Philly's going to take a beating in this "42" flick

[Irish George]

...this one justified.

Philly gave the Dodgers the roughest time of any team in the league. Manager Ben Chapman was an avowed racist and most of the team followed his lead.

Also, the Warwick Hotel, which housed Brooklyn for years when they were playing here, gave them the boot when Robinson began traveling with them.

The Phils were one of the last teams in the majors to integrate, also.

Ironically, Eddie Gottlieb, who owned the Warriors and the Philly Stars of the Negro Leagues, teamed up with Bill Veeck on a failed bid to buy the Phillies around the time Robinson broke in.

Veeck wound up buying the Cleveland Indians and signed Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League. Had Gottlieb-Veeck succeeded in buying the Phils, I believe they would have been one of the first teams to integrate.

[Loki]

Yea, and up into the 60's they were pretty nasty

with their black players. They could have sent Dick Allen to a much better minor league town than Little Rock.

And the rumors of trading Larry Hisle because he showed up on the team bus with a copy of Malcom X's autobiography showed that they really hadn't come very far even at that time.

[Dolomite]

[Irish George]

I loved that guy

Homers that were still rising over the Coke sign on the roof in left. (Hence his "Coke" scrawls in the dirt interpreted much differently by his legion of critics. My Dad was with me on Viet Nam. We had our knock down pissing match arguments over Richie Allen

[Irish George]

How about

with their black players. They could have sent Dick Allen to a much better minor league town than Little Rock.

And the rumors of trading Larry Hisle because he showed up on the team bus with a copy of Malcom X's autobiography showed that they really hadn't come very far even at that time.

when Frank Thomas hit him with a racial slur and when Allen went after him they swore him to secrecy under threat of massive fine while they shipped out the popular redneck. That really turned the older side of the fan base against him.

[The Ref]

I believe the Phillies were the second to last team to integrate. Boston was the last. And Boston remains the most racist northern city in the US. Ironic being in liberal new england.

[Dolomite]

Here you go, I think there may be one of him hitting one over the sign.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoP0OZ8mZX4

[Irish George]

Well the Boston Braves signed Hank Aaron out of the Negro Leagues

...but Bill Russel ahd his house broken into and trashed in the white Boston suburbs. That's why he only agreed to have his retired number raised to the roof in a private ceremony.

But there is racism in every town and city.

[The Ref]

...but Bill Russel ahd his house broken into and trashed in the white Boston suburbs. That's why he only agreed to have his retired number raised to the roof in a private ceremony.

But there is racism in every town and city.

To be fair I haven't been there in a couple of decades now so perhaps it's come around. Maybe it's my imagination but the Patriots always seem to have the whitest roster in the NFL even to this day. As recently as the 80's, the Celtics had the whitest roster in the NBA. It's a racist town. Or was. No doubt in my mind. While there are pockets of racism everywhere, you can't call most other larger northern cities racist.

[JuTMSY4]

To be fair I haven't been there in a couple of decades now so perhaps it's come around. Maybe it's my imagination but the Patriots always seem to have the whitest roster in the NFL even to this day. As recently as the 80's, the Celtics had the whitest roster in the NBA. It's a racist town. Or was. No doubt in my mind. While there are pockets of racism everywhere, you can't call most other larger northern cities racist.

Well, considering we just hit 2 of the big 3, I guess you can. What's next, are we going to evaluate Buffalo or Providence's racist past?

I'm sure Belicheat was making sure his roster was white enough for Boston, when he put together those Back-to-back championship rosters...

Same with the Celtics when the engineered that Garnett trade and won a championship with Pierce, Rondo, Garnett and Allen...

[Irish George]

well here's some more irony from the mid-60s

and it was Boston-Philly

the Sixers-Celtics playoff matchup of 1966-67 was the first that I know of to include 10 black starters on the floor: Boston had Russell, Satch Sanders, KC Jones, Sam Jones and a fifth I'm forgetting (Havlicek came off the bench) Sixers countered with Wilt, Luke Jackson, Chet Walker, Hal Greer and Wally Jones (Cunningham came off the bench).

[Irish George]

youre wrong about the Celtics

To be fair I haven't been there in a couple of decades now so perhaps it's come around. Maybe it's my imagination but the Patriots always seem to have the whitest roster in the NFL even to this day. As recently as the 80's, the Celtics had the whitest roster in the NBA. It's a racist town. Or was. No doubt in my mind. While there are pockets of racism everywhere, you can't call most other larger northern cities racist.

red Auerbach's greatest teams were predominently black.