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More Than a Game: The Integration of Baseball and American Civil Religion
Senior Integration Paper
History, B.A.
Covenant College
Spencer Smith
Spring 2015
Christopher H. Evans, Author and Editor of The Faith of Fifty Million, said, “Baseball,
being intrinsically 'American' has, at times, been a redemptive theme that has set the tone for the
rest of society.”1 Baseball has been a major aspect of the “American way of life” since its
beginnings. Issues have arisen that affected the sport and America. The issue of race and the
integration of American society is one of these major issues. When Jackie Robinson and the
Brooklyn Dodgers broke the color barrier in baseball in 1946 and 1947, the baseball world
changed, and more importantly, the American civil religion changed with it. But how did the
sport of baseball have such a major impact on the entire nation as a whole? In order to see this
impact, the stories of Jackie Robinson, Branch Rickey, and others help show how the society was
changing. The fans, the press, the players, and the owners were all impacted by the great change
that occurred in 1946 and 1947. America was known as the “Land of the Free,” but this was not
how things were in every aspect. The racial aspect of American civil religion was greatly
changed by the integration of baseball.
Toby Ziglar writes about three definitions of religions in “Is Baseball an American
Religion?” The first is a substantive definition. This definition is based on its beliefs and its
attempt to define religion by its substance. This definition is to simply state what a religion is.2
The second definition is that it is functional. This definition focuses on what a religion does. The
functional version is less concerned with the beliefs and practices but more “concerned with the
value of the religious belief within society.”3 Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are all examples of
1 Fred Glennon, “Baseball's Surprising Moral Examples: Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson, and the Racial Integration of America,” in The Faith of Fifty Million: Baseball, Religion, and American Culture, ed. Christopher H. Evans and William R. Herzog II (Louisville, KY: Westminister John Knox Press, 2002), 146.
2 Toby Ziglar, “Is Baseball an American Religion? A Social Analysis,” in Baseball/Literature/Culture, ed. Peter Carino (Jefferson: McFarand Company, 2002-2003), 108.
3 Ibid. 109
1
these two previous examples. The last definition Ziglar gives is a symbolic definition. Ziglar
refers to Clifford Geertz as he defines religion as “a system of symbols which acts to establish
powerful, pervasive, and long lasting moods and motivations in people by formulating
conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of
factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.” These dominant symbols of
society somehow serve the purpose of religion.4 This symbolic definition of religion runs with
the idea of civil religion.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote about the idea of civil religion in The Social Contract in
1762. In Book IV, Chapters 5-9, Rousseau talks about what civil religion is. Rousseau believes
that the people should come to a common identity in order to relate to one another in a deeper
way. Rousseau wants the leaders of a nation to create a purely civic faith, with few tents, aimed
at making good citizens. This “civic faith” would be based around the cultures in which people
come from, and the beliefs of the nation, in order to unify the state. This would allow citizens to
identify themselves with the public as a whole and see themselves in others. A common ground
would be created throughout the nation. Citizens would have to rationally agree to join together
for this to work for the betterment of the whole.
Robert Bellah took this idea and related it to America. He began writing about this in the
1960s, and this topic has taken off all around the world ever since as people have written about
their own nation's Civil Religion. Bellah argues that America has a public religious dimension
that is expressed in a set of beliefs, symbols, and rituals. These provide an identity and
motivation to individuals to feel a part of the larger group “Americans.” Bellah talks about John
F. Kennedy’s inauguration as an example to explain much of his evidence. First, the inauguration
4 Ziglar, “Is Baseball and American Religion?” 111.
2
is a ritual in America. It is done every four years to celebrate the new head of state. This head of
state is a “symbol” of America. In his inaugural address, Kennedy references God a number of
times, but never says what God. Bellah comes to the conclusion that there is an “American” God
that is referenced throughout America. In the “Pledge of Allegiance” and other songs such as
“God Bless America,” it is never said who’s God this is. It is something that every citizen can
relate too.
Bellah also argues that biblical archetypes lie in civil religion. There is an “Exodus,”
where Washington acts as Moses and he is leading Americans (the chosen people) out of British
rule for the “Promised Land,” which is America. The “New Jerusalem” is the Constitution, and
there is also a sacrificial death, such as Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, which can also
be related to these terms. Bellah says, “The set of beliefs, rites and symbols that sacralize the
values of a nation and place the nation in the context of an ultimate system of meaning…
Socially, civil religion serves to define the national purposes in transcendent terms and acts as an
expression of national cohesion.”5 Bellah writes about how America has holidays, cemeteries,
and monuments to remember great American events and for the citizens to have a better
understanding of what it means to be American.
It doesn't stop here. Civil religion can be related to many institutions within America and
other nations as well. Ziglar writes “If, however, the society is more heterogeneous with regard
to religion, then a need arises for macro symbols that can unite people of various religious
backgrounds.”6 There are institutions within each civil religion that could act as their own civic
religion. In this case, American civil religion will have institutions within it, such as states, or
5 Robert Bellah, “Civil Religion in America,” in American Civil Religion, ed. Russell E. Richey and Donald G. Jones (New York: Harper and Row, 1974), 21-44.
6 Ziglar, “Is Baseball an American Religion?” 111.
3
even smaller institutions like baseball, which can each individually have their own religions.
These institutions all have their own unique symbols, rituals, etc. that is separate from the larger,
and the combination of these symbols with the larger is referred to as Civil Religion.
One of these institutions of American civil religion is baseball. Millions of fans attend
baseball games every year, coming to the ballpark to see the players they love, the players theer
kids idolize and mimic at home. These fans are there for a variety reasons; they may want to
watch their favorite team or just come for the social aspect. These fans are all participating in the
game's rituals like singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch.
They often wear jerseys and hats as symbols to show their fandom, and take part in honoring the
baseball prophets, such as Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron as teams are constantly reminding
fans of their achievements during the games. There is a creation story with General Abner
Doubleday inventing the game in 1839 in Cooperstown, New York, which also gives the civil
religion a sacred place of origin, making baseball as uniquely American.7 Henry Chadwick is
considered the “father” of baseball since he wrote the rules down and provided baseball with
sacred guidelines just as the Bible does for Christianity. Almost a century ago, in The Dial,
Morris Coleman wrote about national religion shortly after the end of World War I, saying when
the scholar “comes to speak of America's contribution to religion, will he not mention
baseball?”8
If baseball is a part of American civil religion, then baseball must exemplify America.
