Jackie and Campy

January 27, 2014
Rather than rehashing the titanic myths of two African-American baseball pioneers, Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella, Kashatus, a sportswriter (September Swoon), delves into the internal landscape of these men instead of the incredible achievements on the field. The courageous exploits of Robinson for the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, according to the author, inspired Martin Luther. King Jr.’s civil rights campaign as well as the 1954 Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education. In a bold, assured narrative, Kashatus measures the pacesetters: “Where Robinson was overtly aggressive and intense, Campanella was more passive and easygoing.” While Robinson’s militancy and outspokenness aggravated some players, pundits, and owners, Campy’s optimism and good-will made him very likable as he became a seven-time All-Star catcher, winning five pennants. If Robinson, who was the 1947 Rookie of the Year and played on seven pennant-winning Dodger clubs, supported the civil rights protests, Campy felt the violence would stop if blacks “stopped pressing too far too fast,” and that conflict between the men led to a public spat resulting in a parting of the ways for nearly 10 years. Using their racial and social attitudes as a springboard, Kashatus has written a superb narrative of sports, race, and politics in the 1950s and ’60s, and also tells of the bittersweet consequences in Jackie and Campy’s lives—Robinson’s death at 53 and Campanella’s paralysis.

Starred review from February 15, 2014

Kashatus's (Connie Mack's '29 Triumph) saga of the integration of baseball and two of its earliest black stars is compelling reading. Like Huhn's book, above, Kashatus's story goes beyond baseball as he delves into the rivalry, views, and racial attitudes of Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella--Brooklyn Dodgers teammates who led the team to the 1955 World Series title--all the while reflecting on the state of race relations in America. Robinson is compared to activist W.E.B. DuBois, and Campy is seen more as a follower of the ideas of accommodation as exemplified, e.g., by Booker T. Washington. Kashatus trails Campanella and Robinson and other early black Dodgers on a collision course where Jackie and Campy barely put aside their differences for the good of the team before becoming truly estranged. Jackie saw Campy as an "Uncle Tom," while Campanella thought it best to put aside his feelings about race for the good of the team and to make a living. Kashatas relates the Chase Hotel (St. Louis) incident of 1954, which was the telling blow between the two, reflecting their cavernous differences. VERDICT Enhancing our understanding of attitudes toward integration and race relations at a pivotal stage of American history through this story of baseball, this book is highly recommended as social and sports history.--BC

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