Atlanta Braves History: Sam Jethroe — He’s our Jackie Robinson
By Fred Owens
How fast was The Jet?
Many considered Jethroe the fastest man in baseball; his SABR bio suggests he was.
". . . in 1949, Jethroe was clocked in a 60-yard sprint at 5.9 seconds—two -tenths of a second faster than the world’s record at the time. . . the Dodgers (arranged) an exhibition 75-yard dash against Olympian Bunny Ewell. Jethroe beat Ewell by a few yards. In 1949. . .Arthur Daley of the New York Times noted the time Jethroe had scored from second – standing up – on an infield dribbler. The caption for the AP wirephoto that ran in the October 12, 1949 Boston Herald said Jethroe was “regarded as the greatest base runner since Ty Cobb was in his prime.”"
Statcast shows Atlanta Braves’ budding superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. with a sprint spend of 29.5 feet per second. Jethroe’s 60-yard sprint speed was 30.5 feet per second, which would put him in second place for MLB last year, just ahead of Washington’s Trea Turner.
Branch Rickey had no place for Jethro and in a September 30 phone call with Boston Braves’ GM John Quinn, agreed to sell Jethroe’s contract to the Braves.
Apparently, the Braves really wanted him playing center in Boston; they paid $100,000 for his contract, that’s $1,083,911.76 in 2020 dollars.
Rickey later told Gus Steiger of the New York Daily Mirror, “It might be the biggest mistake I ever made in baseball.”
In a November 10, 1950 story about the trade, the New York Times reported that considering the value of the players traded, the Braves had paid about $137,500 for Jethroe.
However, the Boston press wasn’t impressed with Jethroe, particularly on defense. Stories agreed he was fast, but “couldn’t throw with a major league arm,” and Harold Kaese of the Boston Globe was particularly scathing.
"“he cannot throw or judge a fly well enough to play center field… Jethroe looks so fast and his arm looks so weak that it’s even money he can carry the ball in from center field as fast as he can throw it in.”"
His spring training performance didn’t do anything to dispell the writer’s fears. Frank Santos of the Boston Chronicle, an African-American newspaper, said Jethroe wasn’t living up to his rave reviews and had trouble adjusting. Jethroe had a lot of trouble with fly balls that Spring, but like everything else, Jethroe took it in stride.
"Jethroe himself had let one ball drop during a night game, and reportedly joshed, “I lost it in the moon.”"
Braves manager Billy Southworth recognized what Jethroe brought to the Braves. When they asked if Jethroe’s age concerned him Southworth quickly stomped on that idea.
"I don’t care if he’s 50, just as long as he can do the job."
Santos was certain of one thing, Boston fans would enjoy watching Sam Jethroe, and he was right.