From The Tribune Review-
When he reported to Salem, Va., in 1966 for his first season of professional baseball, Gene Clines lived with seven other black Pirates minor leaguers in a house owned by a black woman known simply as Mrs. Johnson. The white players stayed in a hotel.
Only five years later, Clines played center field for the Pirates in a game against Philadelphia at Three Rivers Stadium. Every Pirates' starter, including Clines, was black or Latino. Such an event had never been recorded in Major League Baseball.
This was 40 years ago today, Sept. 1, 1971. The Pirates were en route to winning the World Series, and the world was changing. Fast.
"You feel proud of being part of it," Clines said. "But it wasn't until a couple of years later you could sit back and think about what really, really happened."
Among Clines' young teammates sharing Mrs. Johnson's house was Dave Cash, who started at third base in that game.
"It was something for the ages," he said.
First baseman Bob Robertson hit 26 home runs during the Pirates' championship season and would have been the only white starter. But he was unexpectedly benched by manager Danny Murtaugh.
Robertson's initial disappointment would be superseded by the larger moment.
Read more:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/pirates/s_754476.html#ixzz1WjXO7HmO
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