George Shuba, a baseball player with the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1940s and 50s, died at his home in Youngstown, Ohio on Sep. 29th at the age of 89. I’m a pretty big sports fan but if you’re like me I’d never heard of George Shuba until yesterday. It turns out that Mr. Shuba, although not a Hall of Fame baseball player, was a Hall of Fame human being. George Shuba was perhaps the first white professional baseball player to shake hands in solidarity with a black teammate on a baseball diamond.
George Shuba shakes Jackie Robinson’s hand after his first home run in 1946
In the spring of 1946, Jackie Robinson had broken a baseball color barrier when he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and assigned to play for the Dodgers’ Class AAA affiliate, the Montreal Royals. .On April 18, 1946, the Royals were in Jersey 
In the third inning, Robinson hit a three-run home run and began to circle the bases. As soon as the ball cleared the outfield fences nervous tension and expectation seemed to fill the stadium.
George Shuba, the next hitter, was waiting on deck. “When he hit the home run,” Shuba told the AP in 1996, “everybody was looking to see if a white guy was going to shake his hand.”
To his credit, the Royals’ Mississippi-born manager, Clay Hopper, slapped Robinson on the back as he rounded third base.
The two runners who crossed the plate ahead of Robinson did not wait to congratulate him as was custom. It was up to Shuba, then 21, to extend his hand to a jubilant Robinson in a moment captured by photographers and witnessed by more than 25,000 spectators. One can only imagine how much that handshake meant to a young Jackie Robinson as he had endured more than enough hate for any man.
George Shuba as a player with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1952
In spring training that year, several Southern teams kept the gates to their fields locked to prevent Robinson from playing in an integrated game. He was also forced 
Looking back now, it’s almost unimaginable to think that these sorts of conditions endured for blacks well into the second-half of the 20th century. That’s why it’s always nice to read about people like George Shuba.
Fortunately for Robinson and his wife Rachel the city of Montreal welcomed them with open arms. She recalled just a year ago how “we were bruised when we arrived in Montreal” and the trepidation they felt approaching a door to rent an apartment. A French-speaking woman opened the door. Then she offered her the apartment and invited her in for tea. “Instead of slamming the door in my face she said ‘welcome,’ in English. I was totally shocked.”
1955, Shuba and Robinson teammates as Dodgers win 1st World Series
Shuba and Robinson were reunited in 1948 when Shuba made to the Brooklyn Dodgers as a utility player. He stayed with the “wait ‘till next year” Brooklyn Bums until 1955 when they finally beat the hated Yankees to win their first World Series. Shuba retired to Youngstown, OH and spent 25 years working for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. You won’t see many of today’s MLB players ever doing that!
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In a time when many, not a majority, superstar, mega-rich, spoiled brat athletes are constantly in the news being arrested or convicted of crimes like murder, domestic violence, assault, drug offences, DUI’s etc., it’s nice to read about an athlete who was not only a good player but a decent, family loving human being. George Shuba is survived by his wife of 56 years, 3 children and 8 grandchildren. I’m betting he must have felt he was “the luckiest man in the world”. At least, I hope so!
A “tip of that hat” to Matt Schudel of The Washington Post for his obituary article on George Shuba. It was his post that gave much of the inspiration and information to write this blog.
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