Catcher Johnny Ritchey made Pacific Coast League hsitory 75 years ago as a member of San Diego's professional baseball team
“It was a thrill to play for the Padres. The fans cheered and my feeling was it was because I was a San Diego boy making good. It had nothing to do with race. A lot of friends and family were in the stands at Lane Field. It felt good to get a turn at bat, but I grounded out to the first baseman.”
Ritchey’s mother died when he was young, so he was raised along with his younger cousins, Ed Fletcher and Ted Ritchey, by his older sisters, Dallas Frances and Priscilla. Because of their race, Johnny and teammate Nelson Manuel were not be allowed to participate. San Diego narrowly lost the seven-game series.
In 1947, the year Jack Robinson broke MLB’s color barrier, Ritchey won the Negro American League batting title with a .369 average. Because Negro League statistics were so incomplete, his average has also been listed as .378, .381 and .386. MLB bestowed major league status to the Negro Leagues in 2020, but their “new” statistics are woefully inadequate. The respected Baseball Research website has his 1947 average at .324.
Monday night, 10 high school seniors who embody “the characteristics and qualities that Ritchey displayed on and off the field, including the capacity to overcome adversity and break barriers” will be awarded scholarships from the Padres before their home game against the Atlanta Braves.
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