Political Quotes

“Mr. President, last week, America lost a baseball legend, a pioneer in civil rights, Jim ``Mudcat'' Grant. He joined the Cleveland Indians in 1958. He spent 14 years in the Major Leagues. I remember watching him play when I was a kid growing up in Cleveland in the 1960s. Cleveland has been, more than any other franchise, perhaps, a pioneer for change in baseball. Cleveland had the first Black player in the American League, Larry Doby, Hall of Famer. He came into the league only about 2 months after Jackie Robinson integrated the National League. Cleveland had the first Black manager, Hall of Famer Frank Robinson. Cleveland also had ``Mudcat'' Grant, who refused to be silent in the face of segregated hotels and racist slurs and discrimination from management. Grant was an accomplished singer with a beautiful voice. He organized the singing group ``Mudcat and the Kittens'' to make up the income he was denied that other players had, that White players had, in advertising and endorsements. Companies wouldn't hire a Black player. They toured the country during the off-season, performing with Johnny Carson and in places a little less known. I remember Grant in later years serving as an announcer for Cleveland Indian games with a southern drawl that was unmistakable. He didn't just use that voice, though, for entertainment or commentating on plays; he used it to speak out for civil rights.…”