Kahn, Mannion, Robinson and Stanky
Lance Mannion has been publishing some Roger Kahn baseball stories. His latest is about Jackie Robinson. I'll wait while you go read it.
Took a few detours? I understand. Mannion knows how to string together interesting posts. Back to the Robinson/Stanky incident...
Change was painfully slow for baseball and the US then. As it is now.
If it was '53 Stanky was about to finish his career with the Cardinals. Robinson only had a couple of seasons left. Both men were in their 30s. Stanky was only three years older than Robinson. It wasn't some old cracker shouting to Robinson. It was his contemporary. They had played together for Robinson's first season in Brooklyn. Stanky at 2b and Robinson at 1b. They only lasted a season because Stanky was traded and Jackie took his place at 2b. I think Stanky might have had an extra ax to grind.
For the Cardinals it would take a few player changes to turn the team around. By 1961 Bill White, Bob Gibson, and Curt Flood were with the team. That year they helped push the Cardinals to become only the second MLB team to desegregate spring training housing.
The first? The Dodgers, of course.
