The racist incident that shook baseball nine years before integration

[zenax]

Interesting article in the Washington Post about a Yankees' outfielder remarks in a pregame interview in 1938 that allegedly slowed the integration of the game:

https://wapo.st/44PWMn6

 

[Flynn4ever]

I read this earlier. Disturbing how willing to excuse the casual racism so many were in this article.

 

[santadevil]

Interesting article in the Washington Post about a Yankees' outfielder remarks in a pregame interview in 1938 that allegedly slowed the integration of the game:

https://wapo.st/44PWMn6

Thanks for the article. I don't believe I had heard of this incident

I think the bolded is incorrect, they said it served as a catalyst to help integrate the game, so a silver lining to a bad incident

 

[snowmanny]

This part is interesting:

In autumn 1944, Powell finally did become a police officer — in Maryland’s Montgomery County, where the county commission voted, 2-1, to approve his hiring. The dissenter was Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson, who had been Powell’s manager in his first season in D.C.

 

[Van Everyman]

Landis again comes off as a horrible person:

Black Chicagoans poured complaints into WGN, the Chicago hotel where the Yankees were staying and the commissioner’s office, which was based in Chicago at the time. The day after Powell’s comment, a delegation of Black leaders marched to home plate to present a request to umpires that Powell be banned from baseball for life.


Instead, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a former federal judge in Chicago, suspended Powell for 10 days, even as a statement from his office made it sound like a reluctant decision:


“Jake Powell of the New York Yankees made an uncomplimentary reference to a portion of the population. Although the commissioner believes the remark was due more to carelessness than intent, player Powell is suspended for 10 days.”


But the punishment was viewed as rank hypocrisy, given the sport’s long-standing color barrier.


“Judge Landis, who tried the case and imposed the penalty, would thus placate the colored clientele of a business which trades under the name of the national game but has always treated the Negroes as [Adolf] Hitler treats the Jews,” conservative syndicated columnist Westbrook Pegler wrote.
Landis presided over baseball for a quarter-century as the sport maintained its color barrier. In 2020, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America took his name off its MVP awards, following calls to do so by several former MVPs and members of Congress.

When I read stuff like this, as silly as it sounds, I really do think Roger Goodell modeled himself on the guy – the misplaced moralism, placating bad actors, ruling with an iron fist.

 

[Winger 03]

This part is interesting:

In autumn 1944, Powell finally did become a police officer — in Maryland’s Montgomery County, where the county commission voted, 2-1, to approve his hiring. The dissenter was Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson, who had been Powell’s manager in his first season in D.C.

Which is interesting in that now (and for the verrrrrry long past) MoCo leans very far to the left. I grew up here and we have at least one SoSH'er who lives here now.

 

[Kenny F'ing Powers]

I gotta be honest - I thought this type of casual racism was acceptable in the 30's. Its (pleasantly) surprising that it lead to an immediate termination of the broadcast, issued apologies, suspensions, etc.

 

[moondog80]

I gotta be honest - I thought this type of casual racism was acceptable in the 30's. Its (pleasantly) surprising that it lead to an immediate termination of the broadcast, issued apologies, suspensions, etc.

This was my reaction.

 

[InsideTheParker]

Thanks very much for posting this article. I had never heard of all that.

 

[Monbo Jumbo]

I gotta be honest - I thought this type of casual racism was acceptable in the 30's. Its (pleasantly) surprising that it lead to an immediate termination of the broadcast, issued apologies, suspensions, etc.

Nothing casual about his reference to violence. Casual racism was acceptable, he crossed an obvious line, imo.

 

[biollante]

Never heard of this incident. Ironic end to his life.

 

[PC Drunken Friar]

Nothing casual about his reference to violence. Casual racism was acceptable, he crossed an obvious line, imo.

There were 130 (suspected...could be higher) lynchings in the 1930s.

https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/chilling-maps-of-lynchings-in-1930s-america/