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About The Omaha guide. (Omaha, Neb.) 1927-19?? | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 1947)
Jackie Robinson - - the Rookie of the Year Continued From Last V eek Fio Drink, Fio Smoke. Branch Hickey, the smartest man in baseball, hail liHiki l hard and waiter long to find ?. >'gio who would be his races best ■fo it forward, as we as a stout pi op for a winning ball team. Hickey and his c»en scouted R -oinson until thi^y Wn/w rvuytiiiiig an> ••• him but wha; lie niearaed at rigni. Jackie scored well on all count*. He did not smoke (his mother had asthma and cigaret fumes bothered her) ; he drank a quart of milk a day and didn t touch liquor; he rarely swore; he had a * service ) record (as Army lieutenant in the 27th Calvalry) and two years of college (at l . C. L. A.). He had intelligence, patience and willingness. Jde was aware of the handicaps his race encounters, but he showed it not j by truculence or bitterness, and not by a reserve that no white man really «ver penetrated. Most important of all Robinsons quaiiiications, ne a natural athlete, Says Rickey: “That’s what 1 was betting on.” Pepper Street Gangman. It ran in the family. His older brother, Mack, was .second in the 200 meter run at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Jackie was a broad-jumper who once set a South ern California junior college record of 25 ft. 6>/a in. The Robinson family—four boys and . a girl—grew up on Pepper Street tn j the poor section of well-to-do 1 asa- j tlena. They never knew their father • • I mother still doesn’t talk about him). To support the kids, mother Robinson took in washing and ironing. Jackie, the youngest, was a charter member of the Pepper Street Cang, half a dozen Negroes and three or four American-Japanese who 'tketl to break street lamp* and watch the changing colors of the shattered bulbs. “It was awful pretty,” recalls Jackie. He played softball on the corner lot with the gang, occasionally earned pocket money by sneaking onto neigh boring golf courses to retrieve lost balls. He could outrun the gang— and the cops — every time. But a stern talk from Ma Robinson put him out of business. She was, and is, a fervent Methodist who can be volu bly graphic on the subject of hell. (A few weeks ago, when Jackie wrote to his ma: “Quit praying just for me alone, Ma, and pray for the whole * LAKE SHOE SERVICE Note Is The Time To Get Your Shoes Rebuilt! Quality Material & Guaranteed Quality Work 2407 Lake Street . - ■■■/ team.”) Ma Robinson regarded jt as sinful for twelve-year-old Jackie to be play ing baseball at Brookside Park on Sundays while the pews at Preacher Scott’s church were half empty. “The devil is sending the people to watch you play,” said Mama, “and he's also sending you to play.” Jackie won her over by taking her to a few games. She kept quiet until he began playing football, a game which distrubed both her religious and maternal instincts. One Staurday three Glendale High School players piled on Jackie and cracked two of his ribs. She still re members that day: “I seen them throwing water on my boy and I want ed to rush down there and help him. But he got up and walked off the field and I sat down. After that, I always worry about my baby.” Man In Motion. But Jackie could take care o fhimself. At U. C. L. A. he was one of the slickest halfbacks who ever put on cleats. His ball-carrying aver age: a remarkable twelve yards a try Jackie was used mostly as the man-in motion on offense, because of his skill at faking and feinting. He won AH America honorable mention. U.C.L.A.’s heavy-duty ball-carrier was another Negro , talented Kenny Washington, who made the All-American first first team, fje and Jackie had no par ticular love for each other, but l>oth deny persistent campus rumors that they once hart a knock-down, drag-out fight in a dark alley. “T'ain’t so,:‘ says Jackie, “I’m not dumb enough to have a fight with Kenny. He’s too big.” Jackie has never tried boxing, but branch Rickey is convinced that Jackie would be sensational at it—or at any other sport he tried. In basket ball, Jarkie was the leading scorer of the Pacific Coast Conference for two years. He did not play tennis much, but tlie first time he played in the Ne gro National Tournament, he got to the semifinals. Baseball was the game he had played longest and liked least. Two years ago, after 31 months jr. the Army, Jackie signed