Nashua Dodgers Players - Roy Campanella (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Roy Campanella (November 19, 1921 June 26, 1993), nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player primarily at the position of catcher in the Negro Leagues and Major League Baseball. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Widely considered to have been one of the greatest catchers in the history of the game, Campanella played for the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1940s and 1950s, as one of the pioneers in breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. His career was cut short in 1958 when he was paralyzed in an automobile accident. Campanella's father John was of Italian descent; however, because his mother Ida was African American, he was barred from Major League Baseball before 1947, the season that non-white players were admitted to the Major Leagues for the first time since the 19th century. Campanella began playing Negro League baseball for the Washington Elite Giants in 1937, dropping out of school on his sixteenth birthday. The Elite Giants would move to Baltimore the following year, and Campanella would go on to become a star player with the team. In 1942 and 1943, Campanella played in the Mexican League with the Monterrey Sultans. Lazaro Salazar, the team's manager at the time, told Campanella that he would play one day at the Major League level. In 1971, Campanella was elected to the Mexican League Hall Of Fame. In 1946, Campanella moved into the Brooklyn Dodgers' minor league system, as the Dodger organization began preparations to break the Major Leagues' color barrier with Jackie Robinson. For the 1946 season, Robinson was assigned to the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers' affiliate in the Class AAA International League. Meanwhile, the team looked to assign Campanella to a Class B league. After the general manager of the Dan... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=77393