Baseball is known as the national pastime in the United States. Baseball can show what is good
7 Christopher H. Evans, “Baseball as Civl Religion,” in The Faith of Fifty Million: Baseball, Religion, and American Culture, ed. Christopher H. Evans and William R. Herzog II (Louisville, KY: Westminister John Knox Press, 2002), 23.
8 Morris R. Cohen, “Baseball as a National Religion,” The Dial (26 July 1919), 57.
4
in America. It represents fair play and sportsmanship. It provides equal opportunity in that each
team gets nine innings. Baseball is used in everyday American metaphors such as “that
presentation was grand slam,” or “you hit that out of the park!” Baseball creates new hopes each
spring as each season is a new beginning. America was and still is known as a place where
immigrants can come, start over, and grow rich. Baseball allows America to overcome struggles.
It provides a sense of hope because anything can happen. A team can be down to their last strike
and still win. What is more American than that?
But does baseball perfectly exemplify the American way of life and American civil
religion? Race has always been a major issue in America. The nation has put down the African
American race in every aspect up until the 1960s. Desegregation in the schools occurred in the
1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, Kansas, which was not widely
accepted by many southern states until after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed
discrimination based on race, gender, sex, color and national origin. How can this be? How did it
take so long for these laws to take place even though the Constitution assures every person equal
opportunity? The Constitution did not say the word slavery, and said “all other persons” instead
as if the founding fathers knew things would change as time went on. The Preamble says, “We
the people...in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,...
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity...”9 The American Constitution
has guaranteed these natural rights of man but did not actually give these rights to all people. We
can also look at certain American rituals such as the “Pledge of Allegiance,” which says
“freedom and justice for all.” This is a ceremonial ritual that was adopted by Congress in 1942.
This was well before the Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, Kansas, and the Civil Rights Act
9 US Constitution, Preamble.
5
of 1964. Why did it take such a long time for America to live out these beliefs they claim to have
held since the beginning? America has slowly taken steps to put our core values into action. The
13th Amendment abolished slavery after the Civil War, but Jim Crow laws were still alive and
well throughout the country.
Just as baseball reflected what was good in America, the sport also represented the
problems in the nation. Segregation in America was in the sport as well. There were two
separate leagues. The major leagues were considered to be “organized” baseball, which went
with the international league (minor leagues). Completely separate, the negro leagues, were
considered “unorganized” baseball. Both leagues were competitive, but only the majors were
considered so. How could baseball represent America so well, if it excluded one tenth of the
population?10 In a way, that is exactly why it represented America. America was excluding
African Americans from access to hotels, restaurants, and good transportation. Americans denied
these claims with such phrases as “separate but equal,” but everyone knew that African
Americans were given the worst of the worst, the leftovers. They were always forced to sit in the
back of the bus, often denied food and service, and also had very little funds for events and
organizations, such as baseball. The owners and high officials in major league baseball denied
that there was a color barrier as well. Judge Landis, who was the first commissioner after the
Black Sox scandal of 1919, said, “That the only barrier in baseball was ability.”11 Multiple
owners and scouts for teams told African American players that they could not sign them
10 Jules Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 3.
11 Glennon, “Baseball's Surprising Moral Examples,” 146.
6
because they were black. Mrs. Grace Comisky, owner of the White Sox, would watch Negro
players and say, “Oh, if you were a white boy, what you'd be worth to my club.”12
Baseball has always been considered “the people's” game. Anyone who worked hard and
had the skill was supposed to be able to play it. A person did not need to be rich or live in a
certain area. “If baseball embodies the essence of American competition and opportunity,” says
Jules Tygiel, “it could not block those capable of succeeding.”13 The “color barrier” in baseball
was the one thing preventing this from becoming true. America was on the verge of change,
though, as there had been steady progress towards integration. America was finally granting
more and more people their rights. Women received more rights, though they were still seen as
lesser men, and African Americans were becoming more prominent. Even if people did not agree
with segregation, it was enough of a cultural norm that Jim Crow laws and segregation were
grounded into the American civil religion.
Racism was an issue in not just America, but the rest of the world as well. The United
States was participating in World War II which was about multiple issues, one being racism. The
Second World War affected the American life in many ways. The draft enlisted many men to
leave their homes and go fight. The war changed the world’s economy greatly. Women began
working more, and African Americans moved out of the South to the industrial belt because
there were more jobs. Major league baseball players stopped playing baseball to join the military.
Superstar players, such as Stan Musial and Ted Williams, put down their bats and joined the
Navy. Hank Greenberg joined the Air Force for four years. These men were in the prime of their
careers and amazingly, came back to the majors as if they never missed a game as their play was
12 Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy, 146.
13 Ibid, 30.
7
still MVP worthy. These players, among many others who participated in the war, show how
important protecting America and fighting for a good cause was to the American way of life. It
was their civic duty and patriotic desire to fight for their nation.
Baseball did not stop, though, as people all over the country were still attending ball
games for entertainment, with a hope for what lies ahead. Baseball provided important life
America. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote the Green Light letter to baseball commissioner
Kennesaw Landis. In this letter, the president urged the commissioner to keep the league going,
to play as many games as possible, day and night, to provide jobs, entertainment, and a chance
for fans to just relax and not think of anything else going on in the world. President Roosevelt
wrote, “If 300 teams use 5,000 or 6,000 players, these players are a definite recreational asset to
at least 20,000,000 of the fellow citizens - and that in my judgment is thoroughly
worthwhile.”14The president realized that the play may not be as good as before, but that did not
matter. More people were able to fulfill their dream of becoming a major league baseball player,
which reflected the hope of the American dream.
