On this date in 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates started the first all minority line up in MLB history. I was only 9 years old but remember my grandfather (who was a big baseball fan) commenting on this moment in history. My grandfather was a huge Cincinnati Reds fan and the Pirates lost to them in NLCS just the year before.
Daniel Murtaugh was the manager at the time. He spent almost 30 years with the Pirates. “On September 1, 1971, Murtaugh was the first manager in major league history to field a starting lineup consisting of nine black players (including both African Americans and Afro-Latin Americans) plus they won the game against the Phillies 10-7.
Just like Obama’s election (twice), it was something the country thought would never happen. After the game was over, Murtaugh was asked if he knew his starting line up was all Black or Latino. It was reported his reply was it was 9 Pirates. He looked at his roster and put his best on the field. That perspective was validated just a few weeks later when the Pirates beat the heavily favored Orioles to win the World Series. Putting an exclamation point on this perspective was Roberto Clemente was named the MVP of the Series.
Going back and reading about this event, what struck me most, was the “good-natured racial humor” that was well known about the Pirates. I even read that some pre-game banter at the clubhouse included telling the white players to “take a rest tonight.” Murtaugh’s reputation as a manager was one of popularity and a fatherly advice. Interviewed after the game, he said, “I put the nine best athletes out there. The best nine I put out there tonight happened to be black. Not since the demise of the Negro League about a decade before had an all-minority lineup played in a professional baseball game.
Yes, it’s easy to always look for the bad when the same effort could be made to look at the good. I would suggest looking at the history of baseball and civil rights in the USA. The playing of sports creates social capital because being a part of a team which you have each other’s back and compete with a common purpose is of one life’s treasures. Not only sports but business too, and such a common purpose also defines our work as the current staff of The Dakota Center. Our common purpose is to awaken the whole human potential of those we serve and as we do this it fills our lives with meaning.
