WEBVTT - Second Place Finishers: Larry Doby, Judith Resnik & The Dave Clark Five 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:06.240 Pretty much, any obituary with the word first in its 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:09.680 headline is going to get a lot of cliques. Of 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:13.159 course it is the human drama is baked right in. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:19.360 Someone doing something unprecedented captivates us. We can only imagine 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:23.560 the courage, the fortitude not to mention the talent of 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:28.200 Jackie Robinson, the first black player in Major League baseball. 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.360 But what about the black player who joined the major 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:37.080 leagues just eleven weeks after Robinson. He had the weight 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:41.040 of an entire raith on his shoulders along with Jackie Robinson. 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:45.040 Sally Ride's place in history is secure. She was the 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:49.200 first American woman in space, But what about the woman 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:53.360 who went into orbit only a year later? She approached 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:56.200 becoming an astronaut like she did everything, She knew what 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.920 she wanted and went for the same woman who lost 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:03.960 her life on one of the darkest days in Nassa's history. 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.679 You saw it forty five seconds after liftoff, a huge 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:11.640 fireball in the sky. And what about the British band 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:16.160 here they are again? Whatever life who landed on American 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:23.720 shores only a month after the Beatles and dated day. 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.320 We love firsts so much that we end up ignoring 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:33.360 the achievements and people that come after, even right after. 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:38.040 But those people are essential. Without someone coming in second 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.600 and third and fourth, the first person is more of 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.200 an oddity, a one off, instead of the beginning of 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:50.640 big social change. So today we salute three of histories. 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:57.040 Silver medallists from CBS Sunday Morning and I Heart I'm 0:01:57.080 --> 0:02:04.960 Morocca and this is mobituarymes this moment. Second place finishers 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:28.200 Larry Dobie, Judith Resnick, and the Dave Clark Five. I 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:33.320 love a good musical rivalry Andy Williams versus Perry Como, 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.560 Metallica versus Mega Death. Does anyone else remember that period 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:40.280 in the early eighties when it was Madonna versus Cindi 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.880 lauper Well for a good stretch of nineteen sixty four, 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:48.280 you were either a Beatles person or a Dave Clark 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:50.000 five person. I know you thought I was going to 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:53.320 mention the Stones, But in nineteen sixty four there were 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:57.360 magazine covers pitting the Beatles against the Dave Clark Five. 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:00.239 On one of them, there's a picture of bandleader Dave 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:04.400 Clark captioned I'll duel with Ringo. And only one month 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:07.760 after the Fab Four's legendary first appearance on The Ed 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:12.040 Sullivan Show. Here for all of you youngsters, England's Dave 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:16.400 Park five, Lad all Over The Dave Clark Five made 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:22.800 their first appearance on the program. The Dave Clark Five 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:26.239 had good reason to be feeling glad all over. Their 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:28.880 hit of the same name had knocked the Beatles I 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.160 want to hold your hand out of the top spot 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:34.840 on the UK charts. Throughout the sixties, they would land 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:39.800 fifteen consecutive top twenty US hit singles and sell one 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:45.320 hundred million records. You want a pounding rocker of a record, 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:48.840 a rip it up song that will rattle your world 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:52.440 in the bedroom you share with your dad and your brother. 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:55.880 Tom Hanks grew up listening to the group and could 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.920 barely contain himself during their induction into the Rock and 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.680 Roll Hall of Fame. You want to hear a song 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.000 that will make you feel glad all Over by the 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:11.120 Dave Clark Five. After the d C five's breakthrough with 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:15.440 Glad all Over saw them score top five hits with 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:25.280 Bits and Pieces and Can't You See That She's Mine? 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:32.559 And because the following year they went to number one 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:38.960 with Over and Over, I said over and over and 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.720 over again, The Dead Clock five made a joyful sound. 