The Augusta Newx-Rcview-August 8,1981-1
Since the late Jackie
Robinson broke the major
league baseball color line
in 1947, mny Black
Americans have excelled in
professional sports. In
basketball and football,
they dominate in numbers.
And in baseball, the quality
is such that they possess
seven of the top 10 batting
averages in the National
League.
While much has been
written abost the scarcity of
Black quarterbacks in the
National Football League,
few people realize realize a
similar slight exists on the
field in baseball. But 34
years after Robinson debut
the question is as apprapos
ever:
Why are there so few
Black American pitchers in
baseball'.'
If you are among the
overwhelming majority who
were not aware a shortage
existed - and always has
existed - at the position,
consider these facts:
-When Bob Gibson was
inducted Sunday, he
became the first Black
American pitcher to make
the Hall of Fame tiecause
of his achievements in
major-league baseball.
-Just It) Black American
pitchers have won 20 or
more games during a
regular season. They are
IXm Newcombe, the first
one in 1951 Sam Jones;
Gibson; Ferguson Jenkins;
Al Downing. J.R. Richard;
Jim "Mudcat" Grant; Earl
Wilson; Vida Blue and
Mike Norris. Jenkins who
has the most 20-game
seasons (seven) and who is
the only one to win 20 in
both leagues, actually does
not qualify because he is a
native of Canada.
--Just five Black
A m e r i c a n pitchers
have ever woo a World
Series game. lhe are (with
series records! Joe Black
(1-21. Gibson (7-2), Grant
(2-1). John “Blue Moon"
Odom (1-1) and Grant
Jackson (1-0).
-•Just four Black
Americans have ever
pitched for the Atlanta
Braves, and they are
Odom, Satchel Paige. Eddie
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Page 6
Solomon and Larry
Bradford. Bradford and
Felix Pettaway, who is in
Savannah, are the only
Black American pitchers
currently in the
organization.
•Just II Black
Americans are on active NL
pitching rasters. They are
Bradford; Jim Bibby,
Solomon and Jackson of
Pittsburgh: Blue and Al
Holland of San Francisco:
Lynn McGlolhen and l.ee
Smith of Chicago: Juan
Eichelberger of San Diego:
Ray Burris of Montreal;
and Dave Steward of Los
Angeles. CJnly five of the
II are fulltime starters, and
Eichelberger has the best
record 6-3.
Granted Black
Americans have not taken
to baseball in the same
numbers as they have to
pro basketball (67 percent)
and fixXball (55 percent). In
fact, a total of only 65 (21.7
percent) are on NL rasters.
Atlanta with six Black
Americans is tied with Lew
Angeles and san Francisco
for the third must in the
12-team league. Pittsburgh
and Montreal lead with 12
and nine.
But while Black
American pitchers have
been scarce in both quality
and number, there has
been no shortage of
excellence at other
positions. Robinson. Ernie
Banks Roy Campanella and
Willie Mays already are in
the Hall of Fame. Others
such as Lou Brock, Frank
Robinson. Maury Wills and
Curt Flood •- to name just
a few --are standing in line
with credentials already
established.
Henry Aaron, arguably
the best Black American to
every play in the major
leagues, can expect a Hall
ol Fame invitation in 19H2.
his first year of eligibility.
And the Braves' vice
President in charge of
player development seemed
a logical place Io begin in
the search for an
explanation of why so few
Black American Pilchers.
"Paul Snyder (Braves
director of scouting) and I
were talking about this a
couple years ago." Aaron
said. "He asked me.
‘Where ar? all the Black
Black Pitchers Are Scarce
pitchers?" I told him Black
parents were sending their
kills to other sports.
"Now. lixiking back on
my childhood, the only
answer I can come up with
is that as kids grow up.
they don't put in the time
• necessary to be a pitcher.
In my day. everybody
wanted to pick up a bat
and hit. Nobody wanted to
spend lhe necessary lime to
be a pitcher. I recently
talked to Ken Dayley. our
outstanding young prospect
at Richmond, and he told
me he had been pitching all
his life."
Bill Veeck. the
longtime baseball student
who is a champion of
minirity rights, contends
there have been so few
Black pitchers because "an
outstanding Black player
usually is sufficiently good
all-around that his team
wants him to play every
day."
"Back in the
barnstorming days of the
old Negro leagues, the
pitcher also played
elsewhere. tixv. And he
played so well elsewhere
that they used him at the
everyday positions and
hired new. young players to
do the pitching." he said.
