Clyde Sukeforth
Clyde Sukeforth | |
---|---|
Catcher / Manager / Coach[1] | |
Born: Washington, Maine, U.S. | November 30, 1901|
Died: September 3, 2000 Waldoboro, Maine, U.S. | (aged 98)|
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
May 23, 1926, for the Cincinnati Reds | |
Last MLB appearance | |
June 7, 1945, for the Brooklyn Dodgers | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .264 |
Home runs | 2 |
Runs batted in | 96 |
Teams | |
As player
As coach |
Clyde Leroy Sukeforth (November 30, 1901 – September 3, 2000), nicknamed "Sukey", was an American baseball catcher, coach, scout and manager. He was best known for scouting and signing Jackie Robinson, the first black player in the modern era of Major League Baseball (MLB), to the Brooklyn Dodgers, after Robinson was scouted by Tom Greenwade in the Negro leagues. He was also instrumental in scouting and acquiring Roberto Clemente for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Eye injury impaired playing career
Sukeforth was born in Washington, Maine.[2] After two years at Georgetown University, followed by a year in the New England League with the Nashua Millionaires and the Manchester Blue Sox, he was acquired by the Cincinnati Reds in 1926.
Sukeforth batted left-handed and threw right-handed, and was listed as 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and 155 pounds (70 kg) during his active career. He appeared in 486 games over all or parts of ten big-league seasons (1926–34 and 1945), compiling a
His best year in the Major Leagues was
Witnessed Robinson's historic signing
Sukeforth managed in the Brooklyn farm system from 1937–42 with the
Sukeforth soon retired permanently from the playing ranks and resumed his former job as a Brooklyn coach and occasional special-assignment scout. In that capacity, later that season, he would make history. Dodger president
Then, in 1947, Sukeforth—functioning in the unwanted role of interim manager of the Dodgers after the suspension of Leo Durocher—wrote Robinson's name into the Dodger lineup on Opening Day on April 15 against the Braves at Ebbets Field.
In addition to serving on Durocher's coaching staff and his scouting assignments for Dodgers president Rickey, he worked behind the scenes in 1946 to help create the new Nashua Dodgers of the Class B New England League. Sukeforth helped the Nashua team forge ties with the New Hampshire community, easing the racial integration of the league when Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe were assigned to that club.
Turned down two managerial opportunities
Sukeforth won his only two games as the Dodgers' manager in 1947, 5–3 and 12–6, both against Boston. Durocher had been suspended for the entire 1947 season by Commissioner of Baseball Happy Chandler because of "conduct detrimental to baseball." But Sukeforth and a fellow coach, Ray Blades, both turned down the opportunity to serve as acting manager for the rest of the season; ultimately, Brooklyn scout and longtime Rickey associate Burt Shotton assumed that role, and Shotton led the Dodgers to the 1947 National League pennant.
In
There, as a coach and occasional scout, he played a pivotal role in the drafting of Roberto Clemente from the Brooklyn organization in the 1954 Rule 5 draft.[6][7] Rickey initially sent Sukeforth to scout former major league pitcher Joe Black, who was toiling for Brooklyn's Montreal Royals Triple-A affiliate. Instead, Sukeforth became interested in a 20-year-old Dodger prospect: Clemente. Sukeforth told Pirates' beat writer Les Biederman, "I knew then he'd be our first draft choice." Before leaving, he recalled, "I told Montreal manager Max Macon to take good care of 'our boy' and see that he didn't get hurt." Good to his word, the Pirates drafted Clemente on November 22, 1954.[8] Clemente forged an 18-year Hall of Fame career with the Pirates, leading them to the 1960 and 1971 world championships, compiling an even 3,000 hits, and earning an immediate elevation to Cooperstown after his untimely death in a plane crash while on a humanitarian mission to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua on December 31, 1972.[9]
Once again passing up a Major League managing assignment after turning down the chance to succeed Pirate skipper Bobby Bragan[10] on August 3, 1957, Sukeforth retired as a coach at the end of the 1957 season.[11]
Later career
Sukeforth remained in the Pirates organization as a scout and occasional minor league manager through 1965. Later, he worked as a scout for the Atlanta Braves. Sukeforth died at the age of ninety-eight at his home in Waldoboro, Maine.[12]
In popular culture
Sukeforth appears in the
He was interviewed in
In 42, the 2013 theatrical sports film about Robinson's breaking of the baseball color line, Sukeforth is played by actor Toby Huss.[13]
References
- ^ https://sabr.org/research/article/a-conversation-with-clyde-sukeforth/
- ^ "Clyde Sukeforth". Baseball-Reference.com.
- ^ "Sukeforth Certain Vision Not Impaired". The Sporting News. December 3, 1931.
- ^ "Billy Herman Brooklyn Coach; Ex-Manager Succeeds Sukeforth". The Pittsburgh Press. United Press. January 9, 1952. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ "Sukeforth Signed to Coach Pirates". Toledo Blade. January 27, 1952. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ^ Biederman, Les (July 29, 1956). "Bob Clemente Discovered by Clyde Sukeforth". The Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ Hernon, Jack (September 16, 1956). "Roamin' Around: Potentially a Great One!". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ Schoenfield, David (September 16, 2015). "How the Pirates stole Roberto Clemente from the Dodgers". ESPN.
- ISBN 0786408391.
- Sasakatoon Star-Phoenix. Associated Press. August 3, 1957. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ^ "Firing Coaches From Big Leagues Will Continue". Meriden Record. Associated Press. October 31, 1957. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ^ Anderson, Dave (September 6, 2000). "Clyde Sukeforth, 98, Is Dead; Steered Robinson to Majors". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ^ "42 (2013)". Turner Classic Movies.
Further reading
Books
- Honig, Donald (1975). Baseball When the Grass Was Real: Baseball from the Twenties to the Forties Told by the Men Who Played It. New York City: Coward, McGann & Geoghegan. pp. 178–191. ISBN 978-1511-3187-30.
Articles
- Coffey, Alex (April 15, 2020). "Clyde Sukeforth: The man who scouted Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente". The Athletic.
- Wulf, Steve (December 30, 2020). "The Forrest Gump of baseball? How Clyde Sukeforth played a pivotal role in baseball's biggest moments". ESPN.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Clyde Sukeforth managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
- Clyde Sukeforth at the SABR Baseball Biography Project
- Clyde Sukeforth at Find a Grave