Our Spring, 2024 auction chronicled the Southern Association, and its inability to integrate despite staying in operation until 1961. The league featured one Black player - Nat Peeples - who managed two games with the 1954 Atlanta Crackers, before being demoted, manager Whit Wyatt claiming Peeples could not hit the curve (despite leading the team in batting and home runs during spring training).

Presented here is another chapter in Crackers history, dating to April of 1949, when the Brooklyn Dodgers passed through town for a three-game exhibition series.  When the Ku Klux Klan expressed its dissatisfaction with Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella playing in town, owner Branch Rickey responded forcefully, stating "Nobody can tell me anywhere what players I can or cannot play." The Klan argued that it was against Georgia's segregation law for Black players to play in baseball games open to the public, but the city concluded that there was no law preventing Robinson or Campanella from playing.  10,000 people signed a pledge not to set foot in Ponce De Leon Park if Black players played with white players, but the teams played two games before a full house.  

Presented here is an official scorecard from one of the games. Unscored, the piece does exhibit slight wear and some age-related discoloration along the top edge and the right edge of the cover, along with an irregular fold. Still, the presentation is, overall, excellent. Robinson and Campanella's names are printed prominently in the lineup (actor Chuck Connors is listed at first base, as he managed one game with Brooklyn in 1949). Future Hall of Famers Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider and Gil Hodges are also listed with the Brooklyn roster.  

A historically important scorecard from a long-forgotten game that helped integrate pro sports in Atlanta.