Nashua Dodgers
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Nashua Dodgers 1946–1949 Nashua, New Hampshire |
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| Class-level | |
|---|---|
| Previous | Class B |
| Minor league affiliations | |
| League | New England League |
| Major league affiliations | |
| Previous | Brooklyn Dodgers |
| Minor league titles | |
| League titles | 3 (1946, 1947, 1948) |
| Team data | |
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Previous parks
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Holman Stadium |
The Nashua Dodgers was a farm club of the Brooklyn Dodgers, operating in the class-B New England League between 1946 and 1949. It is believed to be the first professional baseball team based in the United States in the twentieth century to play with a racially integrated roster. The team was based at Holman Stadium in Nashua, New Hampshire.
In 1945, Dodgers president Branch Rickey contacted executive (Emil J.) Buzzie Bavasi, who was relaxing with family in Georgia after his return from Italy during World War II, and asked Bavasi to find a suitable location for a club in the newly reformed New England League. Rickey had just signed Jackie Robinson to a contract, and while Robinson and John Wright were expected to integrate the International League as a member of the Montreal Royals, Bavasi believed that Rickey would sign other African American players during the 1945-46 offseason. With the possibility that the New England League club would be integrated, Bavasi looked for a community with a significant French Canadian population (believing that the ethnic group would be accepting of African Americans) and a racially progressive newspaper. He chose Nashua, New Hampshire.
Nashua's population of approximately 34,000 made it the smallest New England League city; the next largest, Portland, was more than double the size of Nashua. Furthermore, the city counted fewer than fifty African Americans in its population. But it boasted a sizable French Canadian population. Bavasi negotiated for the lease of Holman Stadium, a nine-year-old multipurpose stadium owned by the city, and spoke with Nashua Telegraph editor Fred Dobens about the city's racial climate. By the middle of March, Rickey had signed two African American players, catcher Roy Campanella and pitcher Don Newcombe, to play for the Dodgers organization. Initially he offered Campanella to the Danville, Illinois entry in the Three-I League, but the Danville general manager believed that his league was not ready for integration. Bavasi readily accepted the two players. Rickey did not announce the signings to the media for another month, however, to give Bavasi time to integrate the team into the community.
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