They had been instilled, in a graphic means, when Erskine’s father, Matt, took him to Marion, Ind., in 1930, the morning after a mob had stormed a jailhouse and hung two Black prisoners. Matt Erskine needed his son to see the consequences of hate.
The sight of a naked tree department and remnant of a noose has been seared in Carl Erskine’s consciousness ever since. In a state that after counted about 30 p.c of the male inhabitants as dues-paying members of the Ku Klux Klan, Erskine grew up with a Black greatest good friend, Johnny Wilson — a distinction, he stated, that ought to earn him no particular accolades.
“I lived in a mixed neighborhood and I knew a lot of outstanding Black families, hard-working families, and Johnny was a buddy,” Erskine stated. “I ate at his house, he ate at my house, and we were just very, very close. I never noticed the color of the skin. It never played a part in our relationship. So it’s hard for me to take any credit for that, because it just came natural for me.”
On the highest shelf of a cupboard within the Erskines’ lounge is a figurine Wilson gave to his outdated pal: two boys — one Black, one white — on a bench in baseball uniforms. Tucked behind it’s Wilson’s notice: “Like when we were young.”
Wilson died in 2019. Roger Craig, the final Dodger in addition to Erskine who performed in that 1955 World Series, died final month. Two of Erskine’s youngsters, Gary and Susie, will characterize him in Cooperstown, half of a sprawling household that features 5 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, together with a woman named Brooklyn.
Erskine’s identify shall be on everlasting show on the Hall of Fame by the Buck O’Neil statue, simply down a hallway and across the nook from the plaque gallery. That room honors essentially the most hallowed Brooklyn names — Robinson, Campanella, Snider, Reese, Hodges and extra — and, to Erskine, sends a delicate however highly effective message he has spent his life selling.
“There’s one key factor about the plaques around that room at the Hall of Fame,” Erskine stated. “They’re all bronze. They’re all the same color.”
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