Vascellaro: Arizona an early outpost of integration in MLB
From Charlie Vascellaro at MLB.com on February 23, 2017:
The Major League Baseball landscape and the social fabric of the country were both going through a dramatic transformation when Spring Training baseball came to Arizona in 1947.
While the Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie Robinson were preparing to break Major League baseball’s racial barrier, the game was expanding to new western frontiers, with the Cleveland Indians and New York Giants moving their Spring Training camps to Arizona.
Mostly because of Robinson’s presence on the team and the prevalence of Jim Crow segregationist laws and policies in the southern United States, the Dodgers conducted Spring Training in Havana, Cuba, prior to the 1947 season.
Read the full article here: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/216739208/pioneers-of-integrated-spring-training-honored/
Originally published: February 23, 2017. Last Updated: February 23, 2017.