Quebec Chapter meeting recap – 5/18/2019
The SABR-Québec Chapter held its spring meeting on May 18, 2019 in Montréal. Member Marcel Dugas spoke about his recently-published book entitled “Jackie Robinson: un été à Montréal” (“A Summer in Montreal”). The book, whose publication coincides with the 100th anniversary of Robinson’s birth, examines the 1946 season that he spent with the Montreal Royals, his first in Organized Baseball. Most biographies of Robinson skip quickly over this episode, but it was a crucial year, given that if things had not gone well, Branch Rickey’s whole project of bringing segregation to an end in the major leagues could have been derailed. The book is based on abundant coverage by contemporary sources, as there were some ten newspapers and periodicals, both French and English-language, that covered sporting events in Montreal at the time.
Marcel spoke about a number of so-called facts about Jackie Robinson concerning which it is interesting to distinguish truth from myth. For example, it is often said that Rickey chose Montreal because its inhabitants were particularly non-racist. That may be partly true, but it is largely because there was almost no black community in Montreal in 1946. In fact, Rickey wanted Robinson to play in a northern city, and he could only choose between Montreal and St. Paul, Minnesota, the only places where the Dodgers had a farm team at the right level. However, St. Paul played in the American Association, a league with teams in a number of southern cities, where Robinson would likely have faced hostility – as would in fact be the case when Montreal played Louisville in the Junior World Series. Thus, selecting Montreal was a foregone conclusion.
The second myth is that Manager Clay Hopper is often depicted as the villain of the story, a southern racist opposed to having Robinson on his team. However, the facts dispute this: Hopper was only hired after Robinson’s signing, so he knew what was in store, plus as someone who was independently wealthy, he was not forced by economic circumstances to accept the Dodgers’ offer. Everything seems to indicate that he appreciated Robinson as a ballplayer, and that he came to embrace his role in integrating baseball. The Gazette newspaper published a drawing comparing him to Abraham Lincoln, and Hopper liked it so much that he asked for his own copy to hang in his office!
There is an anecdote about a black cat that is found in various sources, including the movie The Jackie Robinson Story in which Jackie played himself, and that is re-told by Jackie’s daughter in Ken Burns’ documentary. Syracuse’s players had apparently brought the feline to the ballpark to mock Robinson, telling him they had found a long-lost cousin or a black friend for him. Shortly afterwards, Jackie told a reporter that this had made him laugh, but years later, in his autobiographies, he said this had enraged him and that he had told off the Syracuse players when walking past their dugout. And in the movie, a different version is depicted, in which it is fans which bring the cat to rile him, making it seem as if the event took place a number of times. This is a case where the truth will likely never be established, given how many different versions are extant.
Finally, in August, perhaps because of all the pressure he had had to endure, Robinson was the victim of a burnout and consulted a doctor who told him to take ten days to rest. However, he stated some years later that he returned to the field after missing just one game because he feared that he would be accused of trying to protect his lead in the batting race. But this is another element that only surfaced in his autobiographies many years later. Shortly after the season, his version was that Clay Hopper had asked him to come back and nowhere was there any mention of the batting race or of what people might think.
Marcel has already received a number of requests for an English translation of his book, which would allow for a much wider circulation, given the small size of the French-language market. He is thinking about it.
The chapter’s next meeting will take place on August 24, 2019 with our traditional outing in Quebec City to attend a game of the Can-Am League Capitales.
— Patrick Carpentier
Marcel a abordé quelques idées reçues à propos de Jackie Robinson, en essayant de faire la part du mythe et du vrai. On dit souvent que Rickey avait choisi Montréal parce que ses habitants étaient particulièrement peu racistes. C’est en partie vrai, mais c’est surtout dû au fait que la communauté noire y était pratiquement absente en 1946. En fait, Rickey voulait que Robinson joue dans une ville du nord, et le choix ne pouvait se porter que sur Montréal ou Saint-Paul, au Minnesota, les deux seules filiales des Dodgers d’un calibre suffisant. Or Saint-Paul jouait dans l’Association Américaine, qui comptait plusieurs villes dans le sud du pays, où l’accueil réservé à Robinson aurait été plus problématique – on pourra le constater lors de la Petite Série Mondiale que Montréal disputera à Louisville. Le choix de Montréal était donc une évidence.
Le deuxième mythe est celui que le gérant Clay Hopper aurait été le vilain de l’histoire, un sudiste raciste opposé à la venue de Robinson. Or, les éléments disponibles infirment cette version : il n’a été embauché qu’après la signature de Robinson, donc savait dans quoi il s’embarquait, et, indépendant de fortune, il n’était pas non plus obligé par les circonstances à accepter l’emploi de gérant offert par les Dodgers. Tout indique qu’il appréciait beaucoup Robinson comme joueur, et qu’il ait embrassé son rôle dans l’intégration du baseball : The Gazette publie même un dessin le comparant à Abraham Lincoln, et Hopper en aurait demandé une copie pour l’afficher dans son bureau !
Il y a l’anecdote du chat noir qui se retrouve dans le film The Jackie Robinson Story, dans lequel Robinson joue son propre rôle, et racontée textuellement par sa fille dans la série de Ken Burns. Les joueurs de Syracuse auraient amené le félin au stade pour se moquer de Jackie, lui disant qu’ils lui avait trouvé un cousin ou un ami noir. Sur le coup, Jackie a raconté que la chose l’avait fait rire, mais plusieurs années plus tard dans ses autobiographies, il a raconté que ça l’avait rendu fou de rage et qu’il avait répondu aux joueurs du Syracuse en passant devant leur abri. Et dans le film, on raconte une version où ce sont des spectateurs qui amenaient un chat noir, soulevant la possibilité que ça se soit produit plus d’une fois. Bref, la vérité ne sera probablement jamais établie, vu les différentes versions en circulation.
Enfin, au mois d’août, sous l’effet de toute la pression qu’il a à gérer, Robinson est en burn out et consulte un médecin qui lui prescrit de prendre une dizaine de jours de repos. Or, après avoir raté un seul match, il revient au jeu de peur qu’on l’accuse de vouloir protéger son avance au championnat des frappeurs affirmera-t-il plus tard. Toutefois, il s’agit là aussi d’un élément apparu dans des autobiographies bien des années plus tard. Quelques mois après les événements, il disait que Clay Hopper lui avait demandé de revenir au jeu et à aucun moment il n’était question de son avance et de ce que les gens pourraient penser de lui.
Marcel a déjà reçu de nombreuses demandes pour une traduction anglaise de son livre, ce qui en permettrait une diffusion beaucoup plus large, vue l’étroitesse du marché francophone. Il y réfléchit présentement.
La prochaine rencontre du chapitre devrait avoir lieu le 24 août, avec notre visite traditionnelle à Québec pour un match des Capitales.