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.440 Over and over and over again. The Dead Clark five 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:52.080 made a joyful found. But unlike the Beatles, who were 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.960 determined from their earliest days in Liverpool to make it 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:59.200 as artists, the Dave Clark five started playing music to 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:04.600 support their soccer habit. They had a soccer team and 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:08.240 they wanted to play in a tournament in Holland, but 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:12.000 they didn't have the money for the passage. This is 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.960 Harold Bronson, co founder of Rhino Records. He wrote a 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:19.720 book about the British invasion. So they formed a band 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.479 to make money so that they could actually be able 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.680 to go to Holland, which they whish they did. Their 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.880 aspiration was to go to Holland and play soccer, and 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:32.680 being a band was the way they were going to 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.760 pay for it was basically their survival job, right, So 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:37.840 it was kind of an accident, you know that they 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.680 evolved into this really good dance band. Who are you 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:44.679 know making money? Mike Smith played keyboards and sang lead. 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:48.279 His voice was raw, commanding and he helped write many 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:52.320 of the group's songs. Lenny Davidson played guitar. Rick Huxley 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:56.560 was on base and Dennis Peyton the saxophone, a wild 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:59.760 card that helped give the Dave Clark five a unique sound. 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.160 But what really set the band apart was its drummer, 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:12.440 Dave Clark, himself a former stunt man. He wasn't just 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.839 the band's leader, a rarity for a drummer, he also 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:19.320 managed the band with a crystal clear vision of how 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:22.800 it should sound and look. More than anything, he was 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:28.919 a showman. The Dave Clark Five probably had the best 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:33.320 presentation of any of the British Invasion groups when they 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:39.039 came to America because Dave was thinking more theatrical. They 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:43.560 looked great. I mean, these guys were snappy dressers, matching suits, 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:49.840 white turtlenecks, pocket squares. They're perfectly clean cut hair, perfectly quaff. 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.640 I call it Fisher Price hair, like each head of 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.520 hair could snap right on and off. Well, it's time 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:57.480 to go on in a few seconds, so Mike and 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.719 Rick attend to their head. Nothing fantastic, take no hint 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:03.640 of Mercy's side, but just the way their fans expect 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.359 to see him on stage. They were all smiles, bobbing 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.560 their heads side to side in unison in sync with 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:13.880 their leader's drumbeat. Dave was also a producer on the 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:18.160 group's records, A very hands on producer the drums, for example, 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:29.280 he made sure they were always mixed loud and Dave 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:33.200 exhibited a business savvy that's rare among new artists. He 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.400 had paid for studio recordings himself using money from his 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.120 stunt work, so he figured he could ask for more 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.840 than the standard royalty rate, and when he went into negotiation, 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.400 he figured, okay, I'll ask for three times as much, 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:51.520 and the record company basically said okay. Even more audaciously, 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.640 he asked that the rights to the group's songs be 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:58.640 returned to him after ten years, which again they said okay, 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.200 because they weren't paying for it. In rock and roll 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.680 wasn't thought to have any longevity. That's right. The company 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:08.080 didn't see a future for rock and roll, but Dave Clark, 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:13.800 the stuntman slash soccer enthusiast slash high school dropout, did. Now, 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:17.880 that's smarts. Once the band topped the charts in the UK, 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:22.520 it was inevitable that America's most important taste maker would 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:30.960 come calling. Hell here he is ed Sullivan's Variety Show 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:35.400 had ruled Sunday nights for decades, and once the Beatles appeared, 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:39.160 Sullivan's show became the gateway, kind of the Ellis Island 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:42.160 for British bands who wanted to make it in America. 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:46.080 All the more remarkable then that when Ed Sullivan first 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:49.640 invited the Baby Clark Vive on Dave actually said no. 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.920 In today's terms, that's like having a store on Etsy 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:56.400 and turning down Oprah when she calls to tell you 0:08:56.280 --> 0:09:00.000 you're one of her favorite things. But Harold Bronson says 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:02.920 Clark had played for Americans on air basis in the UK, 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:07.760 and well, apparently they were just too American for him. 