Branch Breaks the Ice
The management palmed him off as an Indian. But Charley Grant, who played second base for the oldtime Baltimore Orioles, was a lightskinned, straight-haired Negro. A few Mexicans, Cubans and strongly suntanned whites who have played for other big-league clubs have been widely believed (but never proved) to be Negroes. Last week, after three years and $25,000 worth of scouting the Negro leagues, Branch ("The Brain") Rickey called in reportersnot to make a confession but to tell the world that Brooklyn had signed Jack Roosevelt Robinson, a Negro shortstop....