Jackie Robinson (90 page)

Read Jackie Robinson Online

Authors: Arnold Rampersad

22.
Well, have you been
: Haynes to Spike Lee, interview.

23.
I was in the outfield
: Boston
Herald,
April 16, 1987.

24.
I’m telling you
: ibid.

25.
What a ballplayer
: ibid.

26.
He said to me
: ibid.

27.
I wish I could
: Chicago
Tribune,
July 28, 1994.

28.
He went home
: Toronto
Sun,
Aug. 1, 1994.

29.
Could we, by any chance
: Carl T. Rowan with Jackie Robinson,
Wait Till Next
Year
(N.Y.: Random House, 1960), p. 97.

30.
Negroes are not barred
: Chicago
Defender,
July 25, 1942.

31.
brandish sharp spikes
: Rowan, p. 101.

32.
Frankly, we were met
: Chicago
Tribune,
July 28, 1994.

33.
Why not?
: Rowan, p. 104.

34.
Damned skin
: Arthur Mann,
The Jackie Robinson Story
(N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, 1951), p. 30.

35.
That scene haunted me
: Rowan, p. 106.

36.
the most humiliating
: Robert W. Peterson,
Only the Ball Was White
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1970), p. 185.

37.
trying to assume
: Peterson, p. 187.

38.
the ideal Negro star
: Montreal
Gazette,
Oct. 24, 1945.

39.
I knew most
: Harold Parrott,
The Lords of Baseball
(N.Y.: Praeger, 1976), p. 187.

40.
carefully, and when I
: Donald Honig, “When Baseball Grew Up,”
Reader’s Digest,
August 1975, p. 151.

41.
Player fell on shoulder
: Mann, p. 26.

42.
Hello, Jackie
: Mann, p. 29.

43.
I was thrilled, scared
:
I Never,
p. 43.

44.
Jack waited, and waited
: L.A.
Times,
April 9, 1990.

45.
I know you’re a good
:
I Never,
p. 43.

46.
my race, my parents
:
I Never,
p. 46.

47.
I had to do it
: ibid.

48.
the most stupefying
: Giovanni Papini,
The Life of Christ,
trans. Dorothy Canfield Fisher (N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace, 1923), pp. 104–105.

49.
On the telephone
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

50.
I was told I would
: JR, “What’s Wrong with the Negro Leagues?”

51.
and make one break
: Branch Rickey to Arthur Mann, Oct. 7, 1945, AMP, LC.

52.
Of course, I can’t
: NYT, Oct. 24, 1945.

53.
undoubtedly will be criticized
: Montreal
Gazette,
Oct. 24, 1945.

54.
a fine way
: NYT, Oct. 24, 1945.

55.
very few players
: ibid.

56.
They didn’t make
: NYT, Oct. 26, 1945.

57.
It is those of
: Rowan, p. 121.

58.
will not make the grade
: Rowan, pp. 122–123.

59.
couldn’t foresee any future
: Rowan, p. 123.

60.
We won’t take it
: NYT, Oct. 24, 1945.

61.
Rickey is no Abraham
: Rogosin, p. 207.

62.
The Negro league is
: ibid.

63.
There is no Negro
: Holway, p. 342.

64.
and who are being
: Montreal
Gazette,
Oct. 24, 1945.

65.
I feel that I speak
: Montreal
Gazette,
Oct. 27, 1945.

66.
it all came down
: Rogosin, p. 214.

67.
We’d get
300
people
: Holway, p. 326.

68.
did not like being
: Rogosin, p. 86.

69.
One day Felton Snow
: ibid.

70.
just a swell person
: Falkner, p. 121.

71.
It was my mother’s
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

72.
It was a lovely wedding
: Robert Campbell, interview, UCLA Archives.

73.
I could feel
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

CHAPTER 7

1.
I also compulsively spent
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

2.
that piece of ermine
: ibid.

3.
I couldn’t be sure
: Carl T. Rowan with Jackie Robinson,
Wait Till Next Year
(N.Y.: Random House, 1960), p. 131.

4.
Blacks could not eat
:
I Never,
p. 52.

5.
Jack almost exploded
: Rowan, p. 132.

6.
dirty, dreadful place
: ibid.

7.
You’d better get off
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

8.
ready to explode
:
I Never,
p. 53.

9.
I could see him
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

10.
I had a few
:
I Never,
p. 53.

11.
I made sure that
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

12.
I wouldn’t do it
: Rowan, p. 135.

13.
I never want another
: PC, March 9, 1946.

14.
bad flying weather
: Montreal
Gazette,
March 2, 1946.

15.
No one objects
: PC, March 9, 1946.

16.
a dear, sentimental romantic
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

17.
If we can’t put
: PC, March 9, 1946.

18.
I felt so protective
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

19.
to be the gentlemen
: Montreal
Gazette,
March 1, 1946.

20.
because of my interest
: NYT, March 1, 1946.

21.
keeping up a constant
: Rowan, pp. 137–138.