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.520 He did not have a good impression of Americans and 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:13.720 didn't want to like put himself in that kind of rowdy, 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:17.679 uncrewth element. But when it's Sullivan up the anti to 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.800 ten thousand dollars, well, you know that was a lot 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:24.560 of money and that made all the difference. After Ed 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:28.439 Sullivan introduced the Dave Clark Five to America, they finally 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:31.040 quit their day jobs. They ended up going on his 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:37.319 show twelve times. In November four, the group played Anaheim, 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:40.040 and The l A Times described the event as a 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:44.240 riot without violence. The headline Britain's find it Hard to 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:50.000 Sing to three thousand screaming teenagers. It was Beatlemania level frenzy. 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:53.640 In fact, just one year after the Beatles charmed audiences 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.760 with their movie A Hard Day's Night, the Dave Clark 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:00.120 Five start in their own film called Catch Us If 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:08.800 You Can. The movie marked the debut of British director 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.559 John Boorman went on to make Deliverance and Hope and Glory. 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.800 But even before the film came out, Borman told the 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:19.800 press it was a dud. The Dave Clark Five, mainly 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:24.960 Dave himself, just couldn't match the Beatles charisma. Dave may 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.400 have been cruising around in a Jaguar in the movie, 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:33.199 but the band's joy ride was beginning to sputter. By 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:36.680 the latter half of the sixties, the Beatles were experimenting 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:40.480 with new sounds and psychedelic drugs. They went to India 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:45.720 and studied transcendental meditation. They released groundbreaking albums like Sergeant 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:49.880 Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Critics began praising their music 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:58.160 as art. Meanwhile, the Dave Clark Five were relying more 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:03.600 and more on covers for the record I happen to 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:07.040 Love their take on put a Little Love in Your Hearts. 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:18.280 In seventy the Dave Clark Five called it quits, the 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:21.880 same year that the Beatles broke up. Today, more than 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:26.400 half a century later, there really is no competition. Culturally. 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:29.880 The Beatles are still playing the main stage that Dave 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:33.440 Clark five for a time, we're all but forgotten. That 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.680 was thanks to a very bad business decision by Dave 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:40.119 himself to sit on those rights that reverted to him 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:43.440 for decades. He simply refused to re release any of 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.959 the group's music. He thought wrongly that that would make 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:50.480 the songs more valuable. But none of that changes the 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.280 fact that the Dave Clark Five put out a lot 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.920 of great records, records that made a deep impact in 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:01.040 this country. I want to go back to those early 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.600 months of nine sixty four when the Beatles in February 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.839 and the Dave Clark Five in March first came to America. 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.920 They were coming to a country at its lowest low, 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:16.360 still traumatized from what had happened just a few months 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:21.280 before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In his 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:23.720 speech inducting the d C five into the Rock and 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:27.120 Roll Hall of Fame Tom Hanks remembered how it felt 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:33.720 in November of nineteen sixty A terrible storm pounded your classroom, 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.920 and your town and your country, and for weeks and 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.800 for months, for the longest time, your heart and your 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.440 world have been wrapped in black, and the head of 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:45.520 every single person you look up to is still bowed 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:50.599 in mourning. It was the bleakest winter of your discontent. 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:57.200 But then morning became morning, as the sun rose in 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:02.680 the east coming out of England. For many Americans, the 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:07.520 British invasion was more of an intervention, jolting this country 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:11.280 from its sad stupor. Music is a kind of therapy, 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:16.959 scream therapy. The result was more than just audiences filled 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.280 with screaming teenagers and schoolyard arguments over who was better 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:24.120 this quintet or that quartet from the northern part of 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:28.120 the Queen's I'll know the true product was joy. The 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:30.840 Dave Clark five may have been second to the Beatles, 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:34.400 and only for a short time at that, but both 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:39.000 groups delivered joy when people really needed it. I'll let 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:43.040 Tom Hanks, channeling his eight year old self, close out 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:47.280 this set. Music reaches the soul. The Dave Clark five 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:52.040 