Press Box Red: The Story of Lester Rodney, the Communist Who Helped Break the Color Line in American Sports Book

Irwin Silber's "Press Box Red" is a lively look at the substantial roles played by Lester Rodney and The Daily Worker in the drive to desegregate organized baseball. Silber goes far in exploding the myth that it was Branch Rickey and his Methodist conscience who singlehandedly undid the unwritten ban on African American players. Rickey and the Brooklyn Dodgers were greatly influenced by the widespread public opinion crusade spearheaded by the U. S. Communist Party and the sports page of The Daily Worker. The Daily Worker started the effort in 1936 - eleven years before Rickey brought Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers. Lester Rodney, sports editor of the Communist newspaper, kicked off a concerted campaign of articles, supported by petition drives, letters, and backed by players, managers and fans. The campaign formed public opinion on the subject and refused to allow Jim Crow in baseball to recede from the public consciousness. Rickey, in fact, forced his tame historian of the events surrounding the Robinson signing to delete all references that "Rickey was besieged by telephone calls, telegrams and letters of petition on behalf of black ballplayers." The Daily Worker's efforts against Jim Crow resulted in over one million letters and telegrams to Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis opposing the color line.

"Press Box Red" is not only a tribute to Lester Rodney's many years of hard work, but a reminder that despite their multitude of sins American Communists once stood for social justice and the rights of working people of all races.

Irwin Silber's book is highly readable. I recommend it for a new perspective on the end of Jim Crow in baseball and as a peek into a neglected chapter of U.S. history.