By OSWALD T.BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 13, 2021 – Faced with imminent eviction from my apartment as a result of a D.C Superior Court Landlord/Tenant Court ruling on Wednesday, March 17 in favour of my landlord because of back rent that I owe, I am having an ongoing battle with depression, but as a die-hard baseball fan watching my beloved Washington Nationals games is proving to be very therapeutic.
For several hours last night, I placed all of my problems in storage as I watched my beloved Nationals defeat the Saint Louis Cardinals, 5-2, ending a five-game losing streak, including three straight to the Los Angeles Dodgers, which I am sure delighted the many Dodgers fans with whom I used to watch sporting events while hanging out at R.H. Culmer’s Chances Lounge when I lived in Freeport, Grand Bahama.
I currently live within six blocks of the Nationals Stadium, and although I have mobility problems as a result of two hip replacements that have been very challenging recently, I certainly hope that I can convince His Excellency Sidney Collie, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), to use his diplomatic clout to get tickets for one of the Nationals games against the Miami Marlins when they come to D.C. for a three-game series April 30 to May 2, so that we can give an official “welcome to D.C.” to Bahamian Jazz Chisholm, the second baseman for the Marlins.
Although I am no longer the Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at the Embassy, the ambassador is a long-time friend who is aware of my rabid love for baseball, and hopefully as a fellow Bahamian in the diaspora, he would not mind me accompanying him to one of the games if he can make arrangements to get tickets.
In any case, aside from my love for baseball, as a former president of the Bahamas Baseball Association (BBA), I certainly hope that I get the opportunity to meet Jazz when he comes to D.C.
Baseball is my most favourite sport, although it did not become a participatory sport in The Bahamas until 1954 after Andre Rodgers became the first Bahamian to sign a professional baseball contract to play in the farm system of the then New York Giants and a group of sports-minded Bahamians met to establish BBA.
Prior to the introduction of organized baseball in The Bahamas, cricket and soccer were extremely popular, and it was because of the outstanding skills he possessed as a cricket player that Andre was able to transfer his immense talent to baseball. It took Andre only three years to make it to the Majors when he made his debut at shortstop with the New York Giants on April 16, 1957, in the season opener against the Pittsburg Pirates. To put this in perspective, Andre played his first game in the Major League only 10 years after Jackie Robinson integrated Major League baseball when he debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.
Aside from the national pride that this generated not only among baseball fans but Bahamians in general, what this meant to The Bahamas as a country could not be measured in dollars and cents. Every time André Rodgers stepped on the field in baseball stadiums across the United States and his name and where he was from was announced, that represented thousands and thousands of dollars of free publicity for The Bahamas. Given the fact that the late 1950s was when the strategy was shifted from marketing The Bahamas as a playground for the rich and famous to promoting it as a popular tourist destination, it can easily be concluded that André Rodgers was one of the country’s greatest assets at the time.
Just about every young Bahamian male who did not have “two left feet” developed an interest in playing baseball, resulting in the formation of the Bahamas Baseball Association in 1954, with the late E.S. Stanley Mitchell as President; the late Reno Brown as Secretary; and the late George “Posey” Gardiner as Treasurer. The first games were played at Clifford Park in November of 1954.
There is no disputing the fact that Andre’s success became the benchmark for gifted young players to emulate, and in the immediate years after his Major League debut, a number of talented Bahamian players were signed to professional contracts. Among those who also made it to the Major League, prior to Antoan Richardson and Jazz Chisholm later doing so, were Tony Curry, Ed Armbrister, Wenty Ford and Wil Culmer, but with a little bit of luck – and in some cases, a better attitude – the number of Bahamians making it to the Major Leagues could have been considerably higher.
Surely, had he not lost his life in a tragic car accident in January of 1961, while home for the Christmas holidays, Andre’s younger brother, Lionel, definitely would have made it to the Majors. In fact, the Rodgers Family produced a coterie of talented baseball players. In addition to Andre and Lionel, other talented brothers were Adrian, who was signed by the Giants as a pitcher, but was subsequently released; Roy, who was considered to be one of the best first-basemen in BBA during his prime; and Randy, who was an excellent shortstop during the many years he played in the BBA.
Other baseball greats from that era included the late Vince Ferguson and the late Edmundo (Ed) Moxey. Both Vince and Ed made it to AAA, one step below the Majors, before giving up on their quest to become Major Leaguers. Ed was a great catcher and after retiring from professional baseball, he opened a popular restaurant and bar called “The Dugout” in the shopping plaza next door to the Nassau Guardian building. It was one of my favourite hangouts when I was Editor of the Guardian.
When I was President of the BBA in the mid-1960s, I invited the Baltimore Orioles to consider using Nassau as their spring training base and they sent their then Public Relations Director Bob Brown to Nassau to investigate whether it would be feasible for the Orioles to do so. However, our facilities at the time were not considered to be up to the standard of stadiums in South Florida that are spring training sites for a number of Major League teams.
I certainly hope that the COVID-19 pandemic soon becomes history and work can be resumed on the construction of the stadium that is being built in honour of Andre Rodgers, who in my view is the greatest sports hero in Bahamian history. Of course, there are track and field aficionados who will insist that this honour should be shared equally with the late Tommy Robinson. Indeed, a ballpark bearing Andre Rodgers’ name that was demolished in 2006 to build the current Thomas A. Robinson Stadium in honour of Bahamian track and field Olympic sprinter.
But clearly, the excellent crop of young baseball players like Jazz Chisholm who are being developed in The Bahamas strongly suggest that there should be renewed focus on completing the stadium that is being constructed in honour of Andre Rodgers.
