# Jackie Robinson and bad calls by MLB umpires **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 13, 2014, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224 "2014-02-13T05:52:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224/21 "2014-02-13T16:44:35Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > Expanding on my previous post: One could argue (and what the hell, I’ll do so myself) that the second black player’s joining the team (showing that it’s not just a token thing) is a comparably significant milestone to the first. In the case of the Yankees, that was Hector Lopez in 1959. Didn’t they also have Suitcase Simpson (who led the league in triples) that season? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224/22 "2014-02-13T16:47:10Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > If you look at Jackie Robinson’s stats, you’ll find that he was even better than his contemporaries knew. His on-base percentage was excellent, partly because he drew a lot of walks. Indeed, he ALWAYS had a LOT more walks than strikeouts. His contemporaries didn’t know that? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224/23 "2014-02-13T16:49:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > From 1949 to 1953, the time baseball was breaking the color line, the Yankees won five world championship. They finished second in 1954 only because the Indians won 111 games. They integrated in 1955 and were in the Series again. So if thats a drop, I think most teams would have loved to have one. > > The Yankees were slow to integrate, but, considering their lineup, it was hard for any new players to break in. Well, Yankees GM George Weiss was definitely a racist. But he was also a brilliant baseball man. Under his leadership, the Yankees were extremely successful, so successful that he could shrug off any arguments that he should add black players to the roster. Bear Bryant and Alabama NEEDED a major butt-kicking from an integrated USC team see the wisdom of integration. But the Yankees were so successful for so long as an all-white team that Weiss never really saw the urgency of integrating. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224/24 "2014-02-13T17:45:54Z")
> [@48Willys](#): > > Here, “Out West”, We would not tolerate this. Down South they might have, but remember that many of the MLB teams are Northern “Yankies” where, I hear, there is much less racial prejudice then “Down South”. I’m sure it wouldn’t be tolerated now, but 1947 was a different story. And there was plenty of racial prejudice in the North as well, though sometimes in different forms from what prevailed in the South. ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224/25 "2014-02-13T18:19:43Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Jackie Robinson made his major league debut in 1947. > > The Yankees won the World Series in 1947, 1949-53, 56, 58, 61-62, 77-78, 96, 98-2000, and 2009. The drought from 62 to 77 (15 years) was long for the Yankees but there are lots of reason for that, not related to hiring black players. > > This criticism is usually laid against the Boston Red Sox who were the last team to integrate, and who’s owner ([Tom Yawkey](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Yawkey#Charges_of_racism_and_other_controversies)) had a well earned reputation for not being good to black players. The Yankees were the 12th team (out of 16) to integrate their clubhouse when Howard was brought up in 1955. They were criticized primarily because the Dodgers and Giants, who had integrated in the late 40s, played in the same city had a number of Black stars by the time Howard had been brought up. Before the amateur draft was instituted in 1965, the Yankees traditionally had the pick of all the top amateur players, but generally shied away from the top black players. The extent of Tom Yawkey’s racism is up to debate, but the folks he hired to run the team and it’s scouting dept, were friends of his that were racist. Outside of Earl Wilson, a hard-throwing, right handed pitcher, who was first brought up a month after Pumpsie Green, in 1959, I don’t believe the Red Sox had any position starters until 1966 (George Scott and Joe Foy.) It was no coincidence that racist GM, Mike Higgins, had been fired the year before. The Boston Braves had integrated in 1950, with Sam Jethroe, who was the NL rookie of the Year, but left town for Milwaukee after the '52 season. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224/26 "2014-02-13T18:46:43Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > His contemporaries didn’t know that? Walks are much more appreciated now than they were in Robinson’s day. Back then, batting average was everything, and on base percentage wasn’t even part of baseball vocabulary. Robinnson was a star even then, but modern approaches to stats show he was even better than he was thought to be. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224/27 "2014-02-14T06:07:00Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Didn’t they also have Suitcase Simpson (who led the league in triples) that season? I guess I and my source are mistaken. Simpson played with the Yankees in '57, and hit sixteen triples that year for the Yankees and the Kansas City Athletics. Lopez also came from the A’s, who I understand acted as\* de facto\* farm team for the Yanks in those years. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224/28 "2014-02-14T19:56:45Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Walks are much more appreciated now than they were in Robinson’s day. Back then, batting average was everything, and on base percentage wasn’t even part of baseball vocabulary. Robinnson was a star even then, but modern approaches to stats show he was even better than he was thought to be. Robinson was generally regarded at the time as being one of the best players in in National League, as evidenced by his Rookie of the Year Award, MVP Award, All-Star Game selections, and getting MVP consideration eight out of ten years he was in the league. While walks were undervalued, batting average was overrvalued, and of course Robinson had very high batting averages. So it evened out. I don’t know how he could have been “thought to be” any more than he was because at the time he was an absolute superstar, worshipped by fans and sports media, and he got rich doing it. Anyway, Robinson didn’t draw a huge number of walks, so I’m not sure why that’s seen as being a hidden part of his game. He drew 106 one year but that was a blip; he averaged 82 walks per 154 games, which is very good but not spectacular. I could argue he was actually more dominant in batting average than in walks - after all, he won a batting title but never led the league in walks. The Dodgers had lots of players who drew plenty of walks, so Robinson wouldn’t have stood out in that regard. Pee Wee Reese drew just as many walks as Jackie. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224/29 "2014-02-14T20:07:11Z")
> [@48Willys](#): > > Wow! Really? > > Here, “Out West”, We would not tolerate this. Down South they might have, but remember that many of the MLB teams are Northern “Yankies” where, I hear, there is much less racial prejudice then “Down South”. In 1947 there weren’t any teams in the South. The closest would have been the St. Louis Browns and Cardinals. The first “Southern” team in baseball was the 1962 Houston Colt .45s, six years after Robinson retired. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224/30 "2014-02-14T22:09:12Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > \ > Speaking of Yankees – > I once heard that the NY Yankees, after being a dominating team in baseball for many years, dropped quite a bit in the Post-Jackie Robinson years – because, due to the bigotry of the owner, they refused to hire any black players till long after the other teams were. By thus cutting themself off from the pool of talented black players available (many of them with years of experience in the Black League), the NY Yankees player quality went down for a while, until they decided to hire the best ballplayers regardless of the color of their skin. > > \ I’ve heard that story is told about the Red Sox. They were pretty crappy, but not disastrously so in the early 60s when they were largely (but not totally) white. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224/31 "2014-02-14T23:16:19Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Any obvious intentional bad calls would have gotten the attention of a the entire team. That’s screwing with their livelihood. Worse yet, from an umpire’s standpoint, it would have gotten the attention of the league. Umpires are hired by the leagues, of course (nowadays by MLB as a whole). I don’t know that the National League President (Ford Frick) and the Commissioner (Happy Chandler) were rabid integrationists in 1947, but they did back Rickey once he determined to integrate. They couldn’t very well let the integrity of the game go to pot because of pique over Robinson. Frick famously threatened to suspend St. Louis Cardinals players who threatened not to play against Robinson. Any umpire making obvious bad calls would have been given the same treatment. The worst an umpire could have done would have been to shade the _extremely close_ calls against Robinson–the calls so close that the umpire’s integrity wouldn’t be questioned either way. But as others have said upthread, that’s viscerally difficult to do, and wouldn’t have been all that effective anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jackie-robinson-and-bad-calls-by-mlb-umpires/681224.md?page=1)