The Pecan Park Eagle

Larry Miggins of Jersey City went 2 for 4 in the Jackie Robinson debut game with Montreal.

Thanks to Cliff Blau of SABR and David Barron of the Houston Chronicle, I today received two independent copies of the box score on Jackie Robinson’s initial minor league color line breaking game from Opening Day of April 18, 1946. Here’s how the game and survivorship of the participating players over time has played out, starting with Montreal and feeding directly into Jersey City:

MONTREAL	AB	R	H	RB1	2BH	3BH	HR	SB
Marv Rackley, CF	5	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jackie Robinson, 2B	5	4	4	4	0	0	1	2
George Shuba, LF	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tommy Tatum, 1B	5	2	3	1	0	0	0	0
Red Durrett, RF	5	2	2	3	0	0	2	0
Spider Jorgensen, 3B	5	1	2	3	1	1	0	0
Herman Franks, C	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stan Breard, ss	5	1	3	1	0	0	0	0
Barney DeForge, P	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTALS	39	14	15	12	1	1	3	2
JERSEY CITY	AB	R	H	RB1	2BH	3BH	HR	SB
Jaime Almendro, SS	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Charlie Ray, RF	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bobby Thomson, CF	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Norman Jaeger, 1B	4	0	1	1	1	0	0	0
Austin Knickerbocker, LF	4	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
Larry Miggins, 3B	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Russ Wein, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dick Bouknight, C	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Warren Sandel, P (L)	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
Phil Oates, P	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mel Harpuder, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hub Andrews, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
ED Kobesky, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTALS	35	1	8	1	3	0	0	0

Of the 9 players who took the field for Montreal that record day, 3 are still living: winning pitcher Barney DeForge, age 95; center fielder Marv Rackley, age 91; and left fielder George “Shotgun” Shuba, age 88.

Of the 13 players who took the field for Jersey City on April 18th, 1946, 4 are still with us: second baseman Russ Wein, age 96; pitcher Phil Oates, age 90;  third baseman Larry Miggins, age 87; and shortstop Jaime Almendro, age 85.

In total, 7 of the 22 players who participated in the original color line breaking game in Jersey City on April 18, 1946 are still alive. *

Larry Miggins is Houston’s strongest connection to this game because of his years of service as a Houston Buff in 1949, 1951, 1953, and 1954, and his sixty plus years as a Houston resident. This little research, however, has brought to light that Montreal’s catcher in the big game, the late Herman Franks, also bore a Houston connection into the game as a former Houston Buff catcher from 1936 and 1937.

The following season, another greater Houston area player, a first baseman, the late Ed Stevens of Galveston, would have his own direct connection to the great Jackie Robinson when No. “42” would replace him at that position in the Brooklyn Dodger lineup on Opening Day 1947.  It wan’t the original color line break, but it was the major league level version. And that was the big wall that needed to fall.

Just one more footnote on the box score. Remember the reason behind the fact that Montreal scored 14 runs on the day, but only had 12 RBI. It was because of the fact that Jackie Robinson twice reached third base with his aggressive base running and then provoked balks-home scores off Jersey City relievers Phil Oates and Hub Andrews.

After the game, fans applauded and clamored for Jackie’s autograph. Now that would be a nice collector’s item today, especially if it came from one’s own parent’s or grandparent’s experience. I always wonder how many items from these kinds of momentous days actually get saved over time.

Thank you one more time, Cliff Blau and David Barron. And thank you Baseball Reference.Com for making it so easy now to look up the rosters and current survivorship information of past players from even the most obscure organized baseball backgrounds. All of you guys made my day. Again.

* Since this column was posted, a member of the family has contacted us to clarify that Norman Jaeger, first baseman for Jersey City in this historic game, has been dead since August 18, 1997. I have since that contact informed Baseball Reference.Com for the purpose of getting this update posted into his playing record. – Bill McCurdy

Tags: 4/18/46., the Montreal@Jersey City Box Score

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