On This Date in Sports January 28, 1958
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
Roy Campanella a three-time MVP with the Brooklyn Dodgers, is severely injured in a one-car accident on an icy road in Long Island. The All-Star Catcher was one month from reporting to the first Spring Training since the team move to Los Angeles. The injury leaves Campanella paralyzed from the shoulders down. Though he would be able to regain use of his arms, he would need a wheelchair the rest of his life.
Roy Campanella was born on November 19, 1921, in Philadelphia, in a mixed-race family with an Italian father and African American mother. Like many other, the door to the majors was closed to Roy Campanella who years though he would find success in the Negro Leagues with the Baltimore Elite Giants. In 1946, Campanella signed a minor league contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Campy, had been one of the players that Branch Rickey had considered signing before deciding that Jackie Robinson would be the best at being able to handle the pressure, of breaking the color barrier.
A year after Jackie Robinson made his debut in Brooklyn, Roy Campanella was called up to play by the Dodgers. After a solid rookie season, Campy became a perennial All-Star in 1949, as became the best catcher in the National League. In 1951 Roy Campanella won his first MVP award, batting .325 with 33 home runs and 108 RBI. In 1953, Campanella enjoyed his best season, with a .312 average with career highs in home runs with 41 and RBI with 142. The 41 home runs were a single-season record for catchers that lasted 43 years. The 142 RBI also was most in the National League. Roy Campanella won his third MVP in 1955, batting .318 with 32 home runs and 107 RBI, as the Dodgers finally won their first World Series, beating the New York Yankees in seven games.
Like many Dodgers, Roy Campanella was not happy with the move to Los Angeles. He had long settled into the New York area, with a home on Glen Cove on Long Island. In a time before big contracts for baseball stars, Campanella owned and operated a liquor store in Harlem during the off-season. While driving home from the store, Campanella hit a patch of ice near his home and crashed his 1957 Chevrolet sedan into a utility pole. The accident two cervical vertebrae and compressed his spinal cord. Through vigorous rehab, Roy Campanella would regain use of his arms, but he would never walk again.
Roy Campanella’s plight became a national story, but he soon became a symbol strength and perseverance as he remained employed by the Dodgers as a scout. In 1959 he reported to Spring Training in Vero Beach as a mentor to the team’s catchers. On May 7, 1959, the Dodgers played an exhibition against the New York Yankees, drawing a then-record 93,103 fans to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The money raised on “Roy Campanella Night” would go to help pay for his medical bills. In 1969 he became the second African American in the Hall of Fame, joining Jackie Robinson. Roy Campanella would remain close to the Dodgers and baseball the rest of his life, dying at age of 71 in 1993.