Monday, January 11, 2016
The Negro League Baseball History Fact for Today - Jim Pendleton
Born on January 7, 1924 in St. Charles, Missouri, James Edward “Jim” Pendleton played shortstop
Monday, January 11, 2016
The Negro League Baseball History Fact for Today - Jim Pendleton
Born on January 7, 1924 in St. Charles, Missouri, James Edward “Jim” Pendleton played shortstop for the Chicago American Giants in 1948 after serving in the military during World War II. At 6’ and 185 pounds, he had speed and range playing the position; plus he could hit. Pendleton missed the desegregation of the US military, an early major step in the civil rights advancement of African Americans. President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 which began the process of ending the racial segregation of the Armed Forces after the speedy infielder had returned to civilian life. However, Pendleton would be involved in the concurrent major step in African American civil rights; the integration of Major League baseball.
After the 1948 season, it is said the Brooklyn Dodgers paid the American Giants $7,500 for Pendleton’s contract. Two of his teammates would also sign with Major League teams, Quincy Trouppe with the Cleveland Indians in 1952 and Roberto Vargas with the Milwaukee Braves in 1955. The “invisible color line” which had kept African Americans and dark-skinned Hispanics out of Major League baseball for nearly half the 20th Century had been erased in 1947 by Jackie Robinson, but the integration process began slowly. Other than the Dodgers, who along with Robinson had Roy Campanella, the Cleveland Indians were the only other Major League team in 1948 with African American players