[howard38]

Originally Posted by ZenPop

As a die-hard Giants' fan, I always had mixed-emotions about Alvin Dark... So many things to admire... but the accusations of racism REALLY bothered me. How anyone that describes themselves as a "Christian" could hold those beliefs is always a puzzle to me. I hope I'm completely wrong about him... but if he did hold those beliefs, then I really hope he became more enlightened in his later years. Rest in peace.

Now that the elephant in the room has been mentioned here is the 1964 quote that dogged his later career:

"We have trouble because we have so many Negro and Spanish speaking players on the team. They are just not able to perform up to the white players when it comes to mental alertness. You can't make most Negro and Spanish speaking players have the pride in their team that you get from white players".

At the time Dark said that the quote was taken out of context (I'm not sure if he ever claimed that he was mis-quoted) and several black players including Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson defended him as someone who treated blacks as equals.