RECENT COMMENTS
PROFILE: Raymond Emmett Dandridge
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.
Dandridge was also a tutor to the young Willie Mays. “Ray Dandridge helped me tremendously when I came through Minneapolis,” Mays said the day Ray was inducted, uncharacteristically charitable for a superstar never known to speak kindly about other players. “You just can’t overlook those things. Ray was a part of me.”
When Willie Mays came to Minneapolis, George Brophy, the team sportswriter, said “When WIllie came to us, Ray took him under his wind, really took care of him.”
Someone need to get this man a statue in the hill somewhere. A roundabout in front of Alamo maybe?