The war had a much bigger impact on baseball than not having superstar players in the
league. African Americans were joining the war effort as well. The armies were becoming more
and more desegregated. President Truman did not fully integrate the armies until 1948, but
troops were coming home after fighting side by side with people of other races. These troops
were fighting for a common cause, to protect America and stop the effects of racism in Europe.
African Americans saw a double standard. The U.S. was fighting a war against racism in another
country, but still had major problems with racism in America. James Thompson, a young African
American who had the fear that he may be called to defend a nation where he was considered a
14 Washington Post, January 17, 1942
8
second class citizen, wrote a letter to the Pittsburgh Courier explaining his idea of the “Double
V” campaign. The idea was to encourage African Americans to fight for victory at war over
enemies “from without,” and victory at home against the enemy of prejudice “from within.”15
African Americans faced prejudice in the military camps even while fighting together with the
white Americans. The African Americans slept in separate cabins, fought in separate troops, and
were confused on how they could be treated this way in the military even through their success
and dedication to America.16
The black press was not happy with this either. They saw how African Americans were
fighting in the armies but were still being segregated on the baseball field. Lester Rodney of The
Daily Worker, attacked Commissioner Landis and the baseball world. There were black
newspaper clippings of African American players beating Major League stars, and an article said
“Can you read, Judge Landis? Why does your silence keep...Negro stars from taking their
rightful place in our national pastime at a time when we are at war and Negro and whites are
fighting and dying together to end Hitlerism?”17
The owners of Major League Baseball saw the integrating armies in the war and troops
were coming back without too much of an issue with integrated armies. There were problems
that arose during the fight, but through winning the war, the problems between the races in the
army became less of an issue. Owners sensed change was coming to America. Some owners had
a problem with it while others did not. Would the unwritten color barrier be broken after the
15 Edna Chappell McKemzie, “Treason?,” California Newsreel, accessed March 11, 2015, http://www.newsreel.org/guides/blackpress/treason.htm.
16 “African-American Soldiers in World War II Helped Pave Way for Integration of US Military,” Voice of America News, October 31, 2009, accessed March 11, 2105, http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-2005-05-10-voa47 67929177/396374.html.
17 Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy, 37.
9
war? Who would be the first to attempt to integrate their team? In 1943, Bill Veeck attempted to
buy a struggling Philadelphia Phillies franchise and stockpile them with players from the negro
leagues. The plan would have helped the financially hurt team, but Commissioner Landis put
enough pressure on Veeck to force him out of buying the team.18
Happy Chandler became the commissioner of Major League Baseball in 1945. A U.S.
Senator, Landis was elected due to the need of Major League Baseball to become closer to
Washington D.C. He came to the job during one of the most important times of Major League
Baseball and American history.19 The war was ending, troops were returning along with the
professional players. How would these players come back, and what should happen to the current
players who may be sent home due to these returning players? The most important issue was race
and the integration of organized baseball.
With Happy Chandler as commissioner, Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers was
able to make the first move. Rickey was a devout religious man, a Methodist, and did not drink
or use profanity; In fact, he spoke out against those who did. He always kept his word and even
keeping “his promise to his mother that he would never set foot in a ballpark on Sundays.”20
Rickey worked at a YMCA in Ohio from 1907 to 1908 where he became influenced by the
“Christian Social Responsibility” movement, which was all about creating respect and
opportunity for all people. “As a result,” says Fred Glennon, “his own Methodist convictions and
beliefs, namely, that all persons were God's creatures and should be respected, combined with
18 Peggy Beck “Jackie Robinson as Media's Mythological Black Hero,” in The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and the American culture, 1997 (Jackie Robinson), ed. Peter M. Rutkoff, and Alvin L. Hall (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000), 111.
19 John Paul Hill, "Commissioner A. B. 'Happy' Chandler and the Integration of Major League Baseball: A Reassessment,” NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture. 2010. 28-51.
20 Glennon, “Baseball's Surprising Moral Examples,” 149.
10
the social gospel movement's emphasis on Christian social responsibility to give shape to his
lifelong commitment to justice and fairness.”21 Rickey believed, through his faith, that all people
were equal. He would be able to show this belief to the world.
Branch Rickey was known as a business man. He wanted to win games and make money.
Rickey came up with what became known as the “Great Experiment.” this experiment would
change baseball, and change America. He sent his top scouts to the negro leagues to find players
for what they believed would be a new negro league team in Brooklyn. A black team in
Brooklyn would allow him to make money from opening Ebbetts field when the Dodgers were
on the road and allow him to have a slice of Jim Crow baseball. The scouts returned with
multiple names, such as Roy Campanella, Satchel Paige, and Don Newcombe. Rickey only told
five people about his real plan as all others believed it was for a black team.22 Everyone else who
was scouting or heard about the scouting of black players believed it was for a new black team in
Brooklyn. As scouts returned with names of the top players from the negro leagues, Branch and
his small team went to work to find the best possible African American to fit the job of breaking
the color barrier. Branch Rickey asked Wendell Smith, a reporter for the Pittsburgh Courier,
about whom he believed, would be the best fit for this. Smith was a strong advocate for
integrating baseball. Smith gave him the name of Jack Roosevelt Robinson, which was also a
name given and approved by three of his scouts.
There were specific characteristics that Rickey was looking for in an African American
that were needed in order to make the great experiment work and break the color barrier of
baseball. Jackie Robinson, after very extensive research and a long interview, met these
21 Ibid, 150.
22 Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy, 56.
11
qualifications. Robinson was in a way the perfect person to reach the goal. He was an ideal
American who could endear Americans, and he had the right kind of grit and determination.
Robinson was born in Georgia in a single parent home. His mother moved him and his family to
California, where he eventually attended the University of California Los Angeles. At UCLA, he
became a four sport Letterman in baseball, football, basketball, and track. Robinson served in
World War II as a Lieutenant, and was known for his civil rights rants. He was kicked off of a
bus in Fort Hood for not moving to the back.23
After Branch Rickey tracked Robinson down, he came to Brooklyn to hold a meeting.