up as a shortstop for the barnstorming Kan sas City Monarchs. It was a Negro club featuring old and reliable Pitcher “Satchel” Paige, who would have been a big leaguer once, had the big lea gues been willing to admit Negroes sooner.The grubby life with the Mon archs was a shock to college-bred Jackie. The Monarchs traveled a round in an old bus, often for two or three days at a time (the league stretches from Kansas City to Newark without a bath, a bed, or a hot meal, and then crawled out long enough to play a game. The smart ones got a board the bus early rolled up their uniforms for a pillow, and slept in the aisle. “After two months of it, I was for quitting,” says Jackie. “No future?’ He didn’t know it,but all the time Branch Rickey was getting re ports of Jackie's playing, and of his | .340 batting average. When Rickey hired Jackie away | from the Monarchs there were loud and angry outcries, and not all of them were in a Southern accent. Some of the ugliest comments were spoken n ripe, raucous Brooklynese. Even We Are Once More LAUNDERING CURTAINS • SEND OR BRING THEM IN Edholm & Sherman —LAUNDERERS & DRY CLEANERS 2401 North 24th St. Phone WE 8055 intasitt* too& <fom 6dtf° I NATURAL HAIR attachments ON AGAIK-QF* AGAIN Mr Do’t—1» meet cfl otto" ' i ” — —■— "l PAoa BOY $3.C0 r NArjftAl BRAID $4w0 f rco CAN NAYS 70UR PAIR f PSRFSCTL7 MATCHED i Lat-jt Creation ■ easily Attached Human Hair— ■ CHfGKOW At' Sheds* $5J>d SStilt NO MONET MS SEND SAMPLE OF YOU! MAS O* STATE THE COlOt „ I JUSSIS EASE. BEAUTY PRODUCTS \ i MJ nrrii'lvt IRooa t05) H£W TORI 17. It 7, ttopt 6 . ■ owners in the lowpaying Negro lea gues protested against “raiding” their men. There had been Negroes in big ! league ball before, but they had been j careful to identify themselves as In | dians or Cubans.” The late Minor I League President Bill Braham cried: “Father Divine will have to look to his laurels, for we can expect Ric key, ignoring the uproar, treated Jackie “white”, giving him a year's seasoning in the minors. The four : other Negroes who followed Robinson to the big leagues this season (and were generally failures) had no such break. Jackie faced hostility, suspicion, curiosity and every newspaper cramers within miles when he reported to the nlternational League’s Montreal club for training. Jackie spoke to his teammates only when spoken to, and his replies were brief and polite. He had long oag made it a rule to “let them make the first move.” Soon after the sea son opened, the Montreal players were with him. It took longer to win over the fans, and the other players in the league. Black Cat, Good Luck. He was booed in Baltimore. In Syracuse one day, the rival team let out a black cat from their dugout as Jackie walked up to bat. Jackie got mad and hit a triple with with thet bases loaded. By the time the season ended, his doctor told him that he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but nobody would have guesed it by looking a! his record. Second Baseman Robin son led the International League in uauing i wun .vno averagei and jn fielding (with a .985 average.) Mon treal won the pennant, and .the fan?, after ony game, chaired Jackie Robin son was ready for the Dodgers. Do's and Don'ts. Montreal had been won over, but that cut no ice jn Flat bush. Branch Rickey, who knows his fellow citizens, set out to soften them up. lie organized a group of Brook Iny's leading Negro citizens, includ ing one judge, into a formal how-to handle-Robinson committee.” In every other city in the Natonal League, Ric key set up similar committees. The Brooklyn committee drew up a list of do's and don'ts a yard long; Jackie’s deportment in public and private was to be supervised as thoroughly as Princess Elizabeth’s. He could not, like other ballplayers, endorse breakfast foods (or any other product, for that matter) at the usual $1,000 per endorsement. He could sign his name t ono magazine or news paper articles. When he got what he considered a bad decision from the umpire, he was not to object. When another player insulted him, he was to grin and bear it. He had to leave the ballpark after games by a secret exit. It was as important to avoid adulation as it was to avoid brickbats; there were to be no Jackie Robinson Days at Ebbets Field. He was not to accept any social invitations, from whites or blacks, and he was to stay away from night spots. Jackie Robinson had already learn ed, by a lifetime's practice, the lesson another Robinson—soft-shoe dancing I Bo-jangles—once laid down while act i jng as the unoffieial Mayor of Harlem Bo-jangles’ formula: “Do the best you can with what you’ve got—and get along with the white folks.’’ Jackie had no desire to be a martyr for his race; he was just a young fellow anx ious to make a living as a ballplayer. Though lie barely knew Joe Louis, he sought him out for advice. He got ar. earful which boiled down to three j words: “Don’t get cocky.” Jackie lives a longway from Har lem's high life, in a five-room, second floor flat on Brooklyn’s McDonough Street, in a Negro neighborhood. His name is not on the door. and lie knows few of his neiglibers. How he feels alout them shows through the guarded brevity of bis speech, which sometimes carries a suggestion of dry ness. Says he: “I don’t want to bother with too many people who want to be my relatives." Jackie’s idea of a fine way to spend a night off is to go bed early. He averages ten hours’ sleep. He likes neither music nor dancing. “You know | he says, “colored people do not like I music and danring any better than [ white people—the white people just I think they do.” At home, he carefully I — ■*“ ———————— taxes his vitamin pills, spends a lot i fJ time baby-silting with his nine i nth-old-son, and accordng to his wife (whom he me; at l-C.L.A.), al j wavs has his face buried in a paper | take most ballplayers,he soaks up j every word in every newspaper in i town that concerns him and his team. 1 His reader reaction: “Some reporters , write nice things about me and mean ; them, and-others write nice things and | don’t mean them, lean always tell.” So that Jackie would have com l.pany when the Dodgers.were on the j road. Rickey persuaded a Negro news I man, Wendell Smith, travel with the | club. In two cities, Jackie said, he ^ had hotel trouble; he was not wel ' come at the Chase, where the Brook lyn club stays in St. Louis, or at Phil, adelphia's Benjamin Franklin. (“They fooled me,” said Jackie. “I thought it would be St. Louis and Cincinnati.”) No Help at First. Branch Rickey’s do’s and don’t, strangely enough, did not inciudeany instructions on how to p(lay basebalh Although Jackie had played second base or shortstop all his life, he was handed a first baseman’s mitt and sent out to sink or swim at a new position—first base. Being right-handed was no help: first base is a left-hander’s position. It is easier for left-hander to throw from first to any other base, and easier to pick a man off the bag. Only a few great first basemen (among them the Cubs’ Frank Chance and the Giants George Kelly) were right-handed. But Robinson, with a tricky “scissors” pivot, manages to get rid of the ball as quickly as any southpaw first base man in the league. His biggest difficulty is trying to I forget that he is a shortstop, ieldiug ] ground balls he scoops them up at if he had a quick throw to make. And because he does not crouch down dri bble between his legs. He also san l seem to break his habit of catching put-out throws two-handed. The Card- j inals’ Sian Musial, for example, ge’s 1 a far longer reach In taking throws i ' -1 i single-handed. A right-handed bitter , Jackie has a habit of swinging too soon and IiiS ' motion is half chop, half lungs. As a result, he fouls off a lot of balls to the left. But his batting average :P week's end was a solid .301. The ; wjse boys who judge a hitter by bis j Huns Batted In totals are apt to take too fast a look at Jackie's R.B.I. and j grumble that Jackie can’t hit in a tight spot. But as the club's No. 2 ; hitter in the line-up,Jackie’s job is either to push along the lead-off man by a sacrifice, or to get on base hm self. Jackie's R-B.I total (4-4-) higher than most No. 2 hitters’—including Philadelphia’s Harry Walker, who is baseball's current hatting king with an average of .362. Actually. Jackie at bat is most dan gerous when the odds are against him. When thecount gets to two strikes, as he explains it: “Then I begin to crowd the plate a little,” Says Branch Rickey: “He is the best batter in the game with two strikes on him.” Pit Pitchers captialize on his hasty * swing by feeding him slow stuff. “I just can’t hit those nuthjn’ pitches,” Jackie complains. Because he is best hunter in the game, the Dodgers “cut him loose” at the plate (i.e., let him decide for himself whether to tak< hit or bunt). He and Pete Reiser are also the only Dodgers good enough to be “cut