Announcer Vin Scully is the unquestioned dean of Los Angeles
Dodgers baseball because of his work with the team for well over half a
century. However, there is another person, just one other, who should be
regarded in that same class, and that is writer Roger Kahn.
Best known for his work as a Dodgers’ beat writer and for
penning such seminal works as The Boys of
Summer, Kahn may be best described as baseball’ unofficial poet laureate.
In addition to his journalistic endeavors, he has produced nearly two dozen books
since he started his career in the 1950s, with his most recent
title, Rickey & Robinson: TheTrue, Untold Story of the Integration of Baseball (Rodale Books) continuing his
legacy of excellence.
Rickey & Robinson
details the journey taken by former Dodgers’ general manager Branch Rickey in
integrating professional baseball with Jackie Robinson in the 1940s. The book
is not a historical work per se but rather more of a collection of memories and
anecdotes. Fortunately, when it comes to such things, there is probably no
living person better equipped for this than Kahn, who was quite literally in
the thick of things as the relationship between these two titans of baseball
played out.
What makes this book stand out among others that have
covered the topic in some way is the insider bird’s eye view provided by the
author. The relationship between Rickey and Robinson is often portrayed in
sweeping general terms. Here, a greater amount of detail truly expands the
story.
Kahn isn’t shy about injecting his own thoughts and
experiences. While Rickey may have been a kind and brilliant man, he was also a
topflight businessman who was very keen on chasing profits. This came in
various forms like having his teams play baseball on Sundays despite his
personal objections to being at the ballpark on that day, to refusing to
compensate Negro league and minor league teams for players that were signed off
their rosters. Because of his work to integrate baseball, he is often seen
through saint-tinged glasses. However, the reality was that he was much more
pragmatic when it came to business decision.
It’s clear that Kahn has a tremendous amount of admiration
for Robinson, but even that doesn’t prevent him from throwing the curtain back
a bit more than what is seen in many other works on the subject. Most interesting
are the descriptions of how the pioneering ballplayer became a master of using
the media to advance his agenda, including a memorable bit towards the end of
his career when he was unhappy about his salary increases.
Because of his former affiliation with the baseball beat
writers, Kahn really enhances Rickey &
Robinson by utilizing personal stories about, and clips of old articles of
his former colleagues. The integration of baseball was something that was
deeply impacted by what was written (or in many cases not written). At times it
was made easier by scribes like Red Smith who wrote with open minds and hopeful
pens. On the other hand, there were an abundance of writers and editors who
were more interested in their own agendas or the status quo. How both sides of
this coin played out are utterly intriguing, and are luckily discussed in
detail.
Kahn’s relationship with those who were on the field
provides the reader with yet another view. Perhaps the most memorable was the
path of former outfielder Dixie Walker, a born and bred southerner, who went
from trying to launch a petition to prevent Robinson or other blacks from playing
major league baseball to having deep regrets later in his life for those beliefs
and actions.
Much of what is in life and history is rarely just black and
white, and that is very true of the story of Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson and
the integration of baseball. Kahn’s ability to catalogue and fill in the gaps
in the “gray area” of this baseball genesis story is proof positive of why he
remains one of baseball’s treasures.
Disclaimer: I was provided with
a free copy of this book, but received no payment or other consideration for
this review.
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