Colorblind

The good side of Leo Durocher emerges in a new book:

Markusen: It was Durocher who was supposed to manage Jackie Robinson during his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers, but a suspension prevented him from doing so. Before the suspension, what was the relationship like between Leo and Jackie during spring training in 1947?

Dickson: The two men got along extremely well and Leo headed off a famous petition drive by certain players who did not want to play with Robinson. The scene in the movie 42 with Durocher confronting the team on the matter of Robinson is accurate. Durocher had spoken out in favor of the integration of baseball as early as 1939 and seemed to be color blind. Little known is that an African-American man named David Redd was instrumental in getting Leo to try out for the Hartford Senators. He made the team, which led to his [Durocher’s] signing by the Yankees. For decades to come, Leo made sure David Redd had World Series tickets.

Markusen: As a manager, Durocher had perhaps his greatest success with the Giants, where he got along exceedingly well with Willie Mays. Why do you think that Durocher and Mays were so compatible?

Dickson: Durocher’s greatest moment came with the Giants. It began when he signed Monte Irvin and Henry Thompson in July of 1949. Both these men were African-Americans who had been in combat zones in World War II—Irvin during the D-Day invasion and Thompson during the Battle of the Bulge. He knew he could not treat these men without deep respect for what they had been through. When Mays came up a year later, he realized that Mays needed nurturing rather than badgering. He stuck with Mays during an early slump. His treatment of these three men may have been his finest hour. Mays was the only ballplayer to speak at Leo’s funeral.

When I saw 42, that scene surprised me, as I didn’t think Durocher liked anybody. Durocher was a complex man, and that’s what author Paul Dickson explores in his book.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2pVkmQj