Traveling with the Dodgers, 1947

From Wendell Smith, "Riding The Rails with Brooklyn's Bums," The Pittsburgh Courier, May 31, 1947. Reprinted by permission of GRM Associates, Inc., agents for The New Pittsburgh Courier. Copyright © 1947 by The Pittsburgh Courier; copyright renewed 1975 by The New Pittsburgh Courier.

Riding the Rails with Brooklyn's "Bums". . .

EN ROUTE, ST. LOUIS TO NEW YORK-This is being written as we speed across the countryside aboard the crack "Missourian" headed for New York City and "dear ole Flatbush.". . . This is the last leg of the Dodgers' first swing around the Western loop and they are returning home with a record of three wins and five losses, perched in fifth place and only one and a half games out of first place. . . . The Brooks travel in real style, being quartered in compartments with two men to a room. It takes two and a half Pullman cars to accommodate the team and caravan of newspapermen who travel with it. . . .

It is on long trips like this that the players really get a chance to know each other. While en route from city to city, they spend most of their time playing cards. The most popular game, of course, is bridge, followed by pinochle, hearts and rummy. Robinson plays all four rather well. . . .

He seldom gets a chance to eat a peaceful meal on the train. It is an exception when he can eat without being interrupted by some admiring passenger and asked to autograph a menu or even a napkin. . . . Jackie usually eats ham and eggs for breakfast, a light lunch and he tops the dinner feast off with a big steak. His favorite drink is a glass of milk.

Must Turn Down Bids. . . .

Wherever he goes, the Brooklyn first basemen receives more invitations to attend functions than he can possibly accept. He has been given definite instructions by Branch Rickey to turn down all bids to such affairs, and he gets weary at times trying to explain to people that the management of the ball club has forbidden him to accept invitations. . .

They call him on the telephone at all hours of the morning or night. I know because I have roomed with him on this trip and have been awakened as early as 7:00 o'clock in the morning to answer the phone. In Chicago we were in Room 640 at the Stevens Hotel and the receiver hardly stayed on the hook, the phone rang so often. One morning a well meaning, but thoughtless woman woke us up at 7:45. She wanted Jackie to be her guest at dinner that night! He had hardly gotten back in the bed when someone else called and asked him to make a speech at nine o'clock that night at a tea party! We finally had to instruct the switchboard operator to hold all calls until we got up at 10:30.

Stayed with Friends in St. Louis. . . .

Robinson did not stay at the Chase Hotel with the rest of the team in St. Louis. Although he was not personally refused by the management of the hotel, he learned that they were not anxious to have him. Consequently he voluntarily stepped out of the picture in order to avoid any controversy. The first night he stayed with an old Army pal, Joe Neal, who is the director of the Neighborhood House, a St. Louis community center, and the next night at the Deluxe Hotel, owned and operated by Charles Abernathy, prominent Negro realtor, and close friend to Joe Louis and other celebrities. . .

A downpour of rain made it necessary to call off Tuesday night's game. From all indications, a record breaking crowd was disappointed, including Sam Breadon, president of the Cards, who moaned and groaned as he looked out of his office window and saw no less than 35,000 fans turn around and go back home. The rain not only dampened his spirits, but "soaked" him out of a gate that would have amounted to approximately $50,000.