When he was a boy, his father, who was Henry Ford’s chef, began taking him to the Ford mansion in Dearborn, Mich.
“It was like a castle,” he recalled years later. “In the summers, I was there once a week. I knew the kids-Edsel, Benson and Henry. We played ball together.
“The first time I met Henry Ford, my father said, `Mr. Ford, this is my son Wendell.’ Mr. Ford patted me on the back and said, `He’s a fine-looking boy, John. What does he want to be when he grows up?’ “
Wendell Smith became a sportswriter. In 1937, at 23, after graduating from West Virginia State College, he joined the Pittsburgh Courier, the leading black newspaper of the time. He vowed to dedicate himself to integrating major-league baseball, and his achievements in that area will be recognized again Sunday when he is inducted into the writers’ wing of the Hall of Fame.
Smith had first encountered prejudice when he was the star pitcher for his American Legion team. Mike Tresh, who later played for the White Sox, was his catcher. Wendell won the championship game 1-0.
Wish Egan, the famous Detroit scout, was in the stands. After the game, Egan signed the losing pitcher and said to Wendell, “I wish I could sign you, too, kid. But I can’t.”
“The Courier always had some kind of program going, a crusade for something of consequence,” Wendell said in 1970, two years before he died. “I suggested a campaign that would help the Negro ballplayers get into the big leagues. Everyone seemed to think it was a good idea.”
Pittsburgh was a National League city. Wendell interviewed all eight NL managers and 40 to 50 players. He asked if they had seen any of the black players and if they would be welcomed as teammates.
He always remembered the favorable response of Leo Durocher, manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers. “If they can play ball, I have absolutely no objection,” Durocher said.
Many of Smith’s stories were picked up. They ran in the Sporting News and in the Pittsburgh papers. Ira Lewis, the Courier publisher, was delighted. In 1939, accompanied by Lewis and Paul Robeson, Wendell had a brief audience with Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, then the baseball commissioner.
“Frankly, we were met with silence,” Wendell said.
The campaign continued. In February 1945, he contacted Isadore Muchnick, a Boston councilman who was running for re-election in a predominately black neighborhood. Wendell suggested he include in his platform a desire to integrate big-league baseball.
Tryouts were arranged with the Boston teams, Red Sox and the Braves. Wendell picked three players: infielders Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs and Marvin Williams of the Philadelphia Stars and Sam Jethroe, a speedy outfielder with the Cleveland Buckeyes.
Later, he was asked why he didn’t select the big-name black players such as Satchel Paige, the legendary pitcher, and Josh Gibson, the “Black Babe Ruth.”
Wendell’s explanation: “I thought Satchel was too old. He was about 40. I was wrong. He had plenty left. He could have played. I didn’t approach anyone about Paige, but I approached the owners of the Homestead Grays, Josh Gibson’s team. They were opposed. The Grays were owned by two black men, Rufus Jackson and Cumberland Posy. They wouldn’t let Josh Gibson go because he was their ace drawing card.
“Eddie Gottlieb, a white man, well-known in basketball, owned the Philadelphia Stars. When I asked if I could take Marvin Williams to the Boston tryout, Eddie said, `Sure, good luck.’ “
The players were skeptical but delighted. They never tried out for the Braves but they did appear at Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox, on April 16 at noon. The tryout lasted about an hour and included about a dozen high school players.
“It was demeaning,” Smith recalled. “They had these kid pitchers throwing. It wasn’t a real test. Jackie Robinson and Marv Williams-even Jethroe, who was a singles’ hitter-kept rattling that tin left-field fence.”
Duffy Lewis, a former player who was then the traveling secretary for the Red Sox, told Wendell: “They look like pretty good ballplayers.” He thanked him and said, “We’ll call you.”
The call instead came from Branch Rickey, the No. 1 man at Brooklyn. The rest of the story is well-known. Rickey signed Robinson to a minor-league contract in 1946. The next year, Robinson was NL Rookie of the Year.
At Rickey’s request, Smith roomed with Robinson during much of the ’47 season. Wendell also continued writing daily dispatches for the Courier. Soon, he joined the Chicago American. He was the first black admitted to the Baseball Writers Association of America. In the early 1960s, while assigned to the White Sox, he was instrumental in integrating the Florida spring-training accommodations.
Wendell and I were traveling companions for five, maybe six years. He was an excellent and respected writer, a wonderful man in every respect. We went to a second-hand bookstore together and often had dinner. Sometimes it was a threesome-Wendell, Bob Cromie of the Tribune and myself.
Sunday, Wendell Smith will be enshrined in Cooperstown, N.Y. His wife, Wyonella, who still makes her home in Chicago, will make the acceptance speech in his behalf.
Great day for baseball, a great day for all of us.
