BASEBALL HALL OF Famer Ray Dandridge is depicted in 1948 when he played for the Vera Cruz Blues of the Mexican League. Dandridge is generally considered the greatest of the Black third basemen of the pre-integration era.
Art by Graig Kreindler, used by permission of Jay Caldwell

Cornwall burgher Roth “T” Tall, consummate Baltimore Oriole fan, opened the Rotary Club meeting at Rosie’s Restaurant last Oct. 4 with a eulogy for Brooks Robinson, who had died the previous week at 78. 

T cited Robinson’s greatness as a baseball player — 23 seasons with the same team, 15 times an All-Star, 16 consecutive Gold Gloves, American League Most Valuable Player in 1964, and AL and World Series MVP — and also his impeccable character: 

His generosity of spirit is represented in the oft-quoted observation of sportswriter Gordon Beard who said in 1979, “In New York, they named a candy bar after Reggie Jackson. Here in Baltimore, we name our children after Brooks Robinson.”

That Brooks was a great player is beyond dispute. The effusive commentary that followed his death often included comparisons to other Hall of Fame players at his position, third base, most commonly his contemporaries George Brett and Mike Schmidt, but also Wade Boggs and Chipper Jones. 

Given my age, I would include Eddie Mathews of the Braves, who established third base in the 1950s as a spot for a power hitter, though he was also excellent with the glove. 

Brooks Robinson was certainly an admirable player and person, but I found myself frustrated, then infuriated by these discussions of Brooks and the greatest third basemen in the long history of the game.

I was upset because of the absence of great players, worthy players, Cooperstown Hall of Famers themselves, who were not mentioned in these discussions.

In all the articles I read (and I did my due diligence!) I never heard the name Ray Dandridge mentioned even once, so certainly not Judy Johnson, Jud “Boojum” Wilson, or Oliver “Ghost” Marcelle either, who all played in the Negro Leagues during baseball’s segregation. 

Dandridge (1987), Johnson (1975), and Wilson (2006) are in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Many believe that Marcelle, a wizard in the field like Robinson, should be. 

If you Google “Hall of Fame third-basemen,” as I did, you discover that there are 18 players at that position so honored, the fewest of any position on the diamond. Then you are given a listing of those players: Dandridge, Johnson, and Wilson for some inexplicable reason are excluded. Eighteen white guys! 

Let’s give Dandridge his due.

Like Brooks Robinson, any estimate of Dandridge begins with his fielding. His Hall of Fame plaque begins “Flashy but smooth third baseman, a brilliant fielder with a powerful arm.” 

Hall of Famer Monte Irvin, who played for 10 years in the Negro Leagues and eight years in the Major Leagues, said of Dandridge, his teammate on the Newark Eagles: “Here was this little (5’7”, 175 pounds) squat bow-legged guy who could play third base like Pie Traynor, Brooks Robinson, Mike Schmidt, Graig Nettles, or anybody else you could name — just a great, great player. People would pay their way into the ballpark just to see him field.” 

Sarah Langs, writing for MLB.com, explained that “Dandridge is considered by many to have been the best defensive third baseman in the history of the Negro Leagues, if not baseball history as a whole.” 

Dandridge was an extraordinary hitter too. His lifetime average was .355 in his eight Negro Leagues seasons, .348 in his eight seasons in Latin America, .318 in four seasons in AAA minor league baseball, and .321 in games he played against white major leaguers in the off-season. 

Negro league historian John Holway quoted Larry Doby (like Irvin, he played with Dandridge at Newark) who made a specific comparison to Brooks Robinson: “You couldn’t put Brooks in there with Ray in hitting.”

Born and raised in Virginia, Dandridge signed at 19 in 1933 with the Detroit Stars. From 1934 to 1939, he played in Newark for the Newark Dodgers, who merged with the Brooklyn Eagles to form the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League, one of the most celebrated of Black teams. 

He was selected to play in three East-West All-Star games in his six years in Newark, and in the late ’30s, he joined Willie Wells, Dick Seay, and Mule Suttles to form the Eagles’ “million dollar infield.” 

His career in the 1940s was spent almost entirely in the Mexican League playing for the Vera Cruz Blues and the Mexico City Reds. The racial climate and the money were better there than in the States. Dandridge became a legend south of the border and earned a place in the Mexican Hall of Fame (inducted in 1989). 

In 1944, he returned to the Newark Eagles for a single season, batted .370, and was selected by fans to play in the East-West All-Star game, played in Chicago’s Comiskey Park before 51,743 fans. 

Of his performance, Fay Young of the Chicago Defender wrote: “Ray Dandridge was the fielding star for the East. He made three outstanding plays and was the key man in the infield. He also topped the hitters with two singles and a double.” In his three East-West games, Ray batted .545. 

Dandridge has been called “the greatest third baseman never to play in the Major Leagues.” In 1949, at age 35, he was signed by the New York Giants organization and assigned to their top minor league team, the Minneapolis Millers.

For the Millers, in 1949, he was terrific: he batted .364, and was named Rookie of the Year (at 35!). The next year, he hit .311, was the league MVP, and led the Millers to the American Association championship. In 1951, he batted .324 and mentored his 20-year-old teammate Willie Mays.

Despite this remarkable performance, Dandridge was never called up to the big-league club, nor was his contract sold to another team. Giants’ leadership cited his age or his popularity with Minneapolis fans in explaining this neglect. 

Monte Irvin cited an implicit “quota” system in the early days of baseball’s integration. The Giants had their two Black players: that was enough. 

In his Hall of Fame induction speech in 1987, he admitted that he wished that he could have “just put one foot into the Major Leagues (even) if I didn’t stay but just one week.”

Was Ray the equal of Brooks? Maybe.

He certainly deserves to be in the discussion. 

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Karl Lindholm is a retired Assistant Professor of American Studies at Middlebury College. His special interest is baseball’s Negro Leagues. This fall he taught a course titled “Segregation in America: Baseball and Race.” He can be contacted at [email protected].