar Leslie A. Heaphy, PhD, Kent State University, Canton, Ohio.

Heaphy authored The Negro Leagues, 1869-1960, published by Farland Publishing Co. in 2003. She earned her PhD from the University of Todedo with her dissertation titled“Shadowed Diamonds: The Growth and Decline of the Negro Leagues from the 1860s to 1960“.  She has been involved in many publications including Satchel Paige and Company and Black Baseball and Chicago: Essays on the Players, Teams, and Games of the Negro League’s Most Important City.

Saturday, June 27, at 2 p.m.: Dr. J. B. Martin IV will present “Making the Case for J. B. Martin, Sr.: Why He Should Be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”

Martin, a pharmacist from Memphis, created the Memphis Red Sox team and built a stadium. After going against Memphis political boss E. H. “Boss” Crump in a presidential election, Martin was forced to leave the Blues City and relocate to the Windy City. The Meharry Medical College graduate became owner of the Chicago American Giants in the early 1940s and later became president of the Negro American league. He served until the league filed for dissolution in 1960.

Sunday, June 28, at 2 p.m.: Pride and Passion Film Festival hosted by John Allen.

The Bingo Long Traveling All Stars & Motor Kings directed by John Badham. (1976). This film, based on the book by the same title by William Brashler, stars Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor.

For more information, visit the Library’s website.

* Negro League books

SchooLibraryJournal.com published this article commenting on several Negro League titles, including:

• Kadir Nelson’s We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball
• James Sturm and Rich Tommaso’s Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow
• Robert Burleigh’s Stealing Home: Jackie Robinson Against the Odds

* Politics and baseball: Strange bedfellows

Rev. Jesse Jackson is no stranger to the national pastime. In the past he has agitated for the hiring of more minorities for management positions, which is a good thing

Nevertheless, he seems to have angered many by his comparison of Barack Obama to Jackie Robinson.

According to newspaper reports

“Barack Obama has the capacity to hit,” Jackson said a breakfast panel just before the opening of the Democratic National Convention. “But he is in the situation where he can’t hit back, which Jackie Robinson could not do. He had to be able to run the bases, even though the crowd was jeering the first African American on the field.”

He added

that party skeptics need to have “a Pee Wee Reese moment” — a reference to the Kentucky-born Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop who famously embraced Robinson on the field when the African-American broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947.

“When they have a camera put in their faces, they will have an opportunity to put their arm around our guy so that he can run the bases,” Jackson said. “Hillary Clinton will have a Pee Wee Reese moment. Bill Clinton will have a Pee Wee Reese moment. Ed Rendell will have a Pee Wee Reese moment.”

Jackson’s comment have spurred a number of blasts from both the political and baseball community. Yes, they agree, as the first African-America presidential candidate (who stands a chance of winning his party’s nomination), Obama does face skepticism, even hostility, from a segment of the population. But, as Dugout Central points out (quoting at length):

It must be hard to campaign with thousands upon thousands of angry white people lining up to spew racial slur after racial slur in your direction. Harder still must be the countless hotels and eateries that have turned him away based on the color of his skin. Apparently Mr. Obama eats on the bus while his advisors and Secret Service detail dine indoors. Add to this the dozens of would-be Presidential rivals who are continually trying to injure or spike Mr. Obama with their cleats as he tries to spread his message of hope and a new vision of our country, and you can understand what it is that makes him such a special candidate.

Wait. Something is not right with this. Oh, that’s right…

Barack Obama has never had to deal with any of this. He is respected and loved by millions of Americans and currently has the kind of celebrity status that very few people can ever lay claim to. I would imagine that any idiot in the crowd who dare call Obama a name would suffer a serious beat down; not by Obama’s Secret Service, but by his countless supporters who would step up to have his back at every turn. And if Mr. Obama is injured or hurt, it will most likely be from his own misstep or clumsiness, not a rival competitor out to draw blood.

Very few men (and I mean VERY FEW) should be held as high in our collective regards as Jackie Robinson. Jack Roosevelt Robinson is nothing less than a true American hero. He was born to a family only slightly more than a generation removed from slavery. He served his country proudly during the Second World War even though the Army tried to relegate him to second citizen status. When given the chance he performed at the highest of levels in his chosen profession, all while being a well respected leader in his community. It just so happened that Jackie’s community was the entire nation. All of this was achieved with class and dignity under a cloud of hatred and ignorance that no one today, black or white, has ever had to come close to dealing with.

Sorry. I know. People turn to sports to escape from the burden of political news.

