Today was a milestone day...As we all know, Jackie Robinson first broke into the Majors on TAX Day, 1947, some 61 years ago. Hard to believe that next year, had he lived, would have been 90!
Before I go further, there is one black ball player who came in the same year, just a few months later in August as a pitcher, beleive it or not, ALSO the Brooklyn Dodgers, yet as much as Jackie is rightly praised, this player is wrongly ignored.
His name was Dan Bankhead (see photo) and he made his debut on August 26 at the age of 27. He only appeared in 4 games, pitched 10 innings and came back a few years later after toiling in the farm system of the Dodgers.
Here's a little bit more about him from http://www.mlb.com/ ----> http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070824&content_id=2167234&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
And his stats and a brief snapshot from Baseball Almanac.com http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=bankhda01
So while we remember Jackie, think of many of the black ballplayers who played in obscurity in the first few years of the majors. And, especially those who were good, but never got out of the Negro Leagues.
Now, for today's game...Good to see Wright wielding a powerful RBI stick...Pelfrey had his act together and Duaner Sanchez was throwing a nice grooved changeup that baffled the batters. This game, even though against a weak team, proved to be important. And LoDuca, once hailed, now pariah, had a lame excuse with his hand.
