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Obama owes Negro Leaguers a debt of gratitude
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Double Duty Radcliffe
This may sound like a stretch, but President-elect Barack Obama owes a debt of gratitude to another Chicago South-Sider, Double Duty Radcliffe.
In 1919, a boy named after a president -- 17-year-old Theodore Roosevelt Radcliffe -- moved to Chicago’s south side -- 3511 Wentworth, to be exact. Over the next 86 years, Radcliffe would live in the same area, watching it regress from a garden spot to a war zone.
When Radcliffe died at age 103 in 2005, he had pretty much seen it all -- all except for a black president. In the years in between his date of birth and death, Radcliffe helped pave the way for Mr. Obama, though he didn’t know he was doing it, and Obama probably doesn’t realize it yet.
Radcliffe, like Obama, was a pioneer -- partly by design, party by happenstance. Radcliffe loved baseball, and was great at the game. Since his skin was brown, Radcliffe had no choice but to play in the Negro Leagues. That's just the way things were.
Don’t think for a second that Radcliffe thought of himself as a victim, though. Radcliffe used his talents and self-promoting ability to make more money than almost every Negro Leaguer besides Satchel Paige. In the world of black baseball, Radcliffe was a star, and he reaped the rewards of stardom: money, women, glory.
In 1932, Radcliffe was given the nickname of “Double Duty” by famed writer Damon Runyon after he pitched one end of a doubleheader and caught the next. Double Duty remained the Radcliffe's calling card, and in later years it was shortened to just “Duty.”
In 1948, Radcliffe was offered a chance to become a pioneer, and he answered the call and became the only black player in the powerful Southern Minny semi-pro league. This was a year after Jackie Robinson integrated the majors, but small town fans in Owatonna and Winona could be just as nasty as those in big league towns like Cincinnati, St. Louis and Philadelphia. In fact, looking back on his career as an old man, Radcliffe remembered not Memphis, Birmingham or Atlanta as the toughest town to play in as a black man. Instead, it was in the town of Albert Lea, Minnesota, that Radcliffe claimed he received the worst treatment of his career. He was so appalled by racial slurs that he packed his car and left mid-season. A month later, Radcliffe integrated the Michigan-Indiana League, another top semi-pro loop, and was the best player in the league as a 46-year-old.
Now for the links—follow the bouncing ball. If it weren't for Negro League pioneers like Double Duty, Satchel Paige and Cool Papa Bell, there would never have been a Jackie Robinson, who spent the 1945 season with the Kansas City Monarchs, and was polished for the Big Leagues by teammates Paige and Radcliffe.
Robinson then paved the way for Martin Luther King, Jr. (they marched together many times), and King blazed the trail for the likes of Jesse Jackson, Colin Powell, Condi Rice, and Clarence Thomas.
Finally, in 2008, the United States, a country that had slowly learned over the years that, indeed, blacks could pitch and catch like the best white Major Leaguers, could break down color barriers against all odds, could lead armies and the State Department, and could interpret the constitution—our United States, voted to make a black man the most powerful man in the world.
Double Duty never would have believed it. Not after starting his career playing with and against actual sons of slaves. Not after being refused restaurant and hotel service. Not after being told what water fountain to drink from.
Whether Obama is a successful president or not isn't the point. The point is that he's being given a chance, which is what the Civil Rights movement was all about. And for this chance, a sincere thanks to Double Duty seems in order.
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