ROY CAMPANELLA

Campanella, known, in his prime as Campy, was an Italian–African American baseball player of fame. His father, John, was of Sicilian descent and his mother, Ida, of Negro heritage. He was born on November 19, 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and passed away on June 26, 1993 at the age of 71 in Woodland Hills, California.  Campanella had two older sisters, Gladys, and Doris and an older brother Lawrence. When he was born the family lived in Germantown section of the city and when he was seven years old they moved to an area of the city known as Nicetown. This community was a mix of races thus he attended schools with members reflecting the same. Due to his light-complexion many fellow students called him “half-breed.” Some writers conjecture that this experience toughened him to life leading him to fight as a Golden Glove Boxer.

Campanella’s teenage years occurred during the great depression. His father made a living by selling vegetable and fish from a truck. He later opened and operated a grocery store. Campanella did his share for the family by working with his father, and shining shoes, selling newspapers. He, at some point, had a milk route.

In high school he played foot, basket, and baseball, and quite often the team mates chose him as captain in whatever team sport he engaged. However, his passion was for baseball.

As a high school student, word of his baseball abilities spread and the Phillies allegedly offered him a chance to work out with them, but upon learning he was black, they rescinded the invite. Nevertheless, at the age of 16 he dropped out of high school and in that year, 1937, he began his professional baseball career with the semipro team, the Bacharach Washington Elite Giants of the Negro League.  His mother was not so keen on the idea of him working with adult men, but when she learned he would make more money in one weekend than her husband made in a week she consented. His career developed quickly; by 1939, as a 17 year old, he took over the regular catching chores and helped lead the giants to playoff victories over the Newark Eagles and Homestead Grays. The team later moved to Baltimore and Campanella became a star player. By 1941 he won the MVP honors as the star of the 1941 Negro League East-West All-Star Game. He was a versatile talented ballplayer, but catching was his primary role. Many considered him as the greatest catcher in the history of baseball.

In 1942 and 1943, Campanella played in the Mexican League with the Monterrey Sultans. Following that he went on a South American tour. By 1946, Campanella moved into the Brooklyn Dodger’s minor league system, which was preparing to break the MLB color barrier with the positioning of Jackie Robinson, whom they assigned to the Montreal Royals, an affiliate in the Class AAA International League. Meanwhile, the team sought to assign Campanella to a Class B League. But, the general manager of the Danville Dodgers of the Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League believed the organization was not ready for racial integration. Thus they sent Campanella   to the Nashua Dodgers Class B New England League. The first American League to present a professional baseball integrated line up.

Soon after his acceptance, during a game the manager Walter Alston was ejected and Campanella took over and became the first African American to manage Caucasian players of organized professional baseball. Jackie Robinson’s first year in the major league was in 1947, and the following year Campanella began his MLB career with the Brooklyn Dodgers.  He played with them until 1957. During his tenure he played in the All-Star-Game every year from 1949 on. He hit home runs in five straight games in 1950. He received the MVP award in the National League three times: in 1951, 1953, and 1955. Campanella’s career ended after suffering injuries from a vehicle accident in which it paralyzed him from the neck down. However, with therapy he was eventually able to regain use of his arms and hands. He remained involved in baseball as a scouting supervisor and coach. In 1969, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Campanella, the second African American after Jackie Robinson, so honored. Campanella died on June 26, 1993 at the age of 71 in Woodland Hills, California. His MLB batting average was: 276, home runs 242, and runs batted in 856. Below are photographs of him, one in his younger playing days and one from 1961. For more detailed information see Society For American Baseball Research https://sabr.olrg/bioproj/plerson/a52ccbb5, and Wikipedia.