Early in the Game, Veeck's Eyes Were on Black Prizes

In 1979 former Negro League star outfielder Jimmie Crutchfield wanted to attend a Negro League reunion, but he had no uniform from his days with the Chicago American Giants during World War II.

Because the Giants once played in Comiskey Park, he thought the Chicago White Sox would lend him a Sox uniform.

"One of the officials gave me a hard time," said Crutchfield, who is now 81 years old and lives on the South Side. "But when Bill Veeck found out about it--he knew who I was--he took me into his office and we talked." In Crutchfield's presence, Veeck called the official and said: "Get him a uniform."

On July 21, the late Bill Veeck, twice owner of the White Sox, will be inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame. Although he was best known for his exotic promotions--he put a midget in the batter's box and gave Comiskey its exploding scoreboard--many think Veeck deserves to be in the Hall of Fame because of his record on race relations. Born into a baseball family--his father, William L. Veeck Sr., ran the Chicago Cubs, Veeck also once owned the Cleveland Indians. He also hired Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League in 1947, three months after Jackie Robinson debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the late 1940s Veeck signed black players Satchel Paige, Luke Easter, Al Smith and Cuban-born Minnie Minoso to Indian contracts.

Smith remembered Veeck, who died in 1986 at age 71: "He was like a dog. He didn't know about color."

Veeck may well have been the first to bring a black player to baseball, if not for a key miscalculation. "He felt that them was an untapped source of talent among the blacks," said Rudie Schaffer, 79, Veeck's longtime business manager.

Schaffer said Veeck attempted to buy the floundering Philadelphia Phillies in 1944 and stock it with the best Negro League players.

His plan failed, recalled Veeck's widow, Hyde Parker Mary Frances Veeck, when he informed Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the baseball commissioner, of his plans the night before the deal was sealed. Landis, who opposed integration, okayed the sale of the Phillies to another buyer. Mary Frances Veeck said her husband "made the mistake of going through protocol."

Crutchfield and many other black players have enormous respect for Veeck. But Crutchfield said he no longer visits Comiskey and has never been invited back for an old-timers' game or special event. After Veeck died, the Negro League veteran said, his chances of ever being invited to Comiskey am "slim and none."