loose” on the basses, al lowed to steal without waiting for a signal. Timing and Tricks. By now, Robbie | has carefully catalogued pitchers’ • covered that when Boston'* Si John j son crooks his neck in a certain way. I Si has stopped worrying about the ! base-runner and is about to pitch. This j discovery gives Jackie a split-second - head start on his way to second. A similar mixture of timing and careful study enabled him to steal home last month against the New \ork Giants. (It was the second lime lie had pulled off the most spectacular base-running trick o fthem all.) Stand ing on third Jackie carefully watched j Pitcher Joe Beggs's windup. Robin son ran in with the pitch as far as he dared then slammed on the brakes and began to count: One-two-three four—'’ lie ticked off how long jt took Beggs to get the ball across the plate. Satisfied that he could have made it in time. Jackie scurried bark to third base and took a deep breath. Next pitch, as Beggs involved himself in another slew-motion wind-up. Rob j inson was off like an express, rushing i for the plate. The pitcher froze like j a man with a hjghvolflage electric j wire in his hand .Jackie went home standing up. PROBLEMS ^HUMANITY Editor's Note:- Subalt your problems for publication to ABBE* WALLACE, In cars of this newspaper. Give your full name, ad dress and birthdate. For a "private reply" send Abbe'a stamped envelope and twenty-five cents for one of his new and inspiring •LESSONS FOR HAPPIER LIVING." Tour letter will be treated confidentially. Send 25 cents in coin, stamps or money order. Address your letter to: The V«BE' WALLACE Service, in oare of. s. 0.—I am in trouble from my head . to my feet. I have been married four . months and we quarrel nearly all of the time. I wanted to keep working but he insisted that I stop and keep the house which 1 am doing. I keep his clothes clean, cook good meals, \ and please him and his brother every way that I can, but if I ask him a simple question, he yells at me and that hurts to my bones. Now I am not going to put up with it much longer. Ans. Your marriage is getting I off to a bad start and if ou expect to save it, you must take steps now to eliminate the trouble. Hav ing a boarder around all of the time makes matters worse, especi ally so since your husband feel duty bound to entertain him. Dis cuss the subject with your mate and let him know your feelings either he change and show you, more consideration, else you will be forced to go your way alone. M. C. A-—My wife is working too hard to suit me and it is my ambition I to get ahead so that she can take it easy. I went into the cafe business i few week ago but 1 can't see that ' am getting ahead. Should 1 stick or j make a change? Ans. Stick—and give it a fair I IN ho taught him to do things like 1 that? Says Branch Rjckey: "Primarily! Cod." The Other Cheeck. It is possoble to j measure how much belter, or how j much worse, Jackie's first season j might have* been had his handicaps been fewer. It was not just that he was playing an unfamiliar postion, or that at 28 he was pretty old for a j rookie. He also had to turn the other check to abuses and insults. First hr had to overcome the attitude of his j fellow Dodgers,which ranged from mere wait-and-see stand-offishness to Southern-bred hostility. And the rough stuff from rival teams began early and has never stopped. The first time the Dodgers played St. Louis, the Cards grumbled about play, ing on the same field with a Negro. They changed their minds—under pressure, Philadelphia was worse, be cause there the opposition had the open support of Phillies Manager Ben Chapman. He bawled insults at Robin son from the dugout. Chapman’s sec ond-division Phillies, notoriously *he crudest bench-jockeys in baseball, chimed in. Says Rookie Robbie: “I’d get mad. But I’d never let them know it.” The Phillies management finally called down Chapman. He had his picture taken with Robinson to prove to everyone that the ugly reports weren’t true. 1 It was Robinson's own Dodger mates | who first came round. One or two if his fellow Dodgers began to say ‘'Hello” to him in the locker room. Jackie wrote to his high-school base ball coach: "It isn't too tough on me 1 have played with white -boys all my life. But they handn’t played with a Negro before, and it sure was rough on some of them." Soon he was in vited to play cards on trips, but though he didn't like the deuces-wjld typeof poker the