primeideal (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
primeideal) wrote2021-08-21 10:43 am
primeideal) wrote2021-08-21 10:43 am
Baseball and tropes
Just finished random used-bookstore pickup "Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants, and Stars," by Bob Motley--a memoir of his career umpiring in the Negro Leagues. This was written in 2007, at the time he was described as the last surviving ump from the era. (Looks like he died in 2017.)
I enjoyed it-- a lot of larger-than-life personages, baseball-related silliness, and snapshots of life across decades (he was a Marine and fought in the Battle of Okinawa). And the racist incidents he faced along the way are sobering without being preachy--this was his life, and as ugly as some of the behavior he encountered was, it's also heartening that he did witness a lot of change in his life.
Anyway, the there-was-only-one-bed trope strikes again! Buck O'Neil was a longtime manager and usually a fairly easygoing one, he almost never got thrown out of a game. However, one day he lost his cool and started swearing at Motley, who ejected him. But then after the game, Motley realized that he didn't have a place to stay--he travelled with the visiting Kansas City Monarchs, and their new secretary had forgotten or didn't know to book him a room. There was only one hotel open to black guests in Jacksonville, Florida, and it was booked, so he was like "I either have to sleep on a bench somewhere or awkwardly face O'Neil and ask for a room with the team." O'Neil very politely said "it's fine, ask the hotel manager for a key to my room." Motley showed up and was like "oh no, only one bed, barely enough room to sleep on the floor either. I'll just...face the wall and pretend to be asleep when O'Neil shows up." But an hour later, fortunately (?) O'Neil also turned his back toward Motley and fell asleep right away.
I enjoyed it-- a lot of larger-than-life personages, baseball-related silliness, and snapshots of life across decades (he was a Marine and fought in the Battle of Okinawa). And the racist incidents he faced along the way are sobering without being preachy--this was his life, and as ugly as some of the behavior he encountered was, it's also heartening that he did witness a lot of change in his life.
Anyway, the there-was-only-one-bed trope strikes again! Buck O'Neil was a longtime manager and usually a fairly easygoing one, he almost never got thrown out of a game. However, one day he lost his cool and started swearing at Motley, who ejected him. But then after the game, Motley realized that he didn't have a place to stay--he travelled with the visiting Kansas City Monarchs, and their new secretary had forgotten or didn't know to book him a room. There was only one hotel open to black guests in Jacksonville, Florida, and it was booked, so he was like "I either have to sleep on a bench somewhere or awkwardly face O'Neil and ask for a room with the team." O'Neil very politely said "it's fine, ask the hotel manager for a key to my room." Motley showed up and was like "oh no, only one bed, barely enough room to sleep on the floor either. I'll just...face the wall and pretend to be asleep when O'Neil shows up." But an hour later, fortunately (?) O'Neil also turned his back toward Motley and fell asleep right away.