Lee McPhail and Jackie Robinson

[etv78]

Was watching "Baseball" (the Burns documentary), and they talked about Lee McPhail putting together the Dodgers '41 pennant winner team. He was subsequently fired, replaced by Rickey who of course signed Robinson. Would McPhail had the courage/lack or racism to sign him?

[What Exit?]

Lee McPhail in my opinion would not have.

[stormie]

Dunno but it is a question I have not before considered. Hmmmm Was it the time or the man?

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by stormie

Dunno but it is a question I have not before considered. Hmmmm Was it the time or the man?

Post war helped a lot. But the man was a huge part of hit.

[etv78]

I just figured out it was LARRY MACPHAIL!

[Oxirane]

That's what I thought but I didn't look into it yet, I remember Lee McPhail as the president of the Orioles and I thought he would not have been old enough to be GM of the '41 Dodgers...IIRC, the McPhails are 4 generations into the MLB...Lee is the one who brought Frank Robinson to the O's in '65, so his name is still held in high regard in Birdland...

[etv78]

If Lee traded for Frank Robinson, I think it's fair to assume Larry would've been open to signing Jackie Robinson

[Oxirane]

At that point, Jackie Robinson was the one to sign, it's hard to extrapolate what Larry would have done in 1941 compared to what Lee did in '65 as times were very different...the McPhail family has proven to be a very astute baseball family, Larry and Lee were the first father-son combination in the HOF, so my feeling is, they wanted to win...hard to say what he would have done...

A more interesting question is, why did it take the Boston Red Sox so long to integrate - they were the last team, it took them until 1959...Frank Robinson was a rookie in 1956...

[etv78]

Oxirane: the prevailing theory is that Yawkey was a bigot.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by Oxirane

At that point, Jackie Robinson was the one to sign, it's hard to extrapolate what Larry would have done in 1941 compared to what Lee did in '65 as times were very different...the McPhail family has proven to be a very astute baseball family, Larry and Lee were the first father-son combination in the HOF, so my feeling is, they wanted to win...hard to say what he would have done...

A more interesting question is, why did it take the Boston Red Sox so long to integrate - they were the last team, it took them until 1959...Frank Robinson was a rookie in 1956...

etv78 has it, Yawkey was a major bigot. Sadly the Yanks weren't much better. Long term GM George Weiss kept winning and got away with being racist. The Yanks integrated before the Sox but Weiss passed on Willie Mays much earlier. The Yanks would have had a one year outfield of Mays, Mantle & DiMaggio and then decades of Mays & Mantle.

Yanks waited until Elston Howard in 1955 and I understand the owners told Weiss to integrate the team.

[etv78]

Exit: if the Empire had signed Mays, who moves off CF? I'd guess Mantle because of his knees.

[What Exit?]

Originally Posted by etv78

Exit: if the Empire had signed Mays, who moves off CF? I'd guess Mantle because of his knees.

Mays was the better fielder, Mantle would have stayed in Left probably. In 1951 It probably would have been The Great DiMaggio in Center, Mays in Right and Mantle in left. That is where Joe D & Mickey played that year.

Mantle could have played right but with his speed, I suspect left as Yankee Stadium could really use a lot of speed in left.

[etv78]

Thanks, I was thinking AFTER Joltin' Joe retired.