The racist incident that shook baseball nine years before integration

[Tomi]

Ken Burns' Baseball documentary did mention it.

[jingram058]

I love the Yankees, their stars, and the history. This piece of $#@& I can frankly do without. He's right up there with Ben Chapman, another stellar human being, who the Yankees had to get rid of as well.

In 1948 Powell was arrested for passing bad checks. In the police station, he somehow produced a gun and shot himself to death; suicide.

[Casey2296]

Why am I not surprised that Walter Johnson, a man of impeccable character, was the lone dissenting vote in this guy becoming a police officer.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

For what a lowlife Powell was, he was an obliging autograph signer. He's been gone 75 years, yet his autograph is relatively common.

[The Detroit Collector]

very interesting, thank you for sharing.

[judsonhamlin]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

For what a lowlife Powell was, he was an obliging autograph signer. He's been gone 75 years, yet his autograph is relatively common.

Plus all the checks he signed that bounced. Racist a$$

[lumberjack]

Marv Owen, who played with Greenberg in Detroit, talked about Jake Powell in an interview with Richard Bak for "Cobb Would Have Caught It."
OWEN: I played against the guy [Powell] years later in the PCL. He got in a rundown with me and tried to run me over. I said, "Hey, Jake, cut out that goddamn base running. You're not in the goddamn big leagues anymore. We're just trying to survive now."

This would have been in 1941.

The fact the nobody (even Joe McCarthy) was much concerned about who Powell was, says as much about MLB at the time as it does about Jake Powell.

[Brian]

It's too bad the racist P.O.S did not leave the scene sooner than he did. What a lowlife. And yes, it does say a lot about those times. Have they changed much? Yes and no. I have some of my own stories......