* Now hear this: I Never Had it Made

Ossie Davis narrated Jackie Robinson’s autobiography, which was released as an audiobook earlier this year. Davis, who died in 2005, was born in 1917, two years before Robinson, so it seems quite appropriate that he would lend his “old man’s voice” to the project, making it seem like the great player himself was doing the honors. The cover says the recording is unabridged, but at a running time of just under three hours, it seems difficult to believe, given the actor/narrator’s characteristic voice and mannerisms.

From Googlebooks:

Before Barry Bonds, before Reggie Jackson, before Hank Aaron, baseball’s stars had one undeniable trait in common: they were all white. In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke that barrier, striking a crucial blow for racial equality and changing the world of sports forever. I Never Had It Made is Robinson’s own candid, hard-hitting account of what it took to become the first black man in history to play in the major leagues.

I Never Had It Made recalls Robinson’s early years and influences: his time at UCLA, where he became the school’s first four-letter athlete; his army stint during World War II, when he challenged Jim Crow laws and narrowly escaped court martial; his years of frustration, on and off the field, with the Negro Leagues; and finally that fateful day when Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers proposed what became known as the “Noble Experiment” — Robinson would step up to bat to integrate and revolutionize baseball.

More than a baseball story, I Never Had It Made also reveals the highs and lows of Robinson’s life after baseball. He recounts his political aspirations and civil rights activism; his friendships with Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, William Buckley, Jr., and Nelson Rockefeller; and his troubled relationship with his son, Jackie, Jr.

Originally published the year Robinson died, I Never Had It Made endures as an inspiring story of a man whose heroism extended well beyond the playing field.

Herewith a sample:

* Recalling a Nightline nightmare

The LA Times’ columnist Bill Dwyre dredges up a waterhsed moment in baseball: the undoing of Al Campanis before a national audience.

Campanis, Dodgers’ vice president and director of player personnel at the time, was a guest on the program along with Roger Kahn, author of the Classic The Boys of Summer. to mark the 40th anniversary of Robinson’s debut season.

Campanis unraveled while discussing the possibility of African-Americans as major league managers and made a poor choice of words when he said that they didn’t have the “necessities” to do the job. It was generally accepted that he meant to say they didn’t have the experience, which was one of those catch-22 situations: no experience without the job, no job without experience. But Campanis was out of his element and didn’t realize the political incorrectness of his response.

Things got off to a bad start when Campanis rambled for several minutes without answering the specific question put to him by host Ted Koppel about how long it took for the white players to accept him as a teammate, taking the opportunity to praise the difficulties his old friend faced when he first came up.

Judge for yourself:

Koppel was initially outraged, but seemed to drop the storyline when they came back from a commercial. Could it have been that he was ordered to drop it by his producers?

* Author profile: Ray Negron

Newsday ran this piece on Negron, who has just published a kids’ book on Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson.

* Author appearance: Ray Negron

It might be a bit later, but Negron, a special advisor to the Yankees, will read from and sign his new book, The Greatest Story Never Told: The Babe and Jackie, tonight (July 25) at Mickey Mantle’s Restaurant at 42 Central Park South in Manhattan New York, from 6pm-8pm.

From the Gotham baseball blog:

“The Greatest Story Never Told…is about two children, Skippy and Connor, who don’t like each other. In fact, each of them wants a new roommate because the other is too “different.” Stuck in the hospital with serious illnesses, the boys get a surprise visit from Ray, a Yankees batboy, who whisks them away on a magical journey back in time to meet the legendary Babe Ruth. The adventure doesn’t stop there, as the Bambino takes them to see baseball hero Jackie Robinson play at Ebbets Field. Along the way, the Babe and Jackie share some unforgettable lessons with their young friends about baseball, friendship, and accepting others differences.”

* Lest we forget: Sherman Maxwell

Sherman “Jocko” Maxwell, a pioneering African-American broadcaster died recently at the age of 100.

Maxwell, who was believed to have been the first black sportscaster, contributed to magazines such as Baseball Digest, for which he wrote about Jackie Robinson and the integration of baseball. He also wrote Thrills and Spills in Sports, a 1940 book of interviews with sports stars.

* What am I bid…?

According to this story in the Los Angeles Daily News, the court martial papers for Jackie Robinson are being auctioned by Memory Lane, a sports memorabilia dealer in Tustin, in public event that ends at 5 p.m. Saturday, May 24. So there’s still time.

* Review: Baseball’s Great Experiment

I always get a kick out of seeing an old book “discovered” by a new generation of fans/readers. Case in point, Jules Tygiel’s examination of Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey. His remains one of the best on the subject, a notion with which Blackathlete.net seems to agree.