Good day everyone.
Today's
blog post has us adding the great Roy Campanella to my 1972 "NBL-MLB"
thread, celebrating greats who began their careers in the Negro Leagues:
Incredibly,
Campanella began his career at the age of 15 with the Washington Elite
Giants in 1937, when he appeared in six games, hitting .167 over 18
at-bats.
He'd appear in nine games the
next season, before jumping up to 16 games in 1939, then 35, 37 and 41
games over the next three respective years.
In
1944 he would lead in batting, hitting .388 over 34 games for the
Baltimore Elite Giants and Philadelphia Stars, making his second
All-Star team, still only 22 years of age.
In
1945 he dominated again, leading all Negro Leagues with 51 runs scored,
18 doubles and 47 runs batted in while hitting .369 and making another
All-Star team.
After a stint in the
Venezuelan league in 1946, Campanella went to the Brooklyn Dodgers Minor
League system after Branch Rickey began the process of breaking the
color barrier.
According to many
sources, Campanella's easy-going personality made him Rickey's first
choice to be the first African-American player, though eventually
deciding on Jackie Robinson.
Nevertheless, once Campanella began his Major League career, he would certainly NOT disappoint the Brooklyn faithful: three times he was M.V.P. (1951, 1953, 1955) and an important part
of the strong Dodger teams of the decade along with Duke Snider, Jackie
Robinson, and Gil Hodges.
Though unable to play Major League ball until the age of 26 because
of segregation, he still managed to hit 242 lifetime homers, with a
high of 41 in 1953, as well as drive in 856 runs in his short ten-year
career.
During his second M.V.P. season, Campy led the Brooklyn offense by
driving in a league-leading 142 runs while hitting .312 and scoring 103
runs. One of the top-offensive catcher seasons in baseball history.
Tragically, as he was getting prepared to move to Los Angeles with
the rest of the Dodgers over the Winter of 1957-58, Campanella was
driving home to Long Island and hit a patch of ice near his home,
flipping his car over and breaking his neck in the process,
rendering him paralyzed from the shoulders down.
The L.A. Fans would never get to see the future Hall of Famer play in Chavez Ravine.
In
my opinion, considering his delayed MLB action, "Campy" would be my
pick as the greatest catcher in MLB history, even in front of Johnny
Bench, though Josh Gibson would top them all.
