Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting

By: Ed Schmidt

Narrated by: Ed Asner, Carl Lumbly, Full Cast

On a spring day in 1947, Mr. Rickey, the powerful General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, summons heavyweight champion Joe Louis, tap star Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and actor Paul Robeson to his hotel room in Manhattan. Rickey wants their support when he taps Jackie Robinson to be the Major League's first black ballplayer. But a power struggle ensues when the eloquent Robeson raises questions about Rickey's motivations to integrate white baseball.Learn more about Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers in Peter Golenbock's oral history, Bums.(P)2004 L.A. Theatre Works. All Rights Reserved.

The complex issues of baseball integration

Great performance!! It magnified the complexities of baseball integration. The issue of the collapse of the Negro League was an issue I had never considered. The greater good ultimately prevailed.

It’s dull

I have over two dozen books on Rickey and/or Robinson. It’s an incredible story that changed America. This play is simply boring monologue after boring monologue. I expected to love this. It took me multiple listens to get through it.