In football. Veeck was
told. Blacks naturally
gravitate to the running
back, defensive back, wide
receiver and defensive line
positions that are power
and glory positions in the
spotlight opposed to the
offensive line. So in
baseball, why don't they
find an attraction at
pitching, which may be the
ultimate in power, glory
and lhe spotlight?
■‘Pitching really
doesn't qualify." Veeck
replied, "because it is a
once -e v ery -1 our■ d a y s
position. Remember that
Babe Ruth was one of the
two <r three best left
handed pitchers to play the
game. But the way he
could hit. you wanted him
in the lineup every day.
You wouldn't have wanted
a Hank Aaron to pitch,
would you ?"
Minnesota Twins ow ner
Calvin Griffith, a rarity
these days because his club
is his major source of
suppirt. is an old-timer
who has been accused of
racist policies by former
players such as Rod Carew.
He has owned the Twins
since their inception tn
1961. ami he remains a
keen student of the game.
"I've never really
understixxl why we haven't
had more Black pitchers."
he said. "and the
American League really
hasn't had as many as the
National On my club. I can
remember only two.
Mudcat Grant and Joe
Black.
" Ihere should be more
because they usually have
longer arms. They also
have better reflexes. All
usually are so fast that you
want to put them in the
outfield because of their
speed. Their reflexes are so
great yixt want to put them
at an infield position.
" Iberefore. you tend
to forget about them
pitching, because so few
players overall can do the
things you need in
baseball. I'm talking about
reflexes and speed."
Newcombe, the first
20-game winner who went
on to win the Cy Yixing.
the Most Valuable Player
Aw aril and 2? games in a
single season with the
Dodgers. now is an
insurance executive in Los
Angeles. He said he always
has been curious why there
haven't been more Sam
Jones'. And he could have
addeil more Don
Newcombes.
"Unlike most Black
kids of my time, all I ever
wanted to do was pitch."
he said. "I also was
fortunate growing up in
Elizabeth. J.J., where I
hail a neighbor. John Grier,
who was a firmer semipro
pitcher. He taught me how
to pitch, my delivery, my
everything. I was very
firiunaie."
He theiriz.es that Black
kids go to other positiirts
because that's where their
heroes play. "Black kids
tixlay want to be a Dave
Winfield or a Reggie
Jackson, he said. "Here
in Los Angeles, in every
Mexican section, every kid
wants to be another
Fernando Valenzuela. You's
be surprised how many
Mexican kids suddenly
wain to become pitchers."
'lhal theory, however,
is without solid foundation.
In the last half of the
|96()’s. Gibson and Jenkins
were giants of baseball with
Gibson winning 20 games
ir nt ire in 1965. 1066,
l»6h. 1969 and |9"(). while
Jenkins accomplished the
teat in six consecutive years
from 196" thrixtgh 1972. In
the American League Grant
was a 20-game winner in
1965 and Wilson iti 1967,
In the last 10 years,
only Jenkins (|9"2 and
19“4i. Blue ||9"3 and
I9“5). Richard tl9 _ 6) and
Norris I ION)) have produced
20-vvin seasixts.
lor Bradfird. the only
Black pitcher to make it all
the way through the
Braves' irganizatiixi. his
employment in the majir
leagues is a result of
necessity and the
generosity of both his
stepfather and lhe late
Mayor Richard Daley of
Chicago.
"Growing up in
Chicago." he said. "I was
the youngest sixt in a big
family. My older brother
wixilil make me do the
pitching while they did the
(lining. Mayor Daley
provided the funds where if
any neighbirhixxl group
wanted to form a Little
League team, the city
would provide lhe
equipmc.ii. All that was
neeoed was a couch. and
my stepfather was a big
baseball fan. He tixvk the
lime to be the cixtch of our
team, and that's where my
learning started."
Bradford was an
outstanding allround
athlete and wixilil up as a
com bina t i on loolb a 11 -
baseball player at Clark
College. In baseball, he
played more than one
posiliixi.
"Actually I shied away
frixn pitching as much as I
cixtlil. I wanted to play
either first base ir the
ixitfield because I could hit.
< hie day in college, a scout
told me the quickest way to
lhe majir leagues was as
either a pitcher or a
catcher. I couldn't catch
because 1 was left-handed,
so I concentrated solely or
pitching."
Bradford contends most
Blacks go into basketball or
toolball because it takes so
long to reach the major
leagues in baseball. But
signing with the Braves in
197,1. he took the long
route anyway, and he said
the degree of racism he
encountered decreased with
every step up.
"In A ball." he said,
"broadcasters and other
members of the media were
prejudiced. In AA. it was
ihe official surer. There
was not as much in AAA.
