Baseball History Comes Alive Now Ranked #2 by Feedspot Among All Internet Baseball History Websites and Blogs!
Guest Submissions from Our Readers Always Welcome!
Visit the Baseball History Comes Alive Home Page
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive
Free Bonus for Subscribing:
Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide
Joe Black Photo Gallery
Today we welcome longtime Brooklyn Dodger fan Bill Gralnick with his first guest post. Bill writes a monthly column for the Brooklyn Eagle, where this essay about Dodger pitcher Joe Black first appeared. Since it’s a bit long, I’ve made it into a two-part post. I think you’ll find interesting what Bill tells us about a fine pitcher who was the 1952 Rookie of the Year and the first African-American to win a World Series game. -GL
.
Joe Black:
Long Memories of a Short Career
Part One
Memory is an interesting thing. It often puts an exclamation point on something in a boy’s mind that might only have deserved a period. While his overall stats don’t deserve an exclamation point, Joe Black is an exclamation point in my mind. Black, a February baby, was an imposing figure who did his best work in relief. He was a star in the Negro Leagues. From the Negro Leagues Museum we learn that he led the Elite Giants in games and innings pitched in official league games in 1947. He was the staff ace in 1948 with an 8-3 record a 1.91 ERA and was a member of the 1949 Negro League National Champion Elite Giants in 1949. In 1951 Black and teammate Jim Gilliam’s contracts with the Elite Giants were purchased by the Brooklyn Dodgers for $11,000. Black spent the 1951 season pitching for the Dodgers minor league affiliates in Montreal and St. Paul, where he posted a combined 11-12 record with a 3.28 ERA.
The Jackie Robinson Foundation wrote, that among major league baseball’s pioneering integrationists, Black was the fifth Black player signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. Crossing over from the Negro Leagues, Black made his major league debut on May 1, 1952. He was the 25th Black player to make it to the major leagues.
He attended high school in his birthplace of Plainfield, New Jersey, and won a partial football scholarship to Morgan State College [now an HBCU] in Baltimore, MD.
By the time he came up to the “bigs,” there wasn’t much of the best Joe Black left. He had already pitched parts of six seasons for the Elites, given up 2 ½ years to the military, and pitched a year in the minors before ever taking the mound at Ebbets Field. Still, once he stepped on the rubber, he had a first year that stamped itself forever on the minds of his many fans…” including mine. He “etched his legacy with the team in stone. Pitching predominantly in relief, Black compiled a 15-4 record with 15 saves and a 2.15 ERA in 142 innings pitched, capturing the National League Rookie of the Year Award.” (SABR)
He is best remembered for that magical rookie season of 1952 in Brooklyn, which, according to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, was the impetus for his induction to the New York State Baseball Hall of Fame. I can still see his determined walk from the bullpen to the mound. The Dodgers went to the World Series that year against, of course, the Yankees, and Black, the 5th person of color to be hired by the Dodgers, became the first black person to win a World Series game.
Another historical note, SABR tells us, from game one is that Jackie Robinson hit his first World Series home run. Black started three but lost the other two. He won the opening game with a 4–2 victory over Yankee ace Allie Reynolds but he pitched well and tough in the other two, his second outing four zip and game six 4-2. These figures were extrapolated from MLB.com’s review of the games.
It was an odd choice, starting Black, the fireman, and using him three times. Black was a rookie who had only started twice in the regular season. Manager Charlie Dressen chose Black to start Game 1 because he felt Black was the only pitcher on the team strong enough to pitch three games. According to MLB.com, Dodger pitching did not match up well against the Yankees. The Bronx Bombers had multiple starters with multiple World Series experience. The Dodgers had two. But Dressen liked his man. “If that guy pitches the way he has pitched all season, our chance is as good as theirs,” Dressen said the day before the opener.
According to SABR that first game was something to write home about. Black was ready to go. He seemed “unfazed” saying, “These aren’t the same Yankees I first saw when they had DiMaggio, Henrich, and Keller… They’re wearing the same letters on their shirts, but I don’t believe they frighten anybody.”
To Be Continued…
(Part Two will go into detail about Joe Black’s role in the 1952 World Series)
William A. Gralnick
Check out Bill’s Blog: atleastfrommyperspectiveblog
Check out Bill’s books: George Washington Never Slept Here and The War of the Itchy Balls and Other Tales From Brooklyn. Available on Amazon.com paperback or e-book
Photo Credits: All from Google search
We’d love to hear what you think about this or any other related baseball history topic…please leave comments below
Subscribe to Baseball History Comes Alive. FREE BONUS for subscribing: Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide. https://wp.me/P7a04E-2he
