[Rarebooks] baseball item #3 [1945] from the Norman Kane collection (FS)

[Peter B. Howard]

BASEBALL / A Documentary History in Chronological Presentation from the 
personal collection of  Norman Kane (a fan for over 75 years)
(with a very few additions) Norman Kane attended his first game in 1932. He 
began to read about baseball in the pulps of the 1940s.  He
bought them, in order to read them. He has been an antiquarian bookseller 
for more than 50 years, a member of ABAA.  He did not sell
his baseball collection until his retirement.




Mayor's Committee for / Owners 15 to 1 against

(The Integration Battles)

1945                New York (City).  Baseball, Mayors Committee. Johnson 
(John H.), Chairman.  REPORT OF THE MAYORS COMMITTEE ON BASEBALL TO MAYOR 
F. H. LA GUARDIA.  October 31, 1945. 11 x 8 1/2 , 7pp, stenciled, printed 
on rectos only. Pencil docket on verso, penultimate leaf: New York City 
Public Library Municipal Reference Branch with rubber-stamped date of July 
1946. The last leaf, docketed in pencil dupt is stamped L.C. CDP; has a 
pencil date of 6/1/43 and announces For Mondays Release / November 19, 
1945.  Stationery bears typed heading: MAYORS COMMITTEE ON BASEBALL / 
MUNCIPAL BUILDING / BROOKLYN 2, NEW YORK. / Call Dan W. Dodson / Triangle 
5-7100, Ext. 290 / Page ONE:  Cover / Page TWO: Cover letter signed in type 
from Johnson to the Mayor, attaching the factual report on problems of 
integration and recommendations to same.  BUT the report may be somewhat 
academic given the fact that the Dodgers have just employed Jackie 
Robinson, a Negro player. It is advisable to deal largely with the 
principals involved. The committee had been appointed somewhat at the joint 
request of Messrs. MacPhail and Rickey in order to help work out an 
equitable solution to this problem and while the Committee has not been of 
as much assistance as was expected, it has been ready at all times to 
assist either of these gentlemen in the solution of their problem and, 
needless to say, the confidential nature of the preliminary negotiations 
through which the Brooklyn club has to proceed, it was difficult for them 
to carry us along in the procedures. Page THREE:  REPORT OF THE MAYORS 
COMMITTEE ON BASEBALL / THE STRUCTURE OF ORGANIZED BASEBALL. / 
Points:   There are two major leagues / There will soon be 4 AA 
leagues  There are numerous circuits of B, C, and D caliber depending upon 
the quality of play  / There are, beyond, innumerable sandlot teams and 
college teams which draw white players / White leagues operate a 
$100,000,000 business annually (40 leagues within organized 
baseball)  /   There are roughly 8000 professionals, not counting sandlot 
and college / BUTThere are only four Negro leagues employing about 400 
players annually /They are loosely organized; It would be difficult to say 
that they operate with any proximity to the quality of discipline and 
training achieved in white organized baseball. / There is little sandlot 
and college interest in the sport among Negroes as exemplified in the white 
group. Negroes play mostly exhibition games / Negroes have a difficult time 
maintaining schedules  / Therefore it is difficult for Negro boys to get 
the necessary training to qualify them  / Negro teams paid $100,000 in 
rentals and concessions to 4 parks in NY, KC, Newark & Norfolk, points out 
the NY Yankees management / Negro leagues cannot organize themselves 
adequately / Negroes possess potential physical capacities which would make 
them worthy / SO, responsibly The committee in an 8 point summation 
concludes that the only equitable solution to this problem is that 
individuals be treated alike and with relation to their abilities 
throughout organized baseball.  The move by the Brooklyn club, we believe, 
meets this responsibility and paves the way for others to follow. How the 
process of integration is to be consummated is a problem for each club to 
undertake individually but a problem which can no longer be deferred or 
avoided.  We would like to ask lastly that the Committee be continued to 
extend the work started. HOWEVERThe owners formed a committee of their own, 
headed by Larry MacPhail, consisting of Ford Frick, Will Harridge, Sam 
Breadon (owner of the Cardinals), Phil Wrigley (owner of the Cubs)  and Tom 
Yawkey (owner of the Red Sox) to report on  the Race Question.  That 
section of the report was dated August 27, 1946, and concluded black ball 
players would bring black spectators to the parks; that white spectators 
would be driven away; that the value of franchises would be reduced; that 
black players lacked technique, coordination, competitive attitude and 
discipline; that the Negro Leagues failed to provide the proper training. 
The owners met on September 16, 1946 at the Waldorf Astoria, three weeks 
after the report had circulated. The owners voted 15 to 1 against 
integration of major league baseball. National League President Ford Frick 
asked that all copies of the report be returned to him so he could burn 
them. But Happy Chandlers copy went into his personal files, and is now at 
the University of Kentucky library. Cf  Andrew Zimbalist IN THE BEST 
INTERESTS OF BASEBALL? The Revolutionary Reign of Bud Selig.  NY: Wiley 
(2006) from which I quote, pp. 56-57.

          The Mayors Report, with a wire or press release photograph of 
Will Harridge, President of the American League, Ford Frick, President of 
the National League, and Albert B. Happy Chandler, Baseball Commissioner, 
New York City, February 2, 1946 the second days session of the joint winter 
meeting of the National and American Leagues.  6 x 8.  In fine 
condition.  The officials are snarling over a report (stenciled docket 
dated on verso), matted, two documents.  $2000.00



Peter B. Howard
Serendipity Books
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Berkeley, CA 94702
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