boys played, he joined in a few games of hearts. As Branch Rickey had forseen, if Jackie played good baseball, the rest took care of itself. Some of the south erns on the squad shared the attitude of an Atlanta newsman who, when ask ed what he thought of Jackie Robin son, replied, “He's good, damn him." But they were ready to back any play er, black or white, who might help bring them the bonus (about $6,000 for winners. $4,000 for losers') that each gets for playing in a World Ser ies. After Slaughter djd his spiking joh a month ago, a group of Brooklyn players came to Jackie and said: “If they give you the works, give it back to them—and the team will be behind you 100%.” That was the day Jack Roosevelt Robinson won his long. patient battle. fsx A |ii 1899-M.J. OWENS PATENTED AUTOMATIC BOTTLE p //TWyw/vOld aat*» vumnL-AnoLunomzED the industry, .xoimu/a s portions CONTINUOUS METHOD OF DRAWING SHEET GLASS. .. COSTLYfiSPr AgWM BROOKE'S FLOWING0£WC£...CORNING S MACHINE Pko^TiNdENT IGYPT'" . f Ui:i PRODUCING500 LIGHT BULBS PER MINUTE ~ {fflgSftn*« NmeusaMm!£S£S^F I I- ;:JSL4JS»OAV^fiaAA 1 ^ilM|l900.000.t)00 ppffl ^‘touS #Ay !ttitfPRODUCTIONH frtfPZiffij \d G? I of 230 COMPANIES | /C^ *§? J SS&Jl *V?*!Tsr Jw*A% i irrMPiedUt g ^ •'SSteB^SS»M®? i«|-oooj0BtJ 1 —"-aL-t-" Pjupuuvlnathmal PcituctCotutcii __ __ _ . ^ ___ __ _ ___ __ I trial. Thus jar. you ure breaking even. Lse your ingenuity to in crease your business and keep ac curate records so that you can realize a little more profit from your stiles. You stand a good chance of making a success of your business. V. C. M. — Should I give up ^this course and try something else as I don’t find it as interesting as I thought it would be in the beginning. I really don’t know what I want to do. A ns. Complete your course and go to work this winter. You are going to school at your brother’s 1 expense and you cannot afford to be shifting from one course to another. This period of dissatisfac tion you are experience will end when you begin earning a salary. I C.M. B.—Mary and I have been lov ing each other for five years. She went away to college and I to service for four years. Our feelings did not ! change during the long separation. We • want to marry but her folks absolute ly refuse to give their consent or even ' talk about it and we hate to marry under these circumstances. What | should we do? I A ns. Decide on a date and go < right ahead and get marrie'1. Your fiance's parents do not object to j you personally they just can't seem to reconcile themselves to the ia> t | that they must give up their Jan- I ghter. Once you are married, they I will accept you as a member oi , the family. K. C.—-I'm going with a man of 27 and I am only in my teens. We have • been going together several months and he knows that I love him. lie claims to love me but he runs around with women all of the time. Would it help if I were to flirt around with other fellows? A ns. That's the sensible thing for you to do. !t’s folly to sit a round and brood while he goes out and fun. Date other fellows an'1 give him a little stiff competition and see how he reacts to a dost of his own medicine. The results ..will amase you. I’d like to have you send for Happier Living Less son No. 4 How to Win a Man, price 25 cents. •y DR. H. W. SCHULTZ, Nutritionist • * It is interesting to note that only 13 years ago—in 1934—the . total pack of canned baby foods in the United States was only about 12 million cans. Today, Uncle Sam’s babies are using 336 million cans bf foods! Yes, today’s babies are brobably fed better than ever be fore . . . and mothers tell me that tanned, specially prepared baby foods are the greatest time saver they have ever discovered. Many nutritionists recommend* this easy plan when feeding your youngster baby foods in cans. After you’ve opened the can, spoon out the amount you need and- place it in the top of a double’ boiler. If there’s any food left in the- can, lust cover it and put it in the re frigerator. Then, when you do use this remaining food, heat it right In the can. Place the can in a sauce pan with about an inch of water in which to heat it. Cans ire perfectly safe and sanitary and bo convenient for this purpose be cause you needn’t worry about breakage in the hot water. Then ,.. feed your youngster right from the sanitary can! It’s little trick* like this that have helped make the job of feeding America’s babies easier on modem mothers. Of course, you’ll want to be sure that baby gets all the foods he needs for proper growth and health. That’s why so many moth ers are following their doctor’s ad* vice and feeding meat to baby at an earlier date than ever before^ Meat, you know, is rich in the pro* teins that baby needs, and a recent purvey has proved meat to be an' efficient safeguard against anemia In babies, too. With meat, too— ps well as fruits and vegetables— modem mothers can save time and Work because specially prepared tanned meats for babies are avail ible. HOLLY WOODODD1TY The beautiful chestnut tree under which screen stars Lilli Palmer and Sam Wanamaker do some romancing for .