|
The Lords of Baseball, Revisited
Sons Revive Harold Parrott's Memoir of Diamond Life
 Listen to a Web-exclusive conversation between Morning Edition host Bob Edwards and Brian Parrott.
 View a photo gallery from the Dodgers' days in Brooklyn.
Listen to Bob Edwards' report.
 | |
The cover of Lords of Baseball. |
April 1, 2002 -- In 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers made history by placing Jackie Robinson -- Major League Baseball's first black player -- on the roster. Ten years later the ballclub made a different kind of history by moving to Los Angeles.
Harold Parrott, a sportswriter turned traveling secretary, was a witness to both events, and wrote about his experiences in The Lords of Baseball, a book first published in 1976. It's a clear-eyed, often comic, insider's view of baseball as a business, with an emphasis on front-office shenanigans. It rankled many baseball owners -- particularly the Dodgers' Walter O'Malley, who tried to suppress distribution.
A quarter-century later, Parrott's four sons decided a new generation of baseball fans could benefit from the book by their father, who died in 1987. So they republished The Lords of Baseball. Brian Parrott sat down with Morning Edition host Bob Edwards to talk about it.
 | |
Jackie Robinson "interviews" Lynn and Tod Parrott, two of author Harold Parrott's sons.
Photo: Courtesy Brian Parrott |
Harold Parrott had a rare perspective on the game. He covered the Dodgers as a reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper, where he closely studied -- and sometimes studiously avoided -- the volatile Larry MacPhail, the team's innovative but hard-drinking owner.
MacPhail gave way to the brilliant talent scout Branch Rickey, whose decision to sign Robinson proved a watershed event. As traveling secretary for the Dodgers, Harold Parrott saw firsthand the prejudice Robinson encountered and how he rose above it. And he came to admire Rickey.
Then came O'Malley, who managed to wrest control of the team from Rickey and pioneer baseball's western migration -- alienating a generation of fans back east. Parrott went with the team, and later worked on the West Coast for the California Angels, the San Diego Padres and the ill-fated Seattle Pilots.
Fellow diamond experts praise Parrott's view of baseball's barons as refreshingly truthful. Sportswriter Jerome Holtzman of The Chicago Sun Times calls the book "revisionist history at its absolute best, written with flaming and accurate pen."
Brian Parrott reveals that his father's tongue-in-cheek suggestion for the book's title was "The Boneheads of Baseball," though he adds: "He complimented as many as he criticized."
Other Resources
• Brush up on Dodger history at the Baseball Almanac Web site.
• Take a a Brooklyn Dodgers trivia quiz at the Baseball Hall of Fame Web site.
• Return to Ebbets Field at ballparks.com.
• Tour The Virtual Baseball Hall of Fame Gallery.
• Visit the baseballhistory.com Web site.
|
