Chuck Harmon Part 1 -- No MLB Dreams Allowed

[GeoPoto]

(This thread contains another attempt to showcase one of the significant players in the evolution of integrated major league baseball. Our star of this thread is: Charles "Chuck" Harmon. Infielder/outfielder for the Cincinnati Reds in 1954-1956 and the Philadelphia Phillies in 1957. 141 hits and 7 home runs in 4 MLB seasons. In 1954, he was the first African American player to play for the Cincinnati Reds.

For the next six days I plan to make a post including an item from my collection with J. P. Garrett's excellent biography of Roberts. I hope that you find the biographical information concerning Curt and his career with Pittsburgh and his role in the integration of the Pirates interesting and would love to see any pieces involving Roberts that may be part of your collection. And here we go:

The first African-American player for the Cincinnati Reds, Charles Byron “Chuck” Harmon, was born on April 23, 1924, in Washington, Indiana. The 10th of 12 children born to Sherman and Rosa Harmon, he attended elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse where his father taught. As a child, he listened to baseball games on the family’s Philco radio, mostly those of the St. Louis Cardinals, whose signal from KMOX could be heard nationwide. Though baseball was one of many sports he enjoyed playing, as an African-American, he never dreamed of playing in the big leagues. “There was nothing to dream about,” Harmon said. “We couldn’t play.”

Young Harmon excelled first in basketball. He helped lead the Washington High School Hatchets to back-to-back Indiana state basketball championships in 1941 and 1942, scoring nine points in the 1941 title game and nine points in the 1942 semifinal game.

Harmon’s basketball skills earned him a scholarship to the University of Toledo, where he was an All-American player. In 1943 Harmon scored six points in the Rockets’ 48-27 loss to St. John’s in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) Finals at Madison Square Garden. Perhaps more significantly, before the title game, Harmon met Babe Ruth and shook the hand of the Sultan of Swat.

But by the end of his freshman year, men of all ages were expected to serve their country, and Harmon left school to serve in the Navy during World War II. Assigned to the Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago, Harmon joined the black baseball team. He roomed with Larry Doby, who would later be the second African American to play major-league baseball in the modern era and the first in the American League, signing with the Cleveland Indians in 1947.

Harmon spent the war stateside, and after a three-year hitch, he returned to the University of Toledo to play basketball and baseball.