Free Summer of '68: The Season That Changed Baseball--And America--Forever by Tim Wendel

group or institution in America, was unsure about how best to carry on.
    After Kennedy’s death, President Johnson declared a national day of mourning. But in response, baseball commissioner William “Spike” Eckert opted to postpone games only in New York, between the Yankees and Angels, and in Washington, between the Senators and the Twins. He told the other ballclubs that their particular contests could go ahead, as long as they didn’t start until after Kennedy’s funeral services were concluded. “From here on,” the Sporting News noted, “the confusion got out of hand.”
    In Houston, the Astros were supposed to host the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday, but players on both teams didn’t really want to play. Three of them took matters into their own hands. The Pirates’ Maury Wills stayed in the training room, reading Kennedy’s book To Seek a Newer World . The franchise looked the other way and didn’t discipline its player representative for what others deemed as insubordination.
    “I was out of uniform when Dr. King died,” Wills said, “and if I didn’t respect Senator Kennedy’s memory, too, I felt I would be hypocritical.
    Roberto Clemente was also ready to sit out the Sunday game but changed his mind after meeting with Pittsburgh manager Larry Shepard. That didn’t mean the Pirates future Hall of Famer was on board with matters. “I preferred not to play,” Clemente said. “The disturbing thing to me was the indifferent attitudes of some of our players. Some didn’t take a stand either way, just said they didn’t care whether they played or not.”
    He added, “This is one of things wrong with our country—too much indifference. I didn’t want to play but I did. I also voiced my opinion.”
    Voicing one’s opinion and even taking a stand proved to be costly for players in other dugouts, however. The Astros’ Rusty Staub and Bob Aspromonte joined Wills in refusing to take the field. For their actions, they were fined a day’s pay by Houston general manager Spec Richardson. The GM wanted the game to go on and reportedly was ready to fine anybody else who threatened to sit it out. “Among all the mealy-mouthed statements, it remained for Richardson to come up with the nauseating prize,” Red Smith wrote. “The games would go on, he said, because ‘Senator Kennedy would have wanted it that way.’”
    In San Francisco, the Mets’ were scheduled to play the Giants at Candlestick Park. It was Bat Day for the home team, with an estimated 40,000 tickets sold. Unlike some ballclubs, the Mets stuck together and decided, as a squad, not to play. Even under threat of forfeiting the game, management told players to stay at the team hotel and not show up at the ballpark.
    The issue became the most contentious in Cincinnati, where Reds pitcher Milt Pappas, the ballclub’s player representative, pleaded with his teammates not to take the field against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals. An initial vote among the players settled nothing, as it was deadlocked at twelve to twelve, with one player abstaining. That’s when manager Dave Bristol did some arm-twisting and a second vote was thirteen to twelve in favor of playing, with Tommy Helms, Jim Maloney, and Pete Rose among those opting to play.
    “You guys are wrong,” Pappas shouted as his teammates prepared to take the field. “I’m telling you you’re all wrong.”
    Reds’ assistant general manager Dick Wagner tried to intimidate Pappas, with little effect. “[He] stopped me on the field in front of the St. Louis dugout and started to put his finger on my shoulder as if he were some kind of tough guy,” Pappas later wrote. “He was one of those short guys who was mad at God for making him short, so he had this enormous chip on his shoulder. I looked him in the eye and said, ‘If that finger reaches my shoulder, I’m going to break it.’ I meant it, and he knew it.”
    Soon afterward Pappas resigned as his team’s player rep.
    Robert