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PROFILE: Raymond Emmett Dandridge

02/19/2014 7:15 AM by

Ryan Whirty has a profile of Ray Dandridge on Style’s Back Page this week:

Only one Richmond native has been enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

One.

And many, if not most, Richmonders probably have never heard of him.

That’s because Raymond Emmett Dandridge, born in the historic Church Hill neighborhood, never competed in the major leagues. He never got the chance.

As a black player whose career prime came before Jackie Robinson integrated the majors in 1947, Dandridge toiled in the Negro leagues, the intricate, proud network of African-American baseball teams that existed during the era of hardball segregation that ran for roughly 60 years. His story carries deeper resonance this month, which marks both black history and the start of spring training.


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