lifted outs with a concussive beat that commanded you to 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.080 lean over from the back seat the moment you heard 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:57.599 the rumbling percussion of the Dave Clark five on the 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:01.000 radio and commanded you to yell your dad, turn it out, 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:03.240 turn it out. That this is my favorite song. And 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:07.080 this song, this song is going to take our confusion 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:09.920 and our sadness, our loss and our despair. It's going 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.920 to take all the bleak days we've been through and 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:14.920 all the heaviness of our hearts. This three minute record 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:19.320 is taking our joylessness and smashing it to pieces, two 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:44.480 bits and pieces. So turn out the radio, dad. Now. 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:48.200 If you heard our season one episode on Forgotten Forerunners, 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:52.400 you may remember the story of Moses fleetwood Walker, the 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:56.360 black baseball player who in four joined the lineup of 0:14:56.400 --> 0:15:01.800 the otherwise white Toledo Bluestockings. He taking the field outraged 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.480 enough white players that a color line was soon drawn 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:10.360 through America's pastime. For the next six decades, there was 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.600 an apartheid in American baseball. Black players had to form 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:19.160 their own teams and eventually their own leagues, the Negro Leagues. 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.760 Then Jackie Robinson moved from the Negro Leagues to a 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:28.520 Brooklyn Dodgers farm team, and then in was called up 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:32.360 to become the first black player in Major League baseball, 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:36.560 a milestone that was much bigger than baseball. There at 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:38.880 the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, we make the bold as 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.800 searching that Jackie Robinson's breaking up the color barrier wasn't 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.840 just a part of the civil rights movement, it was 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:49.880 the beginning of the civil rights movement. That's Bob Kendrick, 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:54.480 the president of the Negro League's Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. 0:15:55.160 --> 0:16:00.000 This is this is well before round versus the Board 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:04.040 of Education, right, this is before Rosa Parks refusal to 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:06.680 move to the back of the bus. Dr Martin Luther 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:11.920 King Jr. Was merely a sophomore at Morehouse College. In essence, 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:15.800 this is what started the ball of social progress rotling 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:20.240 in our country. Baseball and our country literally jumped on 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:24.080 the coattail of baseball. Kendrick was speaking to CBS for 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:28.240 a documentary not about Jackie Robinson, but about the second 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.600 black player in the Major leagues. This is the CBS 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:37.160 New York special presentation. Larry Dobee second to none. My 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:42.720 colleague sports anchor Otis Livingston hosted that documentary. Otis felt 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:46.280 it was high time that Larry Dobe got his due 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.880 because he has his own place. Jackie, of course is 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.600 number one, first guy in but just eleven weeks later 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:58.240 he was brought into this whole situation. DOBIE's journey as 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:02.360 the second black player in the LB was uniquely challenging. 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:04.480 Is it fair to say that he suffered the same 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:09.640 indignities as Jackie Robinson but he didn't get the same accolades. Oh, 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:13.919 that's fair to say, It's really fair. Larry Adobe was 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:19.040 born in in Camden, South Carolina. When he was fourteen, 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.120 he moved to Patterson, New Jersey, the place he would 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:25.480 call home. Adobie had played baseball when he was in 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:28.919 South Carolina, but in New Jersey he became a star, 0:17:29.480 --> 0:17:32.520 and not just in baseball. He played on East Side 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:36.639 High School's championship winning football team. He broke a conference 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.679 record in track and field. In fact, while he was 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.480 good at baseball, he'd later tell the Louis B. Nunn 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:45.879 Center for Oral History that the sport was almost like 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:49.800 an afterthought. Well, I never thought that much about baseball. 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:52.360 Even when I was in high school, I played baseball 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.720 because there's nothing else to do. Baseball may not have 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.360 been his passion back then, but he made the All 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:01.399 state team two years in a oh His high school 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.720 gave him a gold watch, naming him the greatest east 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:08.359 Side high school athlete of all time, so he was 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:13.560 used to a relatively supportive atmosphere. Now when Dobie was 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:17.200 coming up, there was no explicit rule barring black players 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:20.320 from the major leagues, but there was a tacit understanding 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:25.439 among team owners. You just didn't sign black players. So 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:28.920 Dobe joined the Negro Leagues in two while he was 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:31.479 still in high school, and began playing for the Newark 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:35.159 Eagles as second baseman. He played under the name Larry 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:38.760 Walker since high school students weren't technically allowed to play. 