Who Will Be the WNBA's Hank Greenberg to Caitlin Clark's Jackie Robinson?

Caitlin Clark, the first player to bring significant attention to the WNBA that wasn’t the result of getting caught with cannabis in Russia, is getting some rough treatment by veteran players in the league. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that some of the resentment those players have towards Clark is based in the fact that she is both white and heterosexual. The WNBA, like it’s male parent league, is overwhelmingly black, perhaps even more so than its male parent league, which has seen a significant influx of foreign players as it has expanded its international marketing. It’s also estimated that about a third of WNBA players are openly lesbian or bisexual.

To be honest, it’s none of my business how they enjoy themselves in the sheets, and as a fan of the “Bad Boys” era Detroit Pistons, I well understand that basketball’s status as a “non-contact sport” is, as Willie (Shakespeare, not Mays) said, is a custom
more honor'd in the breach than the observance. However, hammering Michael Jordan as he’s driving the lane to the basket is not the same as body slamming Clark away from the ball.

I’m also a hockey fan and I know how the entire National Hockey League protected Wayne Gretzky, not just Oiler enforcer Marty McSorley, so I expect the WNBA to, if not step in with fervor, perhaps tiptoe into the realm of protecting their meal ticket.

Some have criticized Clark’s teammates for not standing up to those abusing her, as is done in just about every male dominated team sport that I can think of. Sometimes it’s mostly just theater as when MLB bullpens run out onto the field when a fracas or melee breaks out, but sometimes it’s the “Malice in the Palace”, the notorious Pistons-Pacers brawl that spread to the fans in the stands.

Actually, what Clark needs is not just her teammates to stand up for her, but rather for an opponent on another team to do so. What she needs is a Hank Greenberg to her Jackie Robinson.

I don’t think it’s entirely appropriate to compare Clark’s situation to that of Jackie Robinson. Unlike MLB’s former racist policies, there were no formal rules keeping midwestern white chicks from playing professional basketball. At the same time, the abuse Clark is getting is not entirely dissimilar to what Robinson experienced as a rookie in 1947.

The spring of 1947, when Branche Rickey and Jackie Robinson broke the color line in Major League Baseball, was also slugger Hank Greenberg’s last season in the big leagues. This was long before Curt Flood successfully challenged MLB’s “reserve clause” that tied players to teams effectively forever, preventing free agency. Greenberg, at the end of a long and illustrious career with the Detroit Tigers, had been traded to the National League’s Pittsburgh Pirates.

Greenberg was a hero to American Jews, who admired the way he succeeded in the face of unrelenting Jew-hating slurs and insults from fans and players alike for most of his career.

Early in the season that year, Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers were playing in Pittsburgh. Being a rooking in the big leagues is pressure-filled but it’s hard to imagine what was being brought to bear upon Robinson.

Just a month or so into the season, Robinson and his family had received threats to kill him and his wife and kidnap their infant son. Opposing players would point bats at him from their dugouts, pretending they were guns. In Pittsburgh, the team’s hotel would not let him stay there. According to sportswriter Ira Berkow, “Greenberg was appalled by some of the things the players in his own dugout were hollering at Robinson,” during the series. The pressure was affecting Robinson. His hitting was in a slump and he considered quitting.

As it happened, both Robinson and Greenberg were playing first base for their respective teams that game. Robinson laid down what has been described as a perfect bunt in his first time at bat, but collided with Greenberg at the bag, knocking Robinson to the ground.

Greenberg helped Robinson to his feet.

The next inning, Greenberg was walked. When he got to first base he apologized to Robinson for not asking if he had been hurt in the collision, “I forgot to ask you if you were hurt in that play.”

Robinson assured Greenberg that he was unhurt. After the game, Robinson told an Associated Press reporter that Greenberg then told him, “Don’t pay any attention to these guys who are trying to make it hard for you. Stick in there. You’re doing fine. Keep your chin up.”

Robinson then volunteered to the reporter, “Class tells. It sticks out all over Mr. Greenberg.”

Greenberg’s encouragement helped persuade Robinson to not quit.

Greenberg’s actions and supportive words were widely reported and praised by African-American newspapers like the Michigan Chronicle and Chicago Defender. Robinson and Greenberg remained lifelong friends and both testified during Curt Flood’s litigation.

Had one of Chennady Carter’s Chicago Sky teammates helped Clark up when Carter body-checked her to the floor, it would have made a stronger statement than any retroactive fines the WNBA might impose on Carter. It remains to be seen if any WNBA players have that much class.