Catcher, Brooklyn
Dodgers
Age: 33
8th season
with Dodgers
Bats – Right,
Throws – Right
Height: 5’9” Weight: 190
Prior to 1955:
The product of
an interracial marriage and a native of Philadelphia, Campanella played
football and basketball, as well as baseball, in school. A fine ballplayer he
signed with the semipro Bacharach Giants at age 15 in 1937 to play on weekends.
His good performance caught the attention of the Baltimore Elite Giants of the
Negro National League who signed him to back up at catcher on weekends while he
continued his schooling. After spending the summer barnstorming with the Elite
Giants he quit school at 16 to play baseball full-time. He became the regular
catcher for the Elite Giants in 1939 and batted .273. Campanella stayed with
the team until 1942 when he jumped to the Monterrey Sultans of the Mexican
League due to a contract dispute. With a low draft status during 1942 due to
his being married with two young children, he was never called to military
service and stayed with Monterrey through the 1943 season before returning to
the Elite Giants for two years. He was chosen to catch for a black all-star
team that played a series of exhibition games against a team made up of NL and
AL players in Brooklyn. Coming to the attention of the Dodgers as a result,
Campanella was signed in 1946. Originally slated to play in the Class B
Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League, he was rejected because the league refused to
integrate. Instead assigned to Nashua of the Class B New England League,
Campanella took a pay cut from the $600 per month that he was paid by the Elite
Giants to $185 per month to compete against far less experienced players.
Campanella distinguished himself by hitting .290 with 13 home runs and 90 RBIs
and was chosen as the league’s MVP. In 1947 with Jackie Robinson integrating
the NL with the Dodgers, Campanella was assigned to the Montreal Royals of the
Class AAA International League and batted .273 with 13 home runs and 75 RBIs.
With Brooklyn already in possession of an outstanding catcher in Bruce Edwards,
the plan for 1948 was to keep Campanella in the minors. Edwards suffered an arm
injury before the season and Campanella started the year with the Dodgers as a
backup to Gil Hodges, who filled in behind the plate for Edwards. Campanella
was sent down to St. Paul of the Class AAA American Association in May where he
went on a tear, hitting .325 with 13 home runs and 39 RBIs over the course of
35 games before he was recalled to Brooklyn. The Dodgers were struggling in
seventh place at the point that Campanella returned in July. Hodges was moved
to first base and Jackie Robinson to second and the team rallied to third place
following Campanella’s installation at catcher. In his time with the Dodgers he
batted .258 with 9 home runs and 45 RBIs in 83 games. “Campy” followed up with
a strong season in 1949, batting .287 with 22 home runs and 82 RBIs. He was
named an All-Star for the first time and proved to be adept defensively, with
great quickness despite his portly build, leading all NL catchers in chances
(750) and put outs (684) as well as by throwing out 59% of baserunners who
attempted to steal on him. He also proved to be an adept handler of pitchers.
Campanella produced a .281 batting average in 1950 with 31 home runs and 89
RBIs. A broken thumb in September cost him 11 games in which the Dodgers
struggled on the way to finishing a close second to the Phillies in the NL
pennant race. Despite dealing with some injuries in 1951, Campanella
contributed significantly to Brooklyn taking a sizeable lead in the NL pennant
race, which was whittled away by a strong second-half surge by the New York
Giants, resulting in a first-place tie and a season-extending best-of-three
playoff, which the Giants won in dramatic fashion. Campanella sat out the last
two playoff games due to a leg injury. For the year he batted .325 with 33 home
runs, 108 RBIs, a .393 on-base percentage, and a .590 slugging percentage, and
he received NL MVP recognition for the first time. He suffered through an
injury-plagued season in 1952 and his batting average dropped to .269 with 22
home runs and 97 RBIs. He rebounded strongly in 1953 to hit 41 home runs with a
league-leading 142 RBIs and batted .312, winning his second NL MVP award as a
result. A hand injury that required surgery significantly marred Campanella’s
1954 performance. Appearing in only 111 games he batted just .207 with 19 home
runs and 51 RBIs. There was again a solid rebound in 1955.
