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And the rough stuff from rival teams began early and has never stopped. The first time the Dodgers played St. Louis, the Cards grumbled about playing on the same field with a Negro. They changed their minds—under pressure. Philadelphia was worse, because there the opposition had the open support of Phillies Manager Ben Chapman. He bawled insults at Robinson from the dugout. Chapman's second-division Phillies, notoriously the crudest bench-jockeys in baseball, chimed in. Says Rookie Robbie: "I'd get mad. But I'd never let them know it." The Phillies management finally called down Chapman. He had his picture taken with Robinson to prove to everyone that the ugly reports weren't true.
It was Robinson's own Dodger mates who first came round. One or two of his fellow Dodgers began to say "Hello" to him in the locker room. Jackie wrote to his high-school baseball coach: "It isn't too tough on me. I have played with white boys all my life. But they hadn't played with a Negro before, and it sure was rough on some of them." Soon he was invited to play cards on trips, but though he didn't like the deuces-wild type of poker the boys played, he joined in a few games of hearts.
As Branch Rickey had foreseen, if Jackie played good baseball, the rest took care of itself. Some of the southerners on the squad shared the attitude of an Atlanta newsman who, when asked what he thought of Jackie Robinson, replied "He's good, damn him." But they were ready to back any player, black or white, who might help bring them the bonus (about $6,000 for winners, $4,000 for losers) that each gets for playing in a World Series.
After Slaughter did his spiking job a month ago, a group of Brooklyn players came to Jackie and said: "If they give you the works, give it back to them—and the team will be behind you 100%." That was the day Jack Roosevelt Robinson won his long, patient battle.
* After Theodore, not Franklin.
* No kin.