roy campanella
November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993
roy campanella
Roy Campanella played in the Negro Leagues and Mexican League before officially entering Minor League Baseball (MILB) in 1946 for the Dodgers. He made his Major League debut with the team in 1948 joining Jackie Robinson as a starter for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Roy Campanella nicknamed "Campy” by his teammates, was an American professional baseball player playing in both the Negro Leagues and the Major Leagues, primarily as a catcher. He played in both the Negro National League II and Mexican League, doing so for nine years before entering minor league (MLB) for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946.
He made his Major League debut in 1948 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, for whom played until 1957.
His playing career was suddenly and tragically ended when he was paralyzed in an automobile accident in January of 1958. Campy left a legacy on the field as one of the greatest catchers in the history of the Negro Leagues and if not due to unforeseen circumstances the same could have been said regarding his play in Major League Baseball .
After Camp retired as a player as a result of the accident, Campanella went on to hold several positions around the game of baseball, including scouting and community relations for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers.
He was later honored by Major League Baseball with his induction in the into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.
Campanella was born and raised in Philadelphia by parents Ida Campanella, who was African American, and John Campanella, son of Italian immigrants.
Roy was one of four children born to the couple, living first in Germantown, and then moving to Nicetown in North Philadelphia, where the children were able to attended an integrated fully school system.
During this time, because of their mixed-race status, Roy and his siblings were frequently harassed by other children in school. However, Campanella had athletic gifts far beyond that of a normal child and he used to great effect.
Despite a racists vocal minority, he was elected captain of every sports team he ever played on in high school, though baseball was his passion.
Due to his status as mixed race individual, Campanella was strictly prohibited from playing Major League as a result of the segregated nature of the League at the time.
In 1937, at the age of 15, he made his debut in professional baseball playing in the Negro Leagues for the Washington Elite Giants on weekends.
The young Roy Campanella was so talented, he quickly dropped out of high school a few months later to purse his baseball career. He was rewarded his decision when on his 16th birthday began playing full time professional baseball.
The Washington Elite Giants were then moved to Baltimore the following year, and Campanella became a star player at seventeen, starting at catcher for the franchise until 1945. [5]
During the 1942 season, Campanella left the Baltimore Elite Giants after a disagreement with team owner Tom Wilson. He left the club and played the rest of the 1942 season and 1943 season in the Mexican League with the Monterrey Sultans.
Lázaro Salazar, the team's manager, told Campanella that one day he would play at the major league level, he was that talented. Campanella would later return to the Elite Giants for the 1944 and 1945 seasons. [4]
In 1946, Campanella played in what was the newly formed Venezuelan Professional Baseball League on the Sabios de Vargas team, which he was co-managed.
His leadership combined with supreme offensive and defensive ability allowed him to lead his team to a league championship.
The following season Campanella was moved into the Brooklyn Dodgers minor league system and in 1946 the Dodgers organization began to move forward with their preparations to break the MLB color barrier, with Jackie Robinson as the first player to integrate.
Campanella's easy-going personality and strong work ethic were the main drivers in his tool kit for his success and survival against the racial tension. He was highly valued (espically as a catcher) because of his credentials in easily being able to communicate between the races.
This of course, is essential at the catchers position where communication with all pitchers on the roster is not only expected but was necessary.
Branch Rickey considered Campanella as a potential candidate to be the first player to break baseball's color barrier.
However, Rickey ultimately chose Jackie Robinson for the task. [9]
For the 1946 season, Robinson was assigned to the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers Triple A affiliate in the International League.
On March 18, 1946, Campanella signed a contract to play for Danville Dodgers of the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League.
After the general manager of the Danville Dodgers reported that he did not feel the league was ready for racial integration, the organization sent Campanella and pitcher Don Newcombe to the Nashua Dodgers of the Class B New England League, where the Dodgers felt the racial climate would be more tolerant. [10]
The Nashua team thus became the first professional baseball team of the 20th century to field a racially integrated lineup in the United States.
Campanella's 1946 season proceeded largely without raciial animus or incidents of major significance.
In one game in which Campanella assumed managerial duties, after his manager, Walter Alston was ejected from the game, made Campy the first African-American to manage white players at any level professional organized baseball.
As the game progressed, Nashua was three runs down at the time Campanella took over as manager.
They would make a comeback to win the game. The outcome depended on the managerial instincts of Campanella, who decided to use Newcombe as a pinch hitter during the seventh inning. Newcombe got the game-tying hit, a two-run home run and Nashua would carry that momentum on to with the game.
Jackie Robinson's first season in the major leagues came in 1947, with Campanella beginning his Major League career the following season in 1948, also with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Camp played his first game in Major League Baseball the following season appearing in his first game on April 20, 1948.
In later years, Jackie and his wife sometimes stay with the Campanella family during some ballgames because adequate hotels for African Americans could not be found in the city. This brought the two players closer together. [9]
Campanella went on to play for the Dodgers from 1948 through 1957 as their everyday starting catcher.
In 1948, he had three different uniform numbers (33, 39, and 56) before settling on 39. A number he would wear for the entirety of his career.
Campanella was selected to Major League Baseball’s All-Star game every year from 1949 through 1956.
With his 1949 All-Star selection, he became one of the first four African Americans so honored. Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe and Larry Doby also joined the 1949 National League All-Stars.
In 1950, Campanella hit home runs in 5 straight games; the only other Los Angeles Dodgers players to a home run in five consecutive games are Shawn Green (2001), Matt Kemp (2010), Adrián González (2014–15), and Joc Pederson (2015).
Campanella received the Most Valuable Player award in the National League three times: 1951, 1953, and 1955.
In each of his MVP seasons, he batted better than .300, hitting more than 30 home runs, with more than 100 runs batted in.
His total number of runs batting in, 142 set in 1953 exceeded the franchise record of 30, which was previously held by Jack Fournier (1925) and Babe Herman (1930). To this day it is the second most RBIs in a single season in Dodgers franchise history.
However, Tommy Davis broke Campy's record with an astounding 153 RBI in 1962. That same year, Campanella responded to his teammate breaking his record by hitting 40 home runs from the catcher position. He set a record for franchise home run which lasted until 1996, when it was exceeded by Los Angeles catcher, Todd Hundley.
During his career, Campy threw out 57% of the base runners who tried to steal on him, the highest by any catcher in major league history. Campanella had five of the seven top caught stealing percentages for a single season in major league history. [13] [14]
In 1955, what would be Campanella's final MVP season, he helped the Dodgers Brooklyn win their franchises first World Series.
After a loss by the Dodgers in the first two games of the series to the New York Yankees, Campanella began Brooklyn's comeback by hitting a two-out, two-run home run in the first inning of Game 3.
From that point the Dodgers gained momentum and went on to win that game, They got another home run from Campanella in a Game 4 victory that tied the series, 2-2.
This sparked the Dodgers, who came back from two games down to claim a series victory in seven games. In the finale of the series Johnny Podres shutout the Yankees 2–0 in Game 7.
During his career Roy Campanella is credited with catching three no-hitters.
Pitcher Carl Erskine started two of these games on June 19, 1952 and May 12, 1956. The third no-hitter caught by Camp was catching for pitcher Sal Maglie's on September 25, 1956.
"In my no-hitter...I only shook Campy off once," Maglie recalled. "He was doing the thinking, calling the pitches just right for every batter in every situation, and all I had to do was check the sign to see if I agreed and then throw." [18]
After the 1957 season, the Brooklyn Dodgers relocated to Los Angeles and became the Los Angeles Dodgers, however Campy would not be joining the team.
Campanella's playing career came to an abrupt and sudden end as a result of a tragic automobile accident in which he was paralyzed, ending his career professional baseball career.
He would appear in another of game professional baseball.
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