A forgotten legacy of MLB expansion in 1961-62 is that it mostly killed racial discrimination in promoting black prospects. In the 1950s, it was still common for black players to log an extra year or two battering minor league competition - teams still hesitant to integrate fast.
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Replying to @baseballcrank
I question whether one could factually document that.
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Replying to @billjamesonline
It would be challenging to study systematically. But anecdotally, you still see a bunch of these guys (esp hitters) just murdering minor league pitching for a few years - some white guys too (your Sieberns and Cervs) but it just crops up in a lot of bios. Far less so after.
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Replying to @baseballcrank
I thought maybe you had a source, but . . .if it is just "anecdotally", I absolutely don't believe it. Jim Gentile was in the minors 1952 to 1959, playing 1,310 minor league games. Jim Lemon hit 40 homers in the minors in 1950, didn't make the majors until 1956.
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Replying to @billjamesonline
Definitely some white guys stuck in the same trap. The question, which I have not studied systematically, is whether it was disproportionate. But given that black players were very underrepresented in MLB the 1950s & some teams definitely thought this way, it's not a big leap.
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Replying to @baseballcrank
One example I will give you; Vic Power probably spent an extra year in the minors because of his race and his confrontational behavior. But there were other factors. The Yankees had him AND Moose Skowron on the same minor league team. Skowron got the first ticket up.
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Yes. And yes, the Yankees did that to some white prospects, too, because their system was so loaded.
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