The Show Notes #4: We’re Not in Texas. This Is Cleveland, Ohio
Black baseball players have been protesting the anthem for over six decades. This is the story of James Grant's experience. I also talked about the true origin of his nickname.
James Grant was the first Black pitcher to win 20 games in MLB and an important ambassador for Black baseball history. Born in 1935, the former FAMU student was a 12-year-old newspaper boy when Jackie Robinson made his MLB debut in 1947. In the various interviews and documentaries I’ve read or watched that included Grant, he was outspoken and straightforward about the racism he faced on and off the diamond. He was also proud of how he fought against it, both literally and figuratively.
“I grew up in Lacoochie, Florida where the White and the Black kids couldn’t cross the train tracks to play together. The remnants of slavery and segregation are so deep rooted in our society that it was difficult for many to see us as humans. It is very difficult to explain how I overcame this psychologically, because it showed up when I was on the mound, when I was at bat, and when I was in the field.”
Before talking about how he protested the anthem, I want to talk about something else. I hate James Grant’s nickname. It leaves a disgusting taste in my mouth like I just swallowed a spoonful of mud or dirt. Every time I go to James Grant’s Baseball Reference page and see that name in bold font in the upper left corner it makes me shake my head out of shame. There’s a myth that James Grant was given the nickname by Larry Doby while they were teammates with the Cleveland Indians and it reminds me of the myths about other Black baseball players such as Jackie Robinson.
The true origin of the nickname was a White teammate named LeeRoy "Bartow" Irby who assumed he was from Mississippi because he was Black and from the South. “In those days, they thought all Black folk was from Mississippi,” Grant said in an interview with The St. Cloud Times.
Grant’s dark skin tone and facial features also played a part in why he was given the derogatory nickname that he was forced to accept. He would correct teammates and coaches who called him the name by telling them his real name and the usual response was something like “Well you still look like a catfish from Mississippi covered in mud.” Members of the press took part soon after, referring to him as “Mudcat” in articles instead of his given name. They’d also write that he was from Mississippi when he was really from Florida.
I don’t call James Grant “Mudcat,” even if he grew to accept it because he did not want to be labeled a bad teammate or a troublemaker for demanding respect and decency. Other examples of this happening to Black players include Roberto Clemente being called “Bob, Robert, Bobby”, etc. against his wishes on a baseball trading card. Similarly, Francisco Lindor stepped away from the “Frankie” nickname after establishing himself as a superstar and signing a free-agent deal with the New York Mets.
The anthem protesting incident happened on September 16th, 1960. Witnesses said a yelling match included in the entire exchange before the punch was thrown.
“When the anthem was near the end I sang ‘And this land is not so free because I can’t go to Birmingham and sit down at a counter to eat.’ Assistant pitching coach Ted Wilks overhead me and responded with, ‘If we catch your n***** a** in Texas we’re gonna hang you from the nearest tree.’ I said “Good thing we’re not in Texas, we’re in Cleveland, Ohio. Then I punched him in the face. I was suspended for the rest of the season, but I felt really good regardless.” - James Grant
Cleveland pitching coach and former MLB pitcher Tim Wilks had a long history of racism against Black players in MLB up to that point. As a member of the St. Louis Cardinals during Jackie Robinson’s first season in 1947, he attempted to organize a boycott to avoid playing against the Dodgers since they broke the “Gentlemen’s Agreement.” He had a reputation for throwing at Black hitters as it was common for racist White pitchers to do so back in the early days of MLB’s integration. The next season Wilks was demoted to the minors and Grant would have his best season in a Cleveland uniform.
Grant would play parts of seven seasons with Cleveland before being traded to the Minnesota Twins in 1964, where he became the first Black pitcher in MLB history to win 20 games. During his 14-year career Grant would win 145 games across more than 2400 innings pitched. He would finish his career with a 3.63 ERA and more than 1000 strikeouts. He passed away in June 2021 at 85 years old in Los Angeles, California.
Sources/Further Reading + Watching
https://www.documentaries.org/films/a-long-way-from-home/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/22/magazine/mudcat-grant-death.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/08/17/jim-mudcat-grant-black-aces/