22.
Well, this is it
: Clyde Sukeforth to Rachel Robinson, March 18, 1987, RRP [dated 1976].

23.
became the first two
: New York
Daily Worker,
March 5, 1946.

24.
Jack, do you think
: See Rowan, p. 138. Not verbatim.

25.
In those days
: Rowan, p. 139.

26.
Mr. Rickey, do you
: Rowan, p. 145.

27.
I never saw these
: Montreal
Gazette,
March 5, 1946.

28.
We disliked this distinction
: Rowan, p. 142.

29.
that Mr. Rickey has played
: Montreal
Gazette,
March 6, 1946.

30.
If he was white
: Rowan, p. 144.

31.
Day after day
: Rachel Robinson, “I Live with a Hero,”
Negro Digest,
June 1951, p. 4.

32.
How could I miss
: Rachel Robinson, interview. /
We began to see
: ibid.

33.
I was disappointed
: ibid.

34.
My Dearest Darling
: JR to Rachel Robinson, n.d., RRP.

35.
Rickey would show up
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

36.
has been giving Jackie
: PC, March 30, 1946.

37.
swarthy señor
: PC, March 23, 1946.

38.
I’m not interested
: PC, March 30, 1946.

39.
He had the greatest
: Philadelphia
Daily News,
Oct. 27, 1972.

40.
forever blasted
:
Daily Worker,
March 17, 1946.

41.
Lou was intelligent
:
I Never,
p. 57.

42.
a few weak
:
I Never,
p. 58.

43.
Playing under terrific pressure
: Daytona Beach
Evening Journal,
March 17, 1946.

44.
We were literally afraid
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

45.
ROBINSON GETS A HIT
: PC, April 6, 1946.

46.
a man in a goldfish
: Baltimore
Afro-American,
March 16, 1946.

47.
It is part of
: Montreal
Gazette,
March 22, 1946.

48.
We lived up to
: PC, April 6, 1946.

49.
What this had to
:
I Never,
p. 61.

50.
Vicious old man Jim
: PC, April 13, 1946.

51.
Without Robinson and Wright
: PC, April 13, 1946.

52.
That’s great
: PC, March 30, 1946.

53.
one of the most
: PC, April 13, 1946.

54.
Poor Hopper
: Montreal
Standard,
April 4, 1946.

55.
I remember the parades
: Rowan, p. 149.

56.
Now the crowd went
: Rowan, p. 154.

57.
as he was mobbed
: New York
Herald Tribune,
April 19, 1946.

58.
a mad scene
: Montreal
Gazette,
April 19, 1946.

59.
converted his opportunity
: NYT, April 19, 1946.

60.
Make no mistake
: Montreal
Gazette,
April 20, 1946.

61.
Thus the most significant
: New York
Amsterdam News,
April 27, 1946.

62.
While it’s a ticklish
: Montreal
Standard,
April 28, 1946.

63.
He didn’t say so
: ibid.

64.
nigger son of a bitch
: misc. clipping, n.d., JRP.

65.
It put a heavy
:
I Never,
pp. 59–60.

66.
The woman didn’t merely
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

67.
such good people
: Edgar Méthot to Jack and Rachel Robinson, July 10, 1972, JRP.

68.
The only person
: Baltimore
Afro-American,
May 11, 1946.

69.
the Colored Comet
: Montreal
Gazette,
June 4, 1946.

70.
I consider it a great
: JR to New York State Organizing Committee, United Negro and Allied Veterans of America, n.d. [1946], JRP.

71.
Hey Jackie, there’s
:
I Never,
p. 62.

72.
I owe more
: Toronto
Star,
March 16, 1957.

73.
I’ve reminded him
: Montreal
Gazette,
Oct. 5, 1946.

74.
He came into the office
: Montreal
Gazette,
Oct. 7, 1946.

75.
Because of his dark
: ibid.

76.
the toll that incidents
:
I Never,
p. 62.

77.
Rachel’s understanding love
:
I Never,
p. 67.

78.
I never told Jack
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

79.
a player who must
:
Newsweek,
Aug. 26, 1946, p. 72.

80.
I’d like to have
: Rowan, p. 161.

81.
I’ve had great luck
:
Newsweek,
Aug. 26, 1946, p. 72.

82.
The tension was terrible
:
I Never,
p. 63.

83.
The worse I played
:
I Never,
p. 63.

84.
demonstrations of prejudice
: Louisville
Courier-Journal,
Oct. 6, 1946.

85.
which really settled
: Montreal
Daily Star,
Oct. 4, 1946.

86.
The tears poured down
: Montreal
Gazette,
Oct. 6, 1946.

87.
You’re a great ballplayer
:
I Never,
p. 65.

88.
They stormed around him
: Montreal
Gazette,
Oct. 6, 1946.

89.
It was probably
:
I Never,
p. 65.

CHAPTER 8

1.
the promoters
: Arthur Mann,
The Jackie Robinson Story
(N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, 1951), p. 158.

2.
Even if you don’t
: Susan Rayl, “Jackie Robinson and Basketball: Excellence on the Court,” address, Bethune-Cookman College, Fla., March 15, 1996.

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