‘‘Ever the Beginning,” was import ed from Massachusetts and re-planted on a location site in - Griffith. Park. Los Angeles. The story is a romantic comedy localed in turn-nf-the-cenlury Boston and will be released by Warn er Bros. Fishing and Hunting Area Sun Valley, Idaho, borders on a hunting and fst-iir.* area « large as the entiie suite of Connecticut. Quick-Frozen Mixed Vegetables Add Eye and Appetite Appeal DON’T serve drab meals You can add flavor and eye appeal to any meal, even at the last minute, if you master a few easy tricks Remember the old rule that a va riety of colors gives eye appeal to a plate. If you find yourself confront ed with a menu of mashed potato Rnd broiled flsh. select colorful uick-frozen mixed vegetables, rath er than creamed cauliflower, to Jack up your color scheme. These mixed vegetables — tender little Lima beans, golden sweet corn, succulent green beans and green peas, and diced carrots—add flavor, too. to any plate. They are good with roasts, with steaks and chops, and they are a wonderful last-minute addition to stews and ragouts Their bright colors add real e; appeal and their farm-fresh taste steps up the slew s flavor A salad of greens and cooked and chilled quick-frozen mixed vege tables is an easy way to add inter-, est to lunch or dinner And you can make a soup worthy of a great chef, by adding mixed vegetables to any^ clear meat stock « 1 To Cook Mixed Vegetables Drop mixed vegetables, frozen or' thawed, into cup boiling salted water in saucepan Bring quickly to a boil over high heat, separating block with fork to hasten thawing. When the water boils again, reduce : heat and cook gently 8 to 10 mla 1 utes. or nntil vegetables are Just | tender Do not overcook Season to ' taste with butter or margarine, salt, 1 and pepper Serve at once. _ CHURCH FAIR COCOA CAKE Here is a luscious cake especially suitable for “traveling” to the church fairs and suppers so uni versally held in the fall. Feather light and moist, this chocolate-y cake is topped with a creamy, smooth, candy-like penuche frost ing. Um-m-m, sounds wonderful, and tastes even better. So easy to make with this tested Spry recipe. Just try it and see. You’ll rato plenty of compliments if you do nate a Church Fair Cocoa Cake as your contribution to the next get together. Clip this recipe for a cake that rings the bell every time. Church Fair Cocoa Cake 1 1 Vi cups sifted cake flour % cdp Spry 1 Vi cups sugar 1 cup buttermilk or f i Vi cup cocoa A 45p> thick sour milk 1 Vi teaspoons soda 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon salt z eggs, unbeaten SIFT flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, salt into mixing bowl.. DROP in SPRY .. ADD 24 CUP milk, then vanilla, and BEAT 200 strokes (2 minutes by hand or on mixer at low speed). SCRAPE bowl and spoon or beater .. • ADD eggs and remaining milk and BEAT 200 strokes (2 minutes on ’ mixer). I BAKE in Sprycoated 12 x 8 x 2-inch pan in moderate oven (350° F.) 40-50 minutes. Frost (to match picture) with Penuche Frosting. Mark cake into 16 pieces. Decorate tops of pieces with pecan or walnut halves. Penuche Frosting sau jn saucepan. Bring slowly to Place 1 cup brown sugar, Yi cup full rolling boil, stirring constant uhite sugar, Ys CUP milk, 2 table- ly, and boil 1 minute. Cool to spoons each Spry and butter, 1 lukewarm. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla tablespoon com siruv, Y teaspoon and beat to spreading consistency., j l) USED FAT HELPS CLEAN i ^— 1 ; “........ ' wsssimisitji:.:.sssaKs I . % m Oay-by-day saving of used cooking fat helps Mrs. Guy Reigler^Kew ! Garden Hills, N. Y., scrub her woodwork. She saves every drop, be-* ! cause used fat is still needed to help make soap, electrical appliances, j ■laint, paper, fabrics and other products. —•——
