Interesting info on Hornsby

[redbird5]

http://www.nndb.com/people/046/000085788/

I'm building a Cardinals website and came upon this about Rogers Hornsby. He was a member of the KKK back in the 1920s. Back then it was the organization to be belong to.

[Migratory Redbird]

There was a thread on this topic at the baseball-fever forum. A couple of the responses:

Originally Posted by cbenson

I know one suggestion that Hornsby was in the KKK came from Emil Fuchs (the Boston Braves President) to a city councilman named William Lynch. Lynch claimed Fuchs made a statement that Hornsvy and Bruce Whitmore (who was on the Braves Board of Directors were KKK members) while Fuchs denied doing so. Sportswriter Fred Lieb claimed that Speaker and Hornsby told him that they were members of the KKK. Charles Alexander addresses this issue on pages 146-47 of his biography of Hornsby. In regard to Hornsby, no solid evidence exists that he was in the KKK to my knowledge. It is all based on speculation and hearsay. I'll look for one of my biographies of Speaker, to see if that issue is addressed in them.

Originally Posted by cbenson

I should have listed this in my previous post. The source that Alexander gives in his biography of Hornsby for Liebs allegation is:'
Fred Lieb, Baseball as I Have Known it (New York: Tempo-Grosset and Dunlap, 1977), p. 54. I don't have this book, so I can't reference it. Neither Alexander or Gay give a time frame for these comments. The conversation between Fuchs and Lynch was alleged to have occurred in 1927. Alexander (Rogers Hornsby: A biography) states " It's quite possible, though unproveable, that several years earlier, when the post- World War I Klan movement was at the peak of its membership and influence, Hornsby may have joined the secret organization in Fort Worth (a Klan stronghold) or possibly St. Louis" (pgs.

Another link: Can't copy the text and don't want to retype it, but it suggests that Hornsby wasn't an active KKK member.

Another opinion at Armchair GM

I know a lot of things have been written about Rogers Hornsby being a member of the KKK, especially by one sportswriter by the name of Fred Lieb. My own personal opinion of Lieb is that he was a big liar and just wanted to write something to make headlines especially about Hornsby. Yes, Rogers Hornsby, was hard to get along with on the field. He was a perfectist and didn't take to players that didn't get it and couldn't play at the level he wanted but I never saw any of that being around him.

Some writers appear to accept Lieb's accusation at face value. However, many discussions of Hornsby and the KKK include the qualifier "alleged". Wikipedia Article on St. Louis Browns

In 1952, Rogers Hornsby, an alleged former member of the Ku Klux Klan, took over as manager of the Browns. Despite past accusations of racism, Hornsby was less hesitant to use pitcher Satchel Paige than Indians manager Lou Boudreau had been four years before.

You can read what Lieb actually wrote in this Google review of his book, at the bottom of page 57. It appears to be a "throw away comment" during an extended discussion of Ty Cobb. We don't know if Lieb was telling the truth or, if he was, the context of the discussion. It could be that Hornsby just had a dry wit like Tony La Russa.

[Jmodene]

IIRC, didn't Lieb also identify Tris Speaker as a KKK member?

[Colorado Cardinal]

According to this he may have been a member. http://www.redsoxnation.net/index.php?showtopic=20228. I don't see it a big deal. Back then it was a part of life. Now it certainly is different. Also, back then or before, many people thought women shouldn't vote. Things change and there is no sense IMO of dragging out these type of things.

CC

[Jmodene]

True enough; we do have a tendency to judge people based on today's rules rather than yesterday's. OTOH, it could be argued that wrong is wrong, regardless of the era.

[Colorado Cardinal]

Oh I agree that wrong is wrong. But as I said I think that relegating women to second class citizens(they couldn't vote) was wrong and we don't set around gnashing our teeth over it. Even worse, what the US Government did to the Indians is despicable, but you don't see anyone refusing to raise the Union jack because of that. We have to move on.

CC

[redbird5]

I have watched the secret history of the KKK on History Channel and back in the 20s it was the society to belong to. People soon realized what the KKK was crooked and killed people and quickly left. I think organizations like KKK and the Tea party are products of people who don't want to change. It sounds like I was fooled by an internet rumor.