1955 Season Summary
Appeared in 123
games
C – 121, PH – 4
[Bracketed
numbers indicate NL rank in Top 20]
Batting
Plate
Appearances – 522
At Bats – 446
Runs – 81 [20]
Hits – 142
Doubles – 20
Triples – 1
Home Runs – 32
[8]
RBI – 107 [8]
Bases on Balls
– 56
Int. BB – 9 [9,
tied with Toby Atwell & Alex Grammas]
Strikeouts – 41
Stolen Bases – 2
Caught Stealing
– 3
Average - .318
[4]
OBP - .395 [6]
Slugging Pct. -
.583 [6]
Total Bases – 260
[15]
GDP – 14 [9,
tied with five others]
Hit by Pitches
– 6 [4, tied with Jim Gilliam, Sandy Amoros & Andy Seminick]
Sac Hits – 5
Sac Flies – 9
[2, tied with Willie Jones, Bill Virdon & Del Ennis]
Midseason
snapshot: HR – 19, RBI – 64, AVG – .335, SLG– .641, OBP – .399
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Most hits, game
– 4 (in 5 AB) at St. Louis 6/17, (in 5 AB) at Chi. Cubs 6/21, (in 5 AB) at St.
Louis 7/31
Longest hitting
streak – 13 games
HR at home – 21
HR on road – 11
Most home runs,
game – 2 (in 5 AB) at Cincinnati 7/28, (in 4 AB) vs. Milwaukee 8/30
Multi-HR games
– 2
Most RBIs, game
– 4 at NY Giants 4/14, vs. St. Louis 5/4, at Milwaukee 8/4
Pinch-hitting – 2 for 3 (.667) with 2 R, 1 BB & 2 RBI
Fielding
Chances – 732
Put Outs – 672
Assists – 54
Errors – 6
Passed Balls –
4
DP – 8
Pct. - .992
Postseason
Batting: 7 G (World Series vs. NY Yankees)
PA – 31, AB – 27,
R – 4, H – 7, 2B – 3, 3B – 0, HR – 2, RBI – 4, BB – 3, IBB – 0, SO – 3, SB – 0,
CS – 0, AVG - .259, OBP - .333, SLG - .593, TB – 16, GDP – 0, HBP – 0, SH – 1,
SF – 0
Awards & Honors:
NL MVP: BBWAA
All-Star
Top 5 in NL MVP
Voting:
Roy Campanella,
Brook.: 226 points - 8 of 24 first place votes, 67% share
Duke Snider,
Brook.: 221 points – 8 first place votes, 66% share
Ernie Banks,
ChiC.: 195 points – 6 first place votes, 58% share
Willie Mays,
NYG: 165 points – 49% share
Robin Roberts,
Phila.: 159 points – 1 first place vote, 47% share
(1 first place
vote for Pee Wee Reese, Brook., who ranked ninth)
---
The Dodgers went 98-55 to win the NL pennant by 13.5 games over the Milwaukee Braves while leading the league in runs scored (857), doubles (230), home runs (201), RBIs (800) stolen bases (79), bases on balls drawn (674), batting (.271), OBP (.356), slugging (.448) & total bases (2327). The fast-starting Dodgers were in first place by 9.5 games with a 22-2 record on May 10. A month later, after their lead had dropped mildly, they opened a double-digit lead that held up for the remainder of the season. Won World Series over the New York Yankees, 4 games to 3. LHP Johnny Podres won two games, including the decisive seventh, to give the Dodgers the first World Series title in franchise history (and the only one in Brooklyn).
Aftermath of 1955:
Hand and thumb injuries held Campanella to 124 games in 1956 and his production dropped to 20 home runs, 73 RBIs, and a .219 average in what was his last All-Star season. Having had an offseason hand operation Campanella had another down year in 1957, the last year for the Dodgers in Brooklyn. He appeared in 103 games and batted .242 with 13 home runs and 62 RBIs. In January of 1958 Campanella was involved in a car accident in which he suffered a broken neck and spinal cord damage that left him paralyzed from the chest down. For his major league career with the Dodgers, he batted .276 with 1161 hits that included 178 doubles, 18 triples, and 242 home runs. He also accumulated 856 RBIs. Campanella was an eight-time All-Star as well as three-time National League MVP. The Dodgers retired his #39 and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969. The wheelchair-bound Campanella worked for the Dodgers in community relations and as a special instructor during spring training and died at age 71 in 1993.
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MVP Profiles feature players in the National or
American leagues who were winners of the Chalmers Award (1911-14), League Award
(1922-29), or Baseball Writers’ Association of America Award (1931 to present)
as Most Valuable Player.