And since I have been in
the majors. I haven't been
on lhe field long enough to
detect any."
"And pitchers do have
to think," he said.
In away. he says he
regrets becoming a pitcher
because it has resulted in a
lixiely life for him in the
majors.
"My friends are fellow
Black pitchers on other
teams -- Holland and Blue
of San Francisco. Stew art of
Los Angeles and Jackson of
Pittsburgh." he said. "We
are pretty tight."
"Being Black and a
pitcher makes it tough for
me. Guys don't talk to me
as readily as they do to
others. All the other
Atlanta pitchers are white,
so we don't socialize
together. Also. I am Black
but not in the Black crowd
because the others are all
fielders and hitters, and we
have nothing in common to
talk about. Believe me. it's
like being in a world of
your own."
Newcombe, who had
suggested Black kids had
lacked a Black pitching
hero to emulate, seemed on
firmer ground when he
cited another reason for the
shortage, using his son as
an example.
"Don Jr. recently
cixnpleted his last semester
al lhe University of
Arizona." Newcombe said.
"He was one of two Blacks
on the junior varsity
baseball team, lhe schixil
had one Black on the
varsity. Nixie was a pitcher.
'lliey told me that a lot of
prejudice at the college
level was centered in that
position.
"At the conclusion of
this semester, the baseball
coach told my son to find
himself another school to
go to. So my son, who said
he batted .365 as a first
baseman, is going to
I’epperdine this fall.”
A check of the state’s
two major schools reveals
that, indeed, and for
whatever reason, a Black
on a baseball scholarship is
almost as rare as a
Herschel Walker.
Georgia Tech assistant
athletic director Jim Luck,
until recently the school's
longtime baseball coach,
said the school has had two
Black baseball players on
scholarship. He added that
Pat Doyle, a shortstop, and
Dixi Rucker, an outfielder,
both originally were walk
ons who earned
scholarships in 1980.
"We never attempted
to recruit Black pitchers
ilue to a scarcity of grades
and talent." said Luck.
Until his retirement in
197.5, Jim Whatley
seemingly had coached
(Georgia baseball firever.
He said the Bulldogs never
had a Black baseball player
on scholarship and that he
could remember only one
who ever wire the unifirm,
outfielder from Macon who
played in ixie game in 1975
ami was cut the next
year."
Georgia now has a
Black player on scholarship
who also is a pitcher. But
Guy Stargell came to
Athens on a football
scholarship, played both
spirts last year but will
play baseball exclusively
next year.
Neither lech or
Geirgia is noted fir its
baseball team, lhe sport
always has been a stepchild
in both schixils' athletic
programs. Flirida State,
perenially the South's best
pnxlucer of baseball talent,
hasn't gone overboard ixi
Black players either.
In the past 10 years,
according Io Lisa Mirhxi of
the schixil's sports publicity
department. FSU has had
four Black baseball players.
One came on a scholarship,
one earned a scholarship
and two were non
scholarship pla'“’-«
Whatley said, “To
be truthful, when I
recruited, any Black players
good enough to play usually
signed professional
contracts instead of college
grants. Also being very
truthful, very few of them
could get into college a few
years ago. We (Georgia)
have had to lower our
entrance requirements quite
a bit in the last 10 years.”
So with the door to
development closed to the
Black baseball pitcher in
college, his only hope has
been instruction in the
minor leagues, and his
chances here are not good
either.
Besides the excellence
of the Black player at
everyday positions
(Atlanta's Terry Harper was
signed as a pitcher and
converted to an outfielder),
he has faced another
obstacle. according to
Donald W. Reg listers,
executive vice president of
the Black Opinion Survey in
Washington. D.C.
"[here is some
evidence of continuing
racism in baseball," said
Regusters. "For instance,
as late as 1979, no major
league team had a Black
scout. There is still a small
number tixlay. And white
scouts wouldn't - most
tixlay still won't -• go into a
Black area. And if your
farm system is not the first
to recognize talent, then
there is nothing yixt can do
to gel them into your
system. .
Unless you
have lhe luck of Don
Newcombe, it is not
available fir a Black.
In recent years,
baseball salaries have
soared to the top of the
baseball ladder. The
enticement of riches always
has been a lure of the
ghetto. Now maybe it is
time fir irganized baseball
to recognize this deficiency
on the mound.
Unquestionably the
talent is there. All it needs
is development. Until then,
the mixinil will remain the
second whitest spot in
sports, surpassed only by
lhe posiliixi under center in
fixXball.
