BASEBALL; 17 From Black Baseball Included in Hall at Last
By IRA BERKOW
Published: July 31, 2006
In the sunshine on this broadly glorious afternoon, and looking elegant, at age 83, as she sat in the first row at the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Rachel Robinson said: ''For me, personally, this is a historic day. I'm very proud. It's been a long time in coming.''
Rachel Robinson, widow of Jackie Robinson, was referring to the 17 players and executives of Negro leagues and pre-Negro leagues who had been named to the shrine. A committee of a dozen researchers determined who they considered most deserving of, essentially, no longer being excluded from the Hall of Fame.
''I'm not going to moan and groan about how long it took,'' she said. ''Social change takes time. We feel very impatient when it doesn't happen fast enough, but, in this one area, anyway, this brings a kind of completeness.''
Jackie Robinson was a Negro leagues player himself, with the Kansas City Monarchs, before he broke the color barrier in the major leagues, appearing at first base with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, at age 28. He was named to the Hall of Fame in 1962 and made it on the merits of his outstanding 10-year career in the major leagues.
His plaque in the Hall of Fame does not mention his racial contribution to the game. But his name received attention often during the ceremony, which included remarks by his daughter, Sharon Robinson.
Gene Elston, who won the Ford C. Frick award for baseball broadcasting, recalled Ted Williams's remarks in his induction ceremony in 1966. Williams said that he looked forward to the day when such great Negro leagues players as Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson would be elected to the Hall of Fame because ''they weren't given the chance.''
Eighteen Negro leagues players had previously been inducted, including Paige and Gibson. Joining them now are, among others, Jud Wilson, a power-hitting infielder who Paige said was one of the two toughest batters he ever faced (Gibson was the other); Biz Mackey, Roy Campanella's mentor with the Baltimore Elite Giants, who Campanella said ''was the master of defense of all catchers''; and Frank Grant, who the researchers believed was the best black ballplayer of the 19th century.
Of the 17 figures from black baseball inducted Sunday, none still living, two were white -- J. L. Wilkinson and Effa Manley.
Wilkinson, owner of the Monarchs, is credited with developing the first successful lighting system for night games, five years before the major leagues instituted lights in 1935. Manley was co-owner of the Newark Eagles and is the first woman elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Forty Hall of Famers, including Bob Feller, Ralph Kiner, Earl Weaver, Billy Williams, Sandy Koufax, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Lou Brock and Monte Irvin, were on the stage as the presentations were made to the largest class in Hall of Fame history. (Monte Irvin played for Manley in Newark in the mid-1940's before he was signed by the New York Giants.)
They also welcomed Bruce Sutter, the relief pitcher who pioneered the split-fingered fastball. This was the 13th year Sutter was on the ballot, and he was the only player to be elected in the conventional process.
Sutter, dark-bearded when he pitched for the Cubs and the Cardinals and the Braves in the 1970's and 80's, and now, at age 53, with white whiskers, is the only pitcher in the Hall of Fame never to start a game. He said it was ''exciting to go to the ballpark every day and not know what's going to happen.''
The ceremony opened with Buck O'Neil, 94, the former Negro leagues player and manager and the first black man to be a coach in the major leagues, with the Chicago Cubs. He recalled the importance of the Negro leagues to black people in the first half of the 20th century. ''It was the third-largest black business in the country,'' he said, ''behind insurance and cosmetology.''
Many found it surprising that O'Neil was not named as one of the Negro leaguers selected for the Hall of Fame. ''O'Neil should be No. 1,'' said Feller, who played against him in barnstorming games.
''Not as a player. He wasn't a great hitter -- a banjo hitter -- though he was a Fancy Dan, a good fielder, at first base, but he should have been elected for his contributions, his ambassadorship for baseball and the Negro leagues, the most eloquent spokesman, a real leader.''
Irvin said that he ''knew'' that such great black players as Hank Aaron and Willie Mays and Ernie Banks, as well as himself, ''support O'Neil to the Hall of Fame 100 percent.''
''We hope he gets this consideration down the road. I was told that his statistics didn't warrant his inclusion -- and that's true. But not every one in the Hall of Fame is a player.''
He smiled, and added, ''Effa Manley, who deserves her honor, didn't have any playing statistics.''
For his part, O'Neil said later, ''Naturally I'm disappointed, but there are others, like Gil Hodges and Joe Carter, who should be in the Hall of Fame and aren't.''
When O'Neil finished his remarks, he walked over to Rachel Robinson, and they embraced. It seemed an altogether fitting part of what she termed ''this historic day.''