I became aware of Davey Williams while updating this post and reading his SABR bio trying to learn when he and Mays wore number 14 in 1951:
Uniform numbers of Willie Mays. Wednesday, April 27, 2011
In his 1951 rookie season for the New York Giants Willie Mays wore number 14 in his first six games and then his familiar number 24. Davey Williams also wore 14 and Jack Maguire also wore 24.
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In other words, it had nothing to do with Jackie Robinson. But the events over the weekend have brought Robinson's first name into a new area. More on that below but first what Robinson did to Davey Williams.
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/davey-williams/
In the early spring of 1955, Davey Williams became an unwitting victim of the Giants-Dodgers rivalry, which was particularly intense in the 1950s. It was often fueled by the Giants’ Sal Maglie, who made his mark by throwing at batters “whenever they didn’t expect it. That way I had them looking to duck all the time.”28
In the second inning of a game at Ebbets Field on April 23, Maglie directed a pitch behind Jackie Robinson’s head after hitting Sandy Amoros leading off the inning. Robinson struck out, but on his next at-bat, he bunted down the first-base line, hoping to run over Maglie when he came over to field the ball.29 Even though the score was tied, Maglie made no move to cover the bunt, so after a moment’s hesitation, first baseman Whitey Lockman raced in for the ball while Williams, playing second base, sped over to cover first base. When the ball arrived from Lockman, Williams was at a dead stop at the bag. Robinson, a former All-American running back at UCLA, hit him (Williams) like a freight train and knocked him sprawling in the dust, where he landed on his left shoulder. Even so, Williams somehow managed to hang on to the ball for the out...
... the Giants sent him (Williams) to the Mayo Clinic, where he was diagnosed with an arthritic spinal condition. The doctors told him that there was no cure to his back condition and said that if he continued to play baseball he risked becoming crippled. As a result, Williams was forced to retire from baseball in the middle of the 1955 season at the age of 27.34
Robinson’s running over of Williams probably contributed to the premature ending of his playing career. Williams, however, admired Robinson, even though Jackie once told Howard Cosell that Davey was the only guy he had ever tried to hurt on purpose.35 According to Williams, Robinson was a great competitor who had taken “all the guff anybody could possibly take.” Williams, however, was sorry that, after having survived all the harassment and shown what a great player he was, “at the end of his career he had to turn it around and try to get even with everybody.”36
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Jackie Robinson threw a baseball at Lew Burdette’s head during pregame warm-ups. Friday, March 31, 2023
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During the Chicago White Sox games at Yankee Stadium bad blood between White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson and Yankee third baseman Josh Donaldson erupted again and resulted in post game explanations.
Black guy. White guy.
Anderson is younger but hardly a kid: almost 29 with 728 games in seven MLB seasons, all with the White Sox.
Donaldson is an aging veteran who should have wisdom on his side: 36 and 1,238 games in 12 MLB seasons; AL MVP in 2015, his first with Toronto. He's also played with Oakland, Cleveland, Atlanta, Minnesota and now 37 games with the Yankees in 2022.
Anderson has the advantage that his White Sox teammates consider him a true White Sox player. Donaldson is new to the Yankees, although he seems to have quickly fit in.
So, what's the beef? Probably multiple things, including a recent shoving match at third base between the two. But during the most recent back and forth, benches and bullpens emptied for each team to defend its guy. There was no fighting, just words. It's curious that Anderson doesn't just go one on one with Donaldson.
After the Saturday game, which the Yankees won 7-5, Anderson mumbled in barely audible words that Donaldson had said something that was disrespectful and unnecessary. Frankly, I could hardly understand anything that he said but supposedly it was that Donaldson had called him Jackie. His teammate, catcher Yasmani Grandal, backed up Anderson but also in barely understandable bad audio. The White Sox manager Tony LaRussa followed with no comment, racist, no comment. That escalated it. LaRussa is a 77 year old Hall of Fame manager who didn't know that when he was managing Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire in Oakland in the 1980s and McGwire again in St. Louis in 1997-2001 that they were using steroids.
Donaldson spoke clearly and stated that he had started calling Anderson Jackie after Anderson had been quoted a few years ago in an article that he, Anderson, wanted to be like former Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson. In 1947 Robinson became the first black MLB player in modern times. This led to many black players who otherwise would not have been signed, to play MLB, including Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.
Tim Anderson: at least implying that his being called Jackie was racist.
Josh Donaldson: stating his calling Anderson Jackie had started years ago and that it was friendly needling.
I'm not buying either. Anderson is not bashful on the field, so it's difficult to imagine that he would be so offended, so easily. Donaldson is not friends with Anderson, so friendly needling makes no sense. I doubt that Donaldson was trying to be racist but at best he was oblivious, which is also hard to imagine. I have a hunch that going forward Donaldson will desist, which will probably make things easier for his Yankee manager Aaron Boone. The Yankees don't need this. Yesterday they lost a doubleheader to the White Sox 3-1, 5-0. The Yanks don't need distractions, just runs.
Both Anderson and Donaldson can learn more about Robinson. The incident mentioned above shows Jackie as the human being he was: imperfect, like Anderson and Donaldson.
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