Even more baseball: Pirates manager Billy Herman ...

Given the day's theme of baseball, the recent release of the movie 42, and the position of Billy Herman as New Albany's only member of the Hall of Fame, I found a passage in the following interview to be interesting.

Just that: Interesting, and I'm drawing no conclusions from such a limited context.

I've said for a long time that we're wasting our Bicentennial on pomp and hagiography when introspection and critique might have been a novel curative for historical amnesia. This passage may or may not be an example of racism in a favored son, but it illustrates the fumbling of an opportunity in the civic sense.

Greenberg gave encouragement to Jackie Robinson, by Bruce Markusen (Detroit Athletic Co.)

According to author John Rosengren, Hank Greenberg is the greatest Jewish athlete of all-time. In the second part of our interview with author John Rosengren about his book, Hank Greenberg: The Hero of Heroes, John discusses the military, his relationship with Jackie Robinson, and his legacy today ...

(snip)

... So Jackie Robinson was feeling especially vulnerable when the Dodgers arrived in Pittsburgh for a three-game series beginning May 15. That afternoon, Hank Greenberg, the Pirates’ first baseman, was disappointed that his own manager, Billy Herman, had told his pitchers to throw at Robinson if the count ran to three-and-oh and disgusted to hear his Southern teammates shouting, “Hey, coal mine!” and “You dumb black son of a bitch. We’re going to get you!”