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Atlanta Braves History: Sam Jethroe — He’s our Jackie Robinson

By Fred Owens

Atlanta Braves predecessors the Boston Braves called Braves' home. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images)
Atlanta Braves predecessors the Boston Braves called Braves' home. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /
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The first African-American player in the history of the franchise now knows as the Atlanta Braves, Sam Jethro (third from the right) played for the Cleveland Buckeyes in 1947. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

The Road to Boston

According to his SABR biography, Jethroe grew up almost next door to future Yankee outfielder and manager Hank Bauer in East St Louis, Ill. Jethroe played semipro-ball for both East St. Louis Colts and St.Louis Giants.

It was relatively common for young black men to remain in high school longer, and that was true of Jethroe, who graduated in 1940 at the age of 23.

While in high school, he played three seasons for the Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro American League.

He signed for the Cleveland Buckeyes in 1942, batted .353, won the Negro American League batting title in 1944 and followed that up by hitting .393, including 10 triples and stealing 21 bases in 1945.

On the basepaths, Jethroe ran at will. Fans had many nicknames for Jethroe. Some called him Larceny Legs, others Mercury Man, or The Colored Comet, but the one that stuck with him his whole career was Jet Propelled Jethroe or The Jet.

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His play drew the attention of those attempting to break baseball’s color barrier and earned him a tryout described as a sham in Switch-Hit Home Runs, a SABR paper.

"Jethroe, along with Jackie Robinson and Marvin Williams, was (Sic) given a sham tryout in April 1945, by the Boston Red Sox. Afterwards, management summarily dismissed all three as not being up to big league standards. . . .Robinson later said of Jethroe, “He looked like a gazelle in the outfield."

Rejection angered Robinson, but Jethroe never let it get under his skin.

"“The Sox were nice. I mean they didn’t take us to dinner or anything, but they were all right. It was just a workout.”"

His Baseball-Reference page says he signed as a free agent, but Crossing the Line says the Buckeyes sold Jethroe’s contract for $5,000, a fact confirmed by his SABR Bio.

He joined the Dodgers in July 1948, and they sent him to Montreal, where he played in 76 games and batted .322/.385/.473/.858 and stole 18 bases. His play led to some calling him “the man who made Montreal forget about Jackie Robinson.”

He backed that up by batting .326/.403/.520/.923, hitting 17 home runs and stealing 89 bases in 1949. He might well have started in center field for Brooklyn in 1950, except they had this young outfielder named Duke Snider waiting in the wings.

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