Dunkel: Integrated baseball, a decade before Jackie Robinson
From NPR’s “All Things Considered” on March 23, 2013, with SABR member Tom Dunkel:
In 1947, Jackie Robinson famously broke the color line in baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, ending racial segregation in the major leagues.
That moment was a landmark for racial integration in baseball, but there’s another moment few may be aware of, and it happened more than a decade before Robinson, in Bismarck, N.D.
Tom Dunkel writes about this Bismarck team in his new book, Color Blind: The Forgotten Team That Broke Baseball’s Color Line.
Legendary baseball players such as Satchel Paige, Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, and Quincy Trouppe left the Negro Leagues to play ball for the team.
One man formed the team, Dunkel tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Don Gonyea. Neil Churchill, a successful automobile dealership owner in Bismarck, paid out of his own pocket to put together the best baseball team that he could — regardless of race.
Read the full article here: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/23/174869235/integrated-baseball-a-decade-before-jackie-robinson
Originally published: March 23, 2013. Last Updated: March 23, 2013.