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:44.720 It was his first professional contract. His rising star was 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:48.480 briefly interrupted by World War Two, when Dobie was drafted 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.480 into the Navy. He wrote a train to Chicago for 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:55.119 basic training along with some of his former high school teammates, 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:59.560 but unlike his high school, the Navy was segregated. There's 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:03.720 budget is that that had played football, met and baseball 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.640 men in high school you're in the same train. When 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:09.199 we got to Chicago, was in we were separated. I 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:13.439 went to so called Camp Robert Smallis was a black camp, 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:17.560 and they went to the white camp. In the Navy, 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:20.639 there was an all white baseball team called the Blue Jackets, 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:23.720 but Doobe and other black players could only play for 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:27.040 the black Blue Jackets. Jobe later said that it was 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.199 the first time he was fully conscious of segregation, and 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:33.240 it's stunned. After all, he was drafted into the Navy 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:37.360 to fight for the country. You became a little bit 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:39.480 frustrated because you didn't know what was going on, and 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:41.720 you the same kids as you played with in high school. 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:45.200 All of a sudden, you know you're not you're not together. 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.200 But by the time Doobe left the Navy and rejoined 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:55.480 the Newark Eagles, change was in the wind. Jackie Robinson 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:58.160 had just joined the farm team for the National League 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:01.639 Brooklyn Dodgers, the first step in the breaking of the 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:05.000 color barrier, and some other owners were looking to integrate 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:08.919 their teams. One of them was Bill vec the owner 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:14.120 of the American League Cleveland Indians. Bill Veck would later 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.320 be lauded for his early role in bringing black players 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:19.919 into the majors. He would also end up hiring the 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:27.120 American league's first black public relations officer, trainer, and scout. 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:31.040 As Jackie Robinson took the field in Brooklyn, Veck told 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:33.960 his scouts to look for the Negro League's player with 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.760 the best long term potential, and DOBIE's name kept floating 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:40.320 to the top, and so Beck made a deal with 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:44.239 the Newark Eagles to bring Toby to Cleveland. But he 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:47.280 went about it in a much different way than the 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:50.920 Brooklyn Dodgers went about bringing Jackie Robinson on. Yeah, because 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:53.399 they they brought him through the minor league system and uh, 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:56.199 you know, gave him a little bit of an adjustment period. 0:20:56.280 --> 0:21:00.200 This was more abrupt. In other words, Robinson's introduct to 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:05.840 the Major's had been carefully orchestrated. Larrydobes was not. On July, 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:10.520 Adobe played what would be his last game with the 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:13.399 Negro Leagues, and then he was whisked away on a 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:18.200 train bow for Chicago to meet his Cleveland Indian teammates 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:21.480 to play against the Chicago White Sox the next day. 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:23.240 Because I was leaving a bunch of guys that I 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:24.960 played with for a long time, so I felt a 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:28.119 little a little funny about that, But no, those thoughts 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:30.239 came into my head about the major leagues. I just 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:36.440 I thought more about what I'm leaving. Adobe was newly married. 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:38.919 He and his wife, Helen had been looking forward to 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:42.399 buying a house in New Jersey Whendobe suddenly found himself 0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:46.680 on that train headed to the Midwest. Larrydobe was also young. 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:50.680 Jackie Robinson was twenty eight when he joined the Dodgers, 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:53.120 so he was seasoned. He could probably handle a little 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:56.200 bit different. Adobe's twenty three years old. And let's talk 0:21:56.240 --> 0:22:00.479 about that, because that's an important distinction, and those are 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:04.639 two very different ages. Yes, definitely. I mean you're a 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:08.480 pup twenty three. You know, you're experiencing this stuff for 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:12.240 the first time. Joining the Cleveland Indians would make Adobe 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:15.760 the first black player in the American League. Not that 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:18.720 his teammates rolled out the red carpet. What kind of 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:22.399 a reception did he get in Chicago on July five 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:24.960 when he shows up there? Okay, so I'm will receptive. 