Jackie and Campy: The Untold Story of Their Rocky Relationship and the Breaking of Baseball's Color Line

by William C. Kashatus

Overview

As star players for the 1955 World Champion Brooklyn Dodgers, and prior to that as the first black players to be candidates to break professional baseball’s color barrier, Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella would seem to be natural allies. But the two men were divided by a rivalry going far beyond the personality differences and petty jealousies of competitive teammates. Behind the bitterness were deep and differing beliefs about the fight for civil rights. 

Robinson, the more aggressive and intense of the two, thought Jim Crow should be attacked head-on; Campanella, more passive and easygoing, believed that ability, not militancy, was the key to racial equality. Drawing on interviews with former players such as Monte Irvin, Hank Aaron, Carl Erskine, and Don Zimmer, Jackie and Campy offers a closer look at these two players and their place in a historical movement torn between active defiance and passive resistance. William C. Kashatus deepens our understanding of these two baseball icons and civil rights pioneers and provides a clearer picture of their time and our own.

Purchase the audio edition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803254473
Publisher:	Nebraska
Publication date:	04/01/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

William C. Kashatus is the author of many books, including September Swoon: Richie Allen, the ’64 Phillies and Racial Integration.

 
William C. Kashatus holds a PhD in history from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Jackie and Campy: The Untold Story of Their Rocky Relationship and the Breaking of Baseball’s Color Line (Nebraska, 2014). He has also published essays in a multitude of periodicals, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, American History Magazine, Baltimore Sun, Christian Science Monitor, New York Times, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Kashatus has appeared on NPR and Pennsylvania Cable Network, as well as on many local television and radio stations.
 

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations viii

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1 Brooklyn's Bums 13

2 Rickey's Choice 31

3 Jackie and Campy 56

4 Breaking the Color Line 81

5 Teammates 106

6 Striking Back 118

7 Collision Course 136

8 Breakup 161

Epilogue 181

Notes 189

Bibliography 217

Index 225

Editorial Reviews

01/27/2014
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. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"While much has been published about each player, the team, and the integration of baseball, never until now has this topic received its deserved treatment. This is an original and important book."—Spitball


"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."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

"A fascinating story."—Aethlon

Aethlon

"Robinson and Campanella were trailblazers. Both were passionate, strong-minded men who excelled in baseball and had definite ideas about handling race relations in the game. Kashatus has provided a nice narrative that explains how both men were successful at achieving their goals—on and off the field."—Bob D'Angelo, Tampa Tribune

Tampa Tribune - Bob D'Angelo

"While much has been published about each player, the team, and the integration of baseball, never until now has this topic received its deserved treatment. This is an original and important book."—Spitball

Spitball

“A fantastic and thought-provoking analysis of how two men championed the fight for racial harmony in segregated America via different rules of engagement. A must-read for any serious student of baseball and American history.”—Larry Lester, historian for the Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame

Larry Lester

Bill Kashatus has given us a very human account of Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella.”—Monte Irvin, New York Giants Hall of Famer

 

Monte Irvin

Kashatus sheds new and important insight on the Robinson-Campanella relationship by placing it in the larger framework of African American history.”—Larry Hogan, author of Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball

Larry Hogan