This meeting lasted three hours with questions for Robinson designed to figure out what type of
man he was and whether he was the right man for the job. The job was bigger than baseball. It
had the potential to change baseball and America if it works out. There was much to do for this
to happen. People had to act a certain way, especially Robinson. “Turning the other cheek” was a
major practice that had to be performed by Robinson.24 This was the most important aspect of
making the great experiment work. Everybody knew that Robinson would be yelled at, treated
differently, and be targeted during games. None of those would be a surprise. By the end of the
conversation, Robinson agreed and signed a contract with Brooklyn's minor league affiliate in
Montreal, officially breaking the color barrier of organized baseball. Immediately there was a lot
of pressure on Robinson. Many things needed to work out in his favor for him to succeed. He
had to carry himself a certain way, along with his teammates being on his side, which was not
always the case. Rickey and Robinson understood that in order for the experiment to work,
Robinson had to earn respect as a ballplayer and a fine gentleman. Robinson not only had to
23 David Faulkner, Great Time Coming: The Life of Jackie Robinson from Baseball to Birmingham (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1995), 76.
24 Glennon, “Baseball's Surprising Moral Examples,” 155.
12
show his skills could be used in the major leagues, but he had to gain respect from the fans and
the other players. If he fought back or did not play well, the white men who were against the
experiment would win.
Black attendance to games increased significantly, but the white attendance grew as well.
The owners were afraid attendance would drop quickly, specifically from the white middle-class
fans. This was not the case. People flocked to the stadiums to see Robinson, either to cheer for
him or against him. On April 18, 1946, the first game of the year at Roosevelt Stadium, the
International League Giants sold 52,000 tickets, double the stadium's capacity, in their game
against Montreal and Robinson. It became standing room only as people came to see the first
minor league game since the end of the war. There were many African Americans in attendance,
most of whom were probably attending their first organized baseball game.25 News reporters
piled into the press box to take notes on what was about to happen. Wendell Smith, of the
Pittsburgh Courier, who recommended Robinson, said, “Everyone sensed the significance of the
occasion as Robinson...marched with the Montreal team to deep center field for the raising of the
Stars and Stripes and the 'Star Spangled Banner.' We sang lustily and freely for this was a great
day.”26 This may have been the first time that an African American was singing the National
Anthem, when the words felt true. America was known as the “land of the free,” but this had not
been true. African Americans had been denied freedom time and time again, but singing that day,
Robinson may have felt freer then, than at any other prior moment in his life.
As the year went on, Robinson was succeeding. He carried his team to the Little World
Series. Once the team won the series, thousands of fans ran to Robinson to carry him off of the
25 Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy, 3-4.
26 Wendell smith in the Pittsburgh Courier, April 27, 1946
13
field. Sam Martin said of the scene, “It was probably the only day in history that a black man ran
from a white mob with love instead of lynching on its mind.”27 It is amazing to see what winning
can do for people and how they think. One day, a white man could have forced a Negro to sit in
the back of a bus, and the next day, that same man may have been carrying Robinson on his
shoulders celebrating a win. This spoke mightily to the world, but it did not end here.
Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers for spring training in 1947, which was held in
Cuba to avoid Jim Crow laws in Florida. Rickey believed this would create the least amount of
distraction for the team. The fans were not the problem here, but the players were. Many
Dodgers players signed a petition saying they would not play if Robinson made the big club.
These were star players signing this petition. Dixie Walker led this petition, and after manager
Leo Durocher put this down, he asked to be traded, which the Dodgers eventually did agreed to.28
The owners around baseball also played a part in denying Robinson. After Rickey announced
that the Dodgers bought Robinson's contract from Montreal, 15 owners voted against the move,
officially making the Majors a white only society. Luckily, new commissioner Happy Chandler
denied this and allowed Robinson to play.29
As Robinson stepped up to the biggest stage of baseball, and America, he felt the
pressure of his race on his shoulders. If he failed, the people would see his race as failing.
Robinson would be tormented during his career, especially his first season. Robinson was thrown
at multiple times, leading the majors in hit by pitches. He heard every terrible name in the book
from fans, players, and coaches. No matter what, he could not fight back; he had to turn the other
27 Jackie Robinson, I Never Had it Made: An Autobiography as Told to Alfred Duckett (Hopewell, NJ: Ecco Press, 1995), 53.
28 Glennon, “Baseball's Surprising Moral Examples,” 160.
29 Hill, “Commisioner A. B. 'Happy' Chandler,” 28-51.
14
cheek. Fred Glennon said, “If he fought back, people would have used that to instill fear in other
whites and to maintain the status quo, the injustice of segregation.”30 Branch Rickey knew this
was true. He was afraid of African American fans seeing this and causing even more trouble in
the stands, or using the advancement of Robinson as a symbol of race over race. As a result,
Rickey turned to the African American religious community for help. He asked them to
encourage the African American community to resist retaliation, practice nonviolence, and turn
the other check.31
Many incidents occurred throughout that 1947 season with the Brooklyn players. First the
petition was signed during spring training. The only teammate who ever really befriended
Robinson was Pee Wee Reese, but even he was afraid of his image. Ben Chapman, manager of
the Philadelphia Phillies, harassed Robinson harshly during a game. Robinson could not fight
back, but this time his teammates stood up for him. Eddie Stanky, a Dodger from Mobile,
Alabama, walked out and yelled at Chapman saying for him to yell at someone who could fight
back. In a game in Cincinnati later in the season, Pee Wee Reese was expecting family to be
there as he was from Kentucky. He was afraid of what his friends and family would think as he
took the field next to Robinson. After a conversation with Branch Rickey, Reese decided he
wanted to play ball, and doing so, he became a symbol along with Robinson. He wanted to stand
up for what he believed in. During the first inning, while the team was warming up, Reese went
over to Robinson and put his arm around him, showing all of his friends who he had become and
what he believed. Dixie Walker also gave in, and asked for his proposed trade to be canceled in
order to stay with the team.
