N.H. town recognized for historic role in integration

NASHUA, N.H. — The conversation around racial integration in baseball often revolves around Jackie Robinson, who broke the major-league color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

But a year earlier, history was being made in the small town of Nashua, New Hampshire. It was here that Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella and Cy Young Awardwinning pitcher Don Newcombe would join the Nashua Dodgers, making the minor-league club the first racially integrated baseball team in the United States.

They played at the 86year-old Holman Stadium, which celebrated their achievements Tuesday night by adding the venue to a stop on the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire. A marker was unveiled before the Nashua Silver Knights game.

The team plays in the Futures League.

Already, the 2,825-seat stadium serves as a shrine of sorts to the players. Visitors are greeted with banners of the players at the entrance, and access streets leading to the venue have been named in their honor. Their Dodgers numbers — 36 for Newcombe, 39 for Campanella and 42 for Robinson — adorn the outfield brick wall.

Campanella and Newcombe were part of a plan by Branch Rickey, the team president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, to break baseball’s color barrier. While Robinson was playing for a Triple-a Dodger affiliate in Montreal in 1946, Rickey sent Campanella and Newcombe to a Class B Nashua farm team after being told they wouldn’t be welcome in a Midwest league because they were Black.

Nashua, an industrial town known for its foundries and textile mills, proved welcoming to the two budding stars. Newcombe would later say they did face abuse from some opposing teams.

Lured by the numerous factories, workers from around the globe had settled in Nashua including French-canadian, Jewish and Irish families.

“Don always had very, very good things to say about playing in Nashua,” said Karen Newcombe, Don Newcombe’s widow who will be at the ceremony Tuesday.

Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston had so much faith in Campanella that he left him in charge after getting ejected from a game in Lawrence, Massachusetts. That made Campanella the first Black manager. Nashua won the game.

The two players thrived on the field in Nashua. Campanella followed Robinson to the Dodgers in 1948 and Newcombe joined the team in 1949. The three won a World Series together in 1955.