Mike,
You sure got that right - Power always seemed to exude something. Your photo is certainly a primo example.
Sometimes, I can forget how much George Weiss may have been a bigot. The fact that it took them until '55 to bring up Ellie is evidence enough. I still remember hearing a writer (I think it was Donald Honing) stating that when asked about Howard, Weiss replied, "he's a good ballplayer and he's a gentleman." The writer then asks his audience, "since when did you have to be a gentleman to play in the majors?" Though subtle, it's still there.
I suppose that the Yankees could have had many of the stars that were in the Negro Leagues during the initial integration of the NL, including the likes of Mays and Aaron. It's not like Yankee scouts had no idea who they were. And, their reluctance to consider Power is another example of that, especially considering how much he was tearing up their farm system in the early 1950s.
Baseball is a strange and worrying thing.
Graig
Last edited by GKreindler; 04-15-2013 at 08:14 AM.
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