30 Glennon, “Baseball's Surprising Moral Examples,” 156-157.
31 Ibid, 161.
15
Slowly people were changing. Rickey knew this would have to start with his team, and it
would spread from there. Players' attitudes changed; they began treating Robinson as a teammate
and not as a black man. There were plenty of situations where there was anger and frustration,
but these players saw what Robinson had to go through each day. They saw him take abuse after
abuse without any retaliation. Americans attitudes were rapidly changing as well. Every region
changed at a different pace than another, but it was changing in many ways. The way the press
talked about him changed over time, especially throughout the first season. Many reporters
doubted Robinson's talents at first, but by the end of 1947, Robinson was voted the Most
Valuable Player. He led the Dodgers to a World Series where they lost to the New York Yankees
in a season where players and fans thought the Dodgers had sacrificed their season in order to
make a change in baseball by breaking the color barrier. The Dodgers overcame many
distractions throughout the season even though many though they would have no chance at a
playoff spot. Robinson overcame all odds to show he should be there and brought his team to the
top with him. Jackie was successful. The Dodgers were successful, but they had to do things the
right way.
Anthony R. Pratkanis and Marlene E. Turner write about the nine principles of a
successful affirmative action plan. These two authors talk about what needs to happen and how
things need to be done in order to succeed at the great experiment. Branch Rickey was able to do
these successfully. The first step was to create the psychology of inevitable change. Rickey
needed everyone in the organization to know that this would happen. For example, Rickey talked
with Dodger broadcaster Red Barber about his intentions before ever finding Robinson. He told
him only the board of the Dodgers knew about this, but the time was coming. Red Barber was
not comfortable with this at first, but he succumbed to the inevitable change. The St. Louis
16
Cardinals tried to petition this, but National League President Ford Frick, told them they would
be suspended if they did not play. The next step was to establish equal status contact with a
superordinate goal. This was, in a sense, to share a common goal, which was to win the National
League Pennant. Next, the third principle was to puncture the norm of prejudice. This was the
idea that if one person breaks the norm, other players will follow; Pee Wee Reese did this in
front of the entire stadium, and others soon followed. The fourth principle was to practice non-
violent resistance, which was done by Robinson and the turning of the cheek motto. The fifth
principle was to create empathy and reverse the perceptions. If the Dodgers stood up for him,
they would be attacked as well and feel more empathy. It may have been the first time that the
players had been attacked like Robinson was.
The next principle was to individualize the new group member. When Jackie first came
into the league, he was known as the “Negro” player and not “Jackie.” It is easy to attack a vague
category, but people have trouble attacking flesh and blood. This was particularly useful in
newspapers. The seventh principle was to offer forgiveness and redemption. When a player or
coach would come around and accept Jackie, Rickey would immediately place that person on a
pedestal for the world to see. We can see this in the case of Ben Chapman. He was not actually
sincere, but he had to give a public apology for harassing Jackie to save his job. Robinson and
Chapman took a photo together on the field before the game. The photo was published around
the country, showing that even the most hardened could change. The eighth principle was to
undo the perception of preferential selection. People believed that Jackie was there only because
he was a black and that he would not succeed even if he was white. Jackie had to succeed on the
field to prove them wrong, which he did by winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 1947. The
last principle is to identify and remove institutional barriers. This was to provide a place where
17
segregation was nonexistent. This was difficult in the Jim Crow south during spring training. In
1947, Rickey brought the team to Cuba to avoid troubles during this time, and in 1948, Rickey
opened Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, where segregation would not be present.32 Rickey's
planned worked. Baseball changed forever, ad as a result, America changed forever.
The breaking of the color barrier was a major topic of discussion in the press. As soon as
Robinson was announced as a player the Dodgers signed to their minor league club, the topic
was headlined around the country. Both the white and black press were talking about the issue at
hand, and they had very different opinions. Rickey realized that this would be an issue and had to
get some of the white press to be on his side in order for Jackie to succeed. He asked a few
reporters to introduce Jackie as a player, not as a black man. This goes back to the affirmative
action plan in individualizing the player. They introduced him as a person, writing about his
achievements as UCLA and in the war. This was unusual for the white press. Atlanta Journal
Constitution editor Ed Danforth said, “I don't see why a top flight Negro ball player would be so
anxious to play in the white leagues when he is doing so well in his own organization.”33 George
White of the Dallas News described the action as “unfair” to both Robinson and the south where
an established way of Jim Crow life was threatened.34 Bob Seifert of Spartanburg, South
Carolina said, “Segregation in the South will continue. We live happier with segregation in
athletics as well as in other activities.”35 The black press was not all supportive either. Joe Bostic
32 Anthony Pratkanis and Marlene Turner, “Nine Principles of Successful Affirmative Action: Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson, and the integration of Baseball,” in The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and the American culture, 1997 (Jackie Robinson), ed. Peter M. Rutkoff, and Alvin L. Hall (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000), 151-176.
33 Chicago Defender. November 3, 1945.
34 Chicago Defender. November 3, 1945.
35 Chicago Defender. November 3, 1945.
18
possessed doubts saying, “I thought it was a trick, I thought Rickey was strictly a tricky man. I
just wouldn't accept that it would be real.”36 Even the press realized that the integration of
baseball was bigger than just the sport. Cleveland sportswriter Ed McAuley saw the race issue as
“an aspect of a grave social question” and doubted that baseball dugouts “seldom operated on the
highest level of mental maturity,” and were “the places to seek the answer.”37 Dan Parker of the
Sporting News argued that Rickey's surprise announcement left “the racial problem in baseball as
far from a satisfactory solution as ever.”38 Americans believed that integrating baseball would
not fix all of the problems in America, and it didn't as we still have problems today.
Most of the black press showed support and praise of the integrating league. Frank A.
Young, an American sportswriter known for his articles on African Americans and baseball, said
that Robinson's signing suggested that “democracy has finally invaded baseball, our great
national pastime” and was “a step toward a broader spirit of democracy in baseball and will do
much to promote a friendlier feeling between the races.”39 Young believed that this was a great
step towards true democracy in America, which is an important part of the civil religion of the
nation. By looking at the integration of baseball, we can see the major impact it had on American
society. We can see the changing of attitudes over time through the press, other teams
integrating, and fans continually coming to games and beginning to cheer for these Negro
players.
