European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 19, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Respect v l i i in pee wee Reese v York times it was maybe november j in 1w5 and 1 was Ona Navy input port ship coming Back from from  for the Brooklyn dodgers for three sea then into the Navy for the Dura As their atsed to say during the now t was finally coming and some body on board1 told me that the dodgers had signed a Black and that was the first time i can remember being aware of Jackie Robinsons arrival on the baseball i had heard of Jack before As a football player at but now when tils name came up in a baseball con i didst give it a whole lot of you i reacted kind of instinctively to the something youve got to be because the color line was still keeping Black players out of the major except for thai initial i didst give it too much i had been away Tor three years and was More zeroed at the moment with getting myself Back to then i realized thai Robin son could run and hit and play and some of the Guys started kidding me about my Welcome pee Atler it was More than a year before f saw my in a baseball uni form a year that Jackie spent at Montreal in the International league and that t spent la Brooklyn with the then in Spring training in we had our Camp in Santo Domi Ngo in the dominican Republic that and i finally got Ray look at was my first impression that he was awfully and awfully i noticed that he had an unusual Way of Fielding ground he sort of jabbed at but he also caught the dodgers had a Good club that Burl Shotton was managing in place of Leo we had Bruce Edwards and Gil cookie Lavage la was third i was the shortstop and is Stanky was at so they had Jack Robinson playing i form in the guys1 like Dwe Pete Reiser and Al and the pitchers included Ralph Rex Barney and Hugh sometimes Iti hard for me to Tun Point which Guys played on which dodger learns to those because i was with the club during several Era Sand 30 years 1 cant always get them All sorted Jack was there that year once we realized he was there to i began to realize that there were More re thought at one thing i remember was the potion some Guys passed but i  sign itt Wasyl trying to think of myself As the great White i just to play the especially alter being in the Navy for three years and need Ling the and it didst Mailer to me whether he was Black or he had a right to be after 1 got to know id play Golf and Tennis with and the first Lime i played cards with him in the some of the Southern Bays resented in from Louisville and in Southern and i Viress they Felt 1 was a turncoat or but Jack and 1 played a lot of cards in our then youd hear a lot of insults the opposing benches during Guys Call ing him things like Nigger and water trying to rile Bui that was when Jackie Robinson started to turn the you saw How he stood there at the plate and dared them to hit him with the and you began to put yourself in his youd i Hank of yourself trying to break into the Black and what it would be like and i know thai i  have done in a he was winning that was the decisive thing shoot Jack he had All kinds of that the reason he was selected by Branch and that the Bell Way to re member and right now that there honouring us memory and his Impact on baseball at this years Allstar you have the key to u Alii in he haunt made the Black movement would have probably been set Back several u still would have but u would have taken playing alongside him for so Many years id until the Dodg ers left town after the 1937 season i realized his Impact in other for one he was one of the Best pressure play in i Ever saw and he became instrumental in those dodger pennants because of Tho old saying applied in him perfectly when the going gets the Tough gel going and when the chips were p pay the slightest attention to his being at hed been a big Black Guy who came into a while mans but after two or three with All that class and be was just a great ballplayer alongside he had a big Impact on All the in Birmingham and some other South Ern travelling up from it was even during the 1 re member we got to Lotufo for a series and that Mightie been the last place in the league where the Black players were Seg where they stayed in one hotel in the Black Section and the other Guys stayed in the regular Jack got off the train one Day there and in going to the Bate with Roy car Apanell and some of the other Black Guys told him not to do they said they were doing Okay and to dont Rock the but Jackie joined us in the team into the hotel and and campy and the Moers was get the Job Jack had a big Impact on me we had Many conversations about and id ask do you think Blacks and will Ever get along smoothly and hed say till give it some i used to say to him you i didst particularly go out of my Way just to be Nice to and Jack would Pec maybe that what i appreciated you sometimes we related to each other by joking about Tough like when Jack got letters saying if you play youll get Hod show me the letters and id say dont go warming up next to i dont want to gel 1 Learned from i was never what youd consider a but i was brought up in a poor Section and never had any Contact with Black so 1 Learned from him even about being a he always Felt he should be spending More time Home with his son and he always told me not to neglect the 1 didst need too much prodding about but he made the Point 1 have a who 20 a first baseman at the University of and he wants to be a he and t Are very but t always remember Jackie Rob message spend time As Bill player Jack a Guy his Well meet and maybe us he had the quickness of a Guy la i run you  run us 1 dont knew How Many he would have stolen if our club ran i led the league with 31 steals one but mostly we depended on and he didst have the greatest Arm in the but making the doable hed straddle the bag and dare you to nil for All he was a fun he could be a Little Nasty at but who  i never saw him Lake a drink in my he was just a great to great baseball player and a great influence on our lives a greater than i Ever could have guessed that Day on the ship coming Home from Guam when somebody told me the dodgers had signed a Black pee Weg Crete my hit Tain Tutu in 1m Zhigun Man i a Mari i Urt in a morn we Vul in lot Ang Tweh vhf the in in pts yid a chit mining u1i former baseball great Jackie Robinson july 1977 the stars and stripes Page 13