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:28.159 Some wouldn't shake his hands, some turned their backs. You know, 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:31.639 there was just a lidney of responses when the team 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:34.080 took to the field to warm up. No one would 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:37.600 even play catch with Adobe except for second baseman and 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:43.120 former American League m v P Joe Gordon. Gordon said, Adobe, Hey, rookie, 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:45.280 you're gonna just stand there? Or do you want to 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:48.000 throw a little? Adobe later said it was a moment 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:52.920 he would never forget. You have to have allies when 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:55.479 you're doing something like this, when you've taken on an 0:22:55.560 --> 0:22:58.479 endeavor like this, which was difficult for him on and 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:00.880 off the field, you have to have somebody in your 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:03.960 corner that's gonna accept you and and and make it 0:23:04.280 --> 0:23:08.480 okay or make it tolerable. Joe Gordon side. Adobe's first 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:11.600 major league season was rough. He struck out more than 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:13.639 twice as often as he had playing for the New 0:23:13.680 --> 0:23:17.480 York Eagles. If you asked me as to why I 0:23:17.640 --> 0:23:20.960 wasn't a consistent ballplayer, I couldn't give me an answer. Now, 0:23:21.000 --> 0:23:23.800 he kid had to be something subconsciously that I had 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:27.760 no control over that. Nothing but his early performance probably 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:31.919 had something to do with the almost inconceivable pressure he 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:35.959 and Jackie Robinson were under. Here's Bob Kendrick from the 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:41.680 Negro Leagues Museum. Again, Jackie Robinson, Larry Adobe. They were 0:23:41.840 --> 0:23:47.200 carrying twenty one million black folks on their back. So 0:23:47.440 --> 0:23:53.080 if they failed, an entire race of people fail. Can 0:23:53.160 --> 0:23:57.399 you imagine carrying that weight in a sport that is 0:23:57.440 --> 0:24:02.480 predicated on failure? Baseball is a game or failure is crooks. 0:24:03.040 --> 0:24:05.480 In other words, in a game where striking out is 0:24:05.560 --> 0:24:08.560 the norm, black players couldn't really afford to strike out 0:24:09.080 --> 0:24:13.520 even under the best of circumstances. You're under extraordinary psychic strain. 0:24:14.240 --> 0:24:17.199 So add to that, some people would come to the 0:24:17.240 --> 0:24:21.360 games for the express purpose of jeering him, of insulting him. 0:24:21.400 --> 0:24:24.880 Oh yeah, it was a microcosm of the world itself 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:28.000 or our country itself. I mean that that's what it 0:24:28.119 --> 0:24:31.760 was like at that time. And Otis Livingston says, It's 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:35.000 not like things were any easier off the field. Couldn't 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:37.359 stay in the same hotels with his teammates, couldn't needed 0:24:37.400 --> 0:24:41.200 the same restaurants. His family was not there to even 0:24:41.280 --> 0:24:44.840 lean on. DOBIE's second season with the Indians got off 0:24:44.840 --> 0:24:47.840 to an equally rocky start. He worried that if he 0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:50.520 didn't turn things around, he'd be demoted and sent to 0:24:50.560 --> 0:24:55.600 play in the minor leagues. But in he hit his 0:24:55.680 --> 0:24:58.200 stride and by the end of the season, he brought 0:24:58.240 --> 0:25:00.760 his batting average up to three oh one, one of 0:25:00.760 --> 0:25:03.840 the best on the team, and later that year, Dobie 0:25:03.920 --> 0:25:08.280 set another milestone. He and his teammates Satchel Paige, who 0:25:08.280 --> 0:25:10.640 had joined the Indians from the Negro Leagues that July, 0:25:11.280 --> 0:25:14.560 became the first black players to make it to the 0:25:14.600 --> 0:25:19.119 World Series. Game four of that series between Cleveland and 0:25:19.160 --> 0:25:22.320 the Boston Braves would be one of the most important 0:25:22.400 --> 0:25:25.399 of his life, and the third inning, with two outs, 0:25:25.600 --> 0:25:30.040 Adobe stepped up to the plate. First pitch strike, but 0:25:30.119 --> 0:25:35.840 on the second Pitchdobe hit the ball hard. Indiandobe rockets 0:25:35.880 --> 0:25:39.560 stays high, fast pitch for the kipt to mars Abi 0:25:40.440 --> 0:25:44.280 more than four feet into the right seal cloud. DOBIE's 0:25:44.359 --> 0:25:46.919 round trip is the first home run of the series. 0:25:47.480 --> 0:25:50.560 Larry Adobe became the first black player to hit a 0:25:50.600 --> 0:25:54.400 home run in a World Series, a game winning home run, 0:25:55.200 --> 0:25:59.000 But what happened afterward between Doobe and Cleveland pitcher Steve 0:25:59.040 --> 0:26:03.400 Gromick made be even more significant. After the game, they 0:26:03.480 --> 0:26:08.719 rush into the clubhouse jubilant, happy, and a photographer from 0:26:08.760 --> 0:26:14.280 the Associated Press captures the image of Gromic Adobe hugging 0:26:14.320 --> 0:26:17.919 each other with big smiles on their face. It's a 0:26:17.960 --> 0:26:21.560 completely wonderful photograph. If you haven't seen it, I urge 0:26:21.600 --> 0:26:24.480 you to google it. The smiles on their faces, the 0:26:24.560 --> 0:26:28.399 sheer joy. They're like two little boys who just couldn't 0:26:28.400 --> 0:26:31.399 be happier to be playing with each other. Their cheek 0:26:31.480 --> 0:26:37.239 to cheek, but also their arms just there. They're they're intertwine, right, 0:26:37.400 --> 0:26:41.439 is almost symbolic of becoming one against all odds, not 0:26:41.600 --> 0:26:46.280 just the baseball odge, but against this segregation. The photo 0:26:46.400 --> 0:26:50.919 ran in newspapers across the country. Americans everywhere saw a 0:26:51.000 --> 0:26:55.280 black man and a white man embrace in celebration. It 0:26:55.400 --> 0:26:59.600 became a symbol of this great experiment of getting along, 0:26:59.680 --> 0:27:05.960 playing together, accomplishing something, and just loving each other for 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:10.600