Whatever I think about ESPN.com and its unfortunate slide towards making a lot of its content Insider-only, it still commissions some pretty good “history of the game” pieces. This one on Charley Pride, Prince Joe Henry, and the struggle to integrate the major leagues in the 1950s is very good in drawing the spotlight on a forgotten group, the Negro Leaguers who played just after integration had theoretically taken place (they’re now getting quasi-pension payments from MLB’s Baseball Assistance Team, but there are disputes over how to count years of service). As Negro League historian Larry Lester says in the article, “Segregation and the color barrier didn’t turn over at 12 o’clock midnight on April 15, 1947”. Indeed, and shamefully, the Sox were among 3 teams not to have had a black player by the time Jackie Robinson retired.
This little tidbit on Fay Vincent was interesting too:
Former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent agrees, and has put his money where his mouth is: In 2002, Vincent donated a portion of revenues from his book, “The Last Commissioner,” to every living former Negro Leaguer, of which some 130 remain today.
“I had Cooperstown give me a list of probably 250 guys, and I gave them $300-$400 apiece,” says Vincent. “I got to know a number of them over the years, and I realized they got the worst deal.
Makes me like the man more, and I already liked him for banishing Steinbrenner from the game.