36 Bostic, Joe, “interview by Jules Tygiel, Quoted in Tygiel, Jules. Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008. 74
37 McAuley, Ed, Sporting News (November 1945) Quoted in Tygiel, Jules. Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008. 74.
38 Dan Parker of the Sporting News, March 28, 1946.
39 Frank A. Young, “Jim Crow Line Dented: Major League Points Way to Democracy.” The Chicago Defender, 27, October 1945, p. 1.
19
The first two seasons Robinson played Brooklyn, the Dodgers were forced to go to Cuba
and create a new place to hold Spring Training, Dodgertown, in order to stay away from the Jim
Crow South. Road trips were harsh since Robinson was not welcome into many hotels or
restaurants that the teams went to. Dan W. Dodson, a Professor at NYU and helped Rickey with
the great experiment and wrote multiple articles on the integration of baseball, writes about how
the Dodgers were to play a club in Florida, but that team called Branch Rickey saying that there
is a law that racially mixed groups could not play together in the city limits. Rickey did not care.
Rickey said “I will not cancel the game. I will not leave my Negro players behind... whoever
cancels the game will take the responsibility for it. I will not make their moral compromises for
them.” Significantly, two years later when Spring Training began, one of the large Georgia
towns called Rickey to set up some games against their local club. Rickey said to them, “If I can
bring my whole team.” “What do you mean by that?” they asked. “My Negro players.” said
Rickey. “Hell, that's who we want to see play!”40 How towns can close their doors to Robinson
one year, and then beg the Dodgers to come play the next year with multiple black players is
amazing. The African American players proved that they can play, and people wanted to see this
for themselves. The reasons varied throughout the nation from wanting to boo them, cheer them
on, or just witness the achievement. There was a lot of hate in America, especially revolving
around racial issues, but Americans were beginning to change as we can see over time.
1948, Brooklyn toured through Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Asheville. All
four cities sent letters to Rickey asking to stop and play only if Robinson was in the lineup. The
Brooklyn Club shattered attendance records at each stop, as attendance was not this high since
Babe Ruth came around. The interesting point here is that each of these cities had never
40 Dan W. Dodson, “The Integration of Negros in Baseball,” in The Jackie Robinson Reader: Perspectives on an American Hero, ed. Jules Tygiel. (New York, NY: Penguin Group, 1997), 155-167.
20
witnessed interracial competition. In Dallas, the stadium officials admitted African Americans to
the grandstand for the first time41. In 1949, Rickey decided to take his club through the
segregated South for a second consecutive year, but this time it would be through the heart of the
South. Rickey brought his team through Georgia, stopping in Macon and Atlanta, the very state
Robinson was born in and where his mother left for the good of their family. The press were
writing about the upcoming event. Jack Tarver, a columnist for the Atlanta Constitution said, “It
sure would be a terrible thing for me, sitting there in the bleachers, to be contaminated by that
darky out there playing second base.”42 The same newspaper later took a poll with the associated
press finding that supporters for the Dodgers appearance are 4-1.43 Sportswriter John Bradberry
wrote, “I'm just as much a southerner as anybody, but Providence willing, I'm going to see those
three Dodger-Cracker games and am glad of the opportunity.”44 With record breaking attendance
at these games, and having four supporters for every one antagonist, the stadium was filled with
cheers. Fans were cheering on the African American players, welcoming them into the stadium,
which was a big step for Americans.
The integration of baseball did not change the laws of the United States, but it did change
the way Americans thought about race. Jim Crow laws in the South did not go away after
Brooklyn's march through the area during the 1949 spring training season, but they may have
become less severe. This was a major breakthrough for many people in the South. Just to be able
to tolerate what was going on, and willing to go to the game and not boo Robinson off the field
was a change. Before each of these games, the Star Spangled Banner was most likely played at
41 Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy, 266.
42 Atlanta Constitution, January 15, 1949.
43 Atlanta Constitution, January 17, 1949.
44 Sporting News, January 26, 1949.
21
the beginning. Each person in that stadium sang the words “Land of the Free, and Home of the
Brave.” It may have been the first time they were singing this song around a large group of
African Americans. The players and fans would be singing this song together as one group of
Americans.
Branch Rickey's great experiment worked. Jackie Robinson became a household name in
the majors. He was elected to six All-Star teams, won an MVP in 1949, and won a World Series
in 1955. Robinson paved the way for many other players to come to the major leagues. None of
these players had taken the path that Robinson did, but all went through struggles. By 1956, there
were 40 African American players in the Majors, “securing their place forever.”45 The Sporting
News wrote this in their editorial celebrating baseball and the ten years of integration. The fight
was still far from over. There were still teams that have failed to integrate; the Phillies, Red Sox,
and Tigers all to this point have not signed a single African American.
Teams who had failed to integrate were not playing well. The Detroit Tigers were a top
team, winning the American League Pennant in 1945 and coming in second place the following
two seasons. They were clearly a top team. When the Indians signed Doby and Paige in 1948,
they beat the Tigers by one game for the Pennant and continued to win the World Series. The
Indians broke the attendance record that year as 2.7 million fans flocked the stadium to see these
players. The Tigers were losing at all aspects from there on out. Walter Briggs, the owner of the
Tigers, refused to sign a Negro player. When he died, the family sold the team to Fred Knorr, a
Michigan man who attended Hillsdale College, the second oldest campus to have integrated the
student body. Knorr immediately signed 17 players to join the Tigers farm system. Lawrence W.
Reed and Burton W. Folsom, Jr. wrote, “No one forced anyone to do anything he didn't want to
45 Sporting News, September 9, 1956.
22
do.” The integration of baseball was “a triumph of the free market.”46 Teams who failed to
integrate were losing games and losing fans. Americans wanted to see the changing game as it
had a significant influence on race relations in America.
Fans were coming to games more and more as African Americans joined more teams.
Attendance had risen greatly during the first years of integration. In 1945, the attendance was at
10.8 million people. In 1946, the attendance jumped to 18.5 million. Much of this had to do with
the war ending, so we can look again at the 1947 and 1948 seasons to see a continued growth.
