Original Art

1952 Bowman George Shuba - Art for Unissued Card

George Shuba batted 5,337 times as a professional. He played parts of seven years for the Dodgers in the late forties and early fifties, putting up good numbers - an OPS of .771 and an OPS+ of 104. He hit .333 with a 1.000 OPS in limited action in three World Series. He might have been forgotten by history like so many players who had solid careers but for one act of basic human decency preceding one of those 5,337 at bats.

Today, many accounts of Jackie Robinson's integration of major league baseball have the feeling of inevitability. The Instagram-sized story is familiar to all baseball fans: Branch Rickey's determination to sign him; Robinson's courage "not to fight back," Pee Wee Reese's decision to put his arm around his shoulder, and Robinson's spectacular, daring play all led to a new era in baseball and our country. The story is true as far as it goes. The reality was much more complex, however, and the outcome that Robinson achieved was not inevitable.

Opposition to Black men playing major league baseball was widespread, intense, and palpable in 1946 when Robinson began his career in what was patronizingly called "organized baseball." Baseball executives, opposing players, and even many of Robinson's teammates opposed integration. Nobody could be sure of what might happen when Robinson actually broke the color line, which he did in a minor league game on April 18, 1946, playing for the Montreal Royals. Robinson homered in his second plate appearance and there to congratulate him at home was George Shuba. The photographs of Shuba shaking Robinson's hand were published in newspapers across the United States. "The handshake," as it is now known, personified racial tolerance at a critical time, and stands as a small, but notable, record of progress.