alanrodgers's Blogs

I've heard it said that Casey Stengel recommended that the Yankees hire Satchel Paige, the Negro League's outstanding pitcher, before Brooklyn hired Jackie Robinson and broke the Major League's color barrier,  But I can't verify this, and it's very hard to document what didn't happen.  But Casey recommended hiring some Puerto Rican players after watching games on the island after seasons end in 1950 and 1952,

But did he hire any gay players or protect them?  It's hard to say definitely, but he was a minor league manager at Oakland from 1946 through 1948, where he was certainly exposed to a significant gay population.  Casey respected the privacy of his players and was absolutely mum on the topic.  Even though the Stonewall riots and Pride marches occurred before he retired from baseball, he never commented on them publicly.