Appel: Was Casey Stengel a racist?
From SABR member Marty Appel at The National Pastime Museum on September 3, 2015:
When I’ve told people in the last year that I’m working on a new biography of Casey Stengel, the most frequently asked question about him seems to be, “Was he a racist?”
I’m not surprised.
There is really only one quote attributed to him that sticks in people’s minds on the subject. In talking about Elston Howard, the first African-American Yankee, he joked, “I finally get one, and he can’t run.” (He may have used a pejorative for “one” in the telling).
The answer to the question, though, is far more complicated.
It is the most difficult subject to deal with in the book, because it seems to call for reading his mind, something impossible to achieve. We are left with an analysis of his actions and comments by others. That leaves us with the burden of being asked to judge.
Read the full article here: http://www.thenationalpastimemuseum.com/article/was-casey-stengel-racist
Originally published: September 3, 2015. Last Updated: September 3, 2015.