1947 reached 19.8 million and 1948 reached 20.9 million people. Many team's attendance
jumped greatly between 1946 and 1948. At Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox,
attendance went from 750,000 in 1946 to 1.5 million in 1948. Cleveland more than doubled their
attendance between 1946 and 1948 going from 1 million to 2.6 million.47 Cleveland signed Larry
Doby and Satchel Paige in 1948.
Attendance was changing during this time, and not just by numbers. Attitudes of the fans
have changed greatly. If Jackie Robinson were to fight back or retaliate in any way during the
first few years of his career, the white fans would have gone mad and Jackie Robinson would not
have made it. After establishing himself and the African American race into baseball, people
became accustomed to the change and the way they watched these African American players. On
June 13, 1957, a confrontation between Larry Doby and Yankee pitcher Art Ditmar occurred.
Doby was brushed in the back by a pitch and then charged the mound, causing both dugouts to
clear. Both players were fined by the league president. The Washington Post described the
46 Burton R. Folsom and Reed W. Lawrence, A Republic- If We can Keep It (Irvington, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 2011), 310.
47 “1940-1949 Attendance,” Ball Parks of Baseball, 2001-2015, accessed March 10, 2015, http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/1940-49attendance.htm.
23
incident as historic. Shirley Povich of the Washington Post wrote, “For the first time, a Negro
player was daring to get as assertive as the white man whose special province Organized Ball
had been for nearly a hundred years... There is no intent here to condone what Doby did; merely
to point out that the consequences fell short of Civil War or succession or a violent sense of
outrage except among Ditmar's Yankee teammates who dashed to his assistance, but on no more
anger then if his attacker had been a white player.”48 Ron Briley points out the most unique thing
during this event. He says, “The fisticuffs between Doby and Ditmar did prove that black and
white players could have altercations on the field without setting off race riots in the stands.”49
This does not mean segregation has ended. Doby's biographer, Joseph Thomas Moore, said that
Doby was segregated during spring training up until 1959.50
The Jackie Robinson Story was made in 1950. This movie captured the essence of Jackie
Robinson and what he meant to baseball and America. Doug Battema says, “it showed the overt
connection between Robinson and the United States, overlaying an American Flag on Robinson
as he stands in his living room, wearing his U.S. Army uniform, talking with his mother, and
taking his baseball glove from his duffel bag. In just a few short seconds, Robinson was visually
linked with America's greatest institutions: baseball, the family, the home, the military, the
country itself.”51 The movie showed how Robinson can relate to everyone in America in one way
48 Sporting News, June 26, 1957.
49 Ron Briley, “Ten Years After: The Baseball Establishment, Race, and Jackie Robinson,” in The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and the American culture, 1997 (Jackie Robinson), ed. Peter M. Rutkoff, and Alvin L. Hall (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000), 146.
50 Joseph Thomas Moore, Pride Against Prejudice: The Biography of Larry Doby (New York, NY: Praeger, 1988), 112.
51 Doug Battema, “Jackie Robinson as Media's Mythological Black Hero,” in The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and the American culture, 1997 (Jackie Robinson), ed. Peter M. Rutkoff, and Alvin L. Hall (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000), 203.
24
or another. Robinson was a ball player, a son, a husband, a military man, and most importantly,
an American. “Rejecting Robinson meant, implicitly,” says Battema, “rejecting these American
Institutions.”52 The press wrote about the movie as well. A New York Times ad for the movie said
“If you are a lover of fair play and clean sportsmanship – if you believe in the right of a guy to
win on merit alone – which is the American way of doing it – then you will thrill to 'The Jackie
Robinson Story.'”53 Robinson was a symbol for America. He represented what Americans were
striving for.
Robinson earned the respect of the American people which allowed him to become the
civil rights leader and activist that he was. Robinson was a great player throughout his career as
he won multiple batting titles, All-Stars, a Rookie of the Year Award, and a Most Valuable
Player. He also led the league in stolen bases multiple times. His achievements on the field were
not the most important. They did allow him to make his mark and gain respect from the world,
but after a few years, what he did on the field no longer mattered. Jackie began speaking out
more. He was given a platform, and used it to speak what was on his mind. He began arguing
calls on the field, and arguing for what he believed in off of the field. Robinson realized, “A life
is not important except for the impact it has on other lives.”54 Since Robinson was able to play
and not retaliate, people respected him which gave him the opportunity to speak about civil
rights to America. Fred Glennon said that Robinson “spoke nonstop – at meetings, rallies,
hearings, and in the newspaper columns- for full inclusion of African Americans in all segments
of American society.”55David Faulkner claimed, “He was the figure who made civil rights a
52 Battema, “Jackie Robinson as Media's Mythological Black Hero,” 203.
53 “This Picture.” The New York Times, 14 May 1950, section 2, p. 3.
54 Robinson, I Never Had it Made. 265.
55 Glennon, “Baseball's Surprising Moral Examples,” 163.
25
popular issue before anyone took to the streets or talked about programs, bills, or social action.
Robinson was a link, and a crucial one, between despair and a movement.”56 Civil rights activists
followed his path of nonviolent protests. “Turning the other cheek” became a way of protesting
that all African Americans could follow. Martin Luther King Jr. was able to lead nonviolent
protest on a normal basis. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “You will never know how easy it was for
me because of Jackie Robinson.”57
Jackie Robinson had been a symbol to America in many ways. At first, he was a symbol
of opportunity and struggle for all African Americans. Even through the times where he was
more outspoken on and off of the field, both the white and the black press continually portrayed
him as the symbol of a peacefully integrated America: a “national symbol,” and a model
American who earned “acceptance and respect.”58 If Robinson would have spoken out in the
beginning, he would have never been able to accomplish what he did in baseball, and more
importantly, in America. Hal Bodley said it well, “As the decades have passed, what Jackie
Robinson did in 1947 for baseball made America more American.”59 Robinson was not the only
person to integrate an “all-white” sport, he wasn't even the first to do so, but no other American
sport, says Christopher H. Evans and William R. Herzog II, “has the symbolic meaning of
baseball.” Evans and Herzog II also say, “Jackie Robinson's integration of the major leagues in
1947 is arguable the most significant event in the history of modern American sport.”60 Baseball
56 Faulkner, Great Time Coming, 348.
57 Peter Golenbock, Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers (New York, NY: Pocket Books. 1984), 280.
58 “A Pioneering Athlete: Jack Roosevelt Robinson.” The New York Times, 14 December 1956, p. 38.
59 Hal Bodley, How Baseball Explains America. Chicago (IL: Triumph Books. 2014), 118.
60 Christopher H. Evans and William R. Herzog, ““Introduction: More than a Game: The Faith of Fifty Million,” in The Faith of Fifty Million: Baseball, Religion, and American Culture, ed. Christopher H. Evans and
26
represents the “American way of life,” and therefore Robinson is not just a symbol of
opportunity and struggle to African Americans, but he is also a symbol of opportunity and
struggle to all Americans, black and white.
“For a half century,” says baseball historian Jules Tygiel, “baseball had provided a mirror
image of American society; blacks and whites played in two realms, separate and unequal.”61
Baseball was the common man's game. Anyone could play if they worked hard and had the
proper skill set of brawn and brains. In the early to mid-1900s, brawn meant to be manly, which
excluded women, and having brains meant a player would need to be white. White men were the
only ones allowed in baseball, though it was never written as so. The game was considered to be
equal, just as America was considered to be the “land of the free,” with “liberty and justice for
all.” But with the work of Branch Rickey and Commissioner Chandler, Jackie Robinson was able
to make baseball truly equal for the first time.
Jackie Robinson was voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot.
Needing 75% of the votes to get in, Robinson received only 75.5% of the votes. The results are
remarkable for what he accomplished on the field, and most importantly, how he changed
baseball. The Hall of Fame is supposed to recognize the greatest players in the game. The Hall is
there in order to preserve baseball history, and Robinson may have made the biggest impact in
baseball history. The voters are the Baseball Writers of America, which, at that time, was mainly
made up of older generation white males. This may explain how Robinson did not get more
votes as some of these men may not have been changed as much as the others. Racism was still
alive in Baseball. We can see this as the last team did not integrate until 1959, the Boston Red
William R. Herzog II (Louisville, KY: Westminister John Knox Press, 2002), 6.
61 Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment, 8.
27
Sox, and many teams still had unwritten rules on how many African American players they
should have on their team. But baseball was making steps, along with America. In the 1950's,
America had multiple Supreme Court cases which limited segregation on railways and in higher
education. Many southern communities “rejected the most visible trappings of racial
intimidation, passing anti-mask laws aimed at the Klan.”62
In 1954, a major supreme court case was held with a decision that changed America
greatly. Brown v. Board of Education occurred, which was about segregation in public schools.
Earl Warren was the Chief Justice of the United States. A few years before becoming the Chief
Justice, Warren was an unemployed, California politician. Roger Kahn went to a game at Ebbets
Field in Brooklyn, and was introduced to Warren. The two men watched a few innings together,
cheering for Robinson and his daring base running ability and quick bat. “Warren was
fascinated,” says Kahn, and a few years later Warren became “the architect of integrated
education with his decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. I believe Earl Warren's
resolve for fairness in education took firm hold that night he watched Robinson at Ebbets
Field.”63 Through education, greater interracial familiarity and enlightenment would grow and
eliminate prejudice and discrimination. These were the assumptions in the Brown v. Board of
Education case.64
Baseball helped set the tone for this major decision in America. For the first time, blacks
and whites would be going to the same schools, singing the Pledge of Allegiance together. “With
Liberty and Justice for all” will finally be true. America will finally be the “Land of the Free”
62 Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment, 267-268.
63 Roger Kahn, “The Greatest Season: From Jackie Robinson to Sammy Sosa,” in Baseball and the American dream: race, class, gender, and the national pastime, ed. Robert Elias (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2001), 41.
64 Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment, 303.
28
which was always the claim of American Civil Religion. Carl L. Bankston III and Stephen J.
Caldas wrote about how American Civil Religion begins in the public schools in their book
Public Education-Americas Civil Religion: A Social History. Ceremonies and rituals are done on
a daily basis in the schools, engraving these thoughts in our children's brains. America was
becoming a more united society, and the integration of baseball helped lead the way. Christopher
H. Evans said that “baseball, being intrinsically 'American' has, at times, been a redemptive
theme that has set the tone for the rest of society.”65 Bart Giamatti, in his book Take Time for
Paradise, said, “For the first time, a black American was on America's most privileged version
of a level field.”66
Baseball helped set the tone for America. The sport has symbolized the nation from its
beginning. The court system in the United States is a part of the civil religion as it judges what is
right and wrong. The court passed laws that were not implicitly racist, but were there for that
reason. Baseball was segregated, but denied that there was a color barrier just like American
laws claimed to be equal. Baseball's integration story did not change American civil religion by
itself, but it did have a major impact. The sport continued to be a symbol to America in many
ways as it is still a symbol today. Jackie Robinson's number, 42, was retired in all of baseball. It
is remembers each year on Jackie Robinson Day. But the number is important to all of America.
Most Americans know what that number means. Forty-Two is hung up in every stadium, in order
for everyone to remember how the game of baseball got to where it is today, and also help
explain how America got to where it is today. Racism is still in baseball and American society.
Baseball did not have an African American manager until 1974 when Frank Robinson became
65 Evans, “Baseball as Civil Religion,” 31.
66 Bart Giamatti, Take Time for Paradise: Americans and Their Games (New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace, and Jovanovich. 1989), 64.
29
manager for Cleveland. Going back to Rousseau's original meaning of civil religion that it is
providing a nation a set of norms and common beliefs to unify the state, baseballs integration
story helped change the norms from separate but equal, to a nation becoming more equal. The
Civil Rights Act of 1964 was another step closer to equality. Baseball still has events set in place
to remember the struggles and changes in baseball revolving around racism. The civil rights
game is played each year along with Jackie Robinson day to promote equality. With the help of
baseball and its integration story, the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem now make
truer statements.
30
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