Friday is Jackie Robinson Day in organized baseball. Robinson, shown bottom left and right, integrated Major League Baseball on April 15, 1947. Other Black players with history in New Mexico include (top, from left) former Albuquerque Duke Dave Stewart, current Isotope Wynton Bernard, former Isotopes manager Lorenzo Bundy, former Duke outfielder Jeffrey Leonard, and former Negro Leaguer and Albuquerque minor leaguer Herb Simpson.
On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
In doing so, he broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier, leading to the end of decades of segregation.
Major League and Minor League fields across the country on Friday will fill their fields with rosters full of teams wearing Robinson’s iconic No. 42, there will be tributes and pre-, in-, and post-game ceremonies honoring one of the most important dates and barrