Two important eras in baseball history crossed paths 75 years ago when the Brooklyn Dodgers began a three-game series in May at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Jackie Robinson had been with the Dodgers since opening day, breaking baseball’s color barrier. Hank Greenberg had been with the Pirates since the season began, winding down a career as the game’s first Jewish superstar, which meant he became the game’s first superstar to experience anti-Semitism.
“Hank became the face – and muscle – of Judaism in America,” wrote John Rosengren in his biography, Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes. “He single-handedly changed the way Gentiles viewed Jews.”
Robinson was not only the game’s first African-American player, he also became its first black superstar, and while he faced the worst of the country’s racism, he no doubt changed some views about black Americans.
In his first Dodgers-Pirates game, Robinson bunted for a hit, and collided with Greenberg at first base and Robinson stumbled and fell. “Black men were not supposed to crash into white men, especially aging superstars,” wrote Rosengren. “Many critics of the Robinson experiment awaited just such a moment to touch off a race riot.”
But nothing happened. Greenberg said to Robinson, “Listen, I know it’s plenty tough. You’re a good ballplayer however, and you’ll do all right. Just stay in there and fight back. Always keep your head up.”
