The Duke.

The passing of Duke Snider over the weekend, reminded me of my favorite baseball story. A story that took place, not between the lines, but far from the roar of the crowd. 

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Don Newcombe while shooting a sports show. Engrossed in his recollections of the golden age of baseball, I locked down my camera and grabbed the closest chair, occupying only the furthermost edge. 

He tells a story few have ever heard. 

Every year, baseball takes a day to honor Jackie Robinson. Players across the country take the field, 42 adorn the backs of their jerseys. Speeches, ceremonies and tributes echo through the cathedrals of the game. But lost in history, are the struggles Robinson faced every day off the field. 

What’s forgotten, is Robinson, as a African-American, was not allowed to stay in the same hotel as the rest of the team, simply because of the color of his skin. 

Branch Rickey, who was responsible for signing Robinson and bringing him to the big leagues and championed the desegregation of the Major Leagues, was finally driven to ask, nay, demand that Robinson be allowed to stay at the hotel during one of the Dodgers’ road trips. The hotel manager said that as long as Jackie did not use the pool, he could stay in the hotel with the rest of the team. 

As the bus pulled up, Jackie Robinson, his close friends Pee Wee Reese and Duke Snider, were the first off the bus. As they approached the front door, Reese and Snider, a plan they had hatched amongst themselves without Robinsons knowledge, each took a stutter step, allowing Jackie Robinson, a black man, in an era where such things just simply did not happen, to walk through the front door of the hotel, ahead of his team.

Simply the best baseball story I’ve ever heard.