mr. robinson

We all know the Jackie Robinson story and the tremendous impact he had on the game and the country. It’s worth noting here on Jackie Robinson Day — he made his major league debut on April 15, 1947 — that three Mississippians played supporting roles in Robinson’s passage into history. Starkville native James “Cool Papa” Bell, a Negro Leagues superstar, helped convince Robinson that he should attempt to play second base — not shortstop — for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Their encounter is detailed in the book “Invisible Men.” Robinson’s first manager after he signed with the Dodgers was Greenwood native Clay Hopper, who ran the Triple-A Montreal Royals club in 1946. Though Hopper initially balked at the idea of managing a black man, he ultimately accepted the job and won a championship with Robinson, who led the league in hitting. Though accounts differ on the nature of their relationship, Robinson always said that Hopper was a fair man. Columbus native Red Barber was the Brooklyn Dodgers’ radio broadcaster in 1947, and he, too, had trouble accepting that a black man would play for the team he covered. “It tortured me,” Barber said in the biography “Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat.” Barber finally resolved to treat Robinson as just another ballplayer: “I didn’t resent him, and I didn’t crusade for him. I broadcast the ball.” Barber’s approach no doubt helped, in some small way, facilitate the so-called Great Experiment. And as Barber would say in “Rhubarb,” “(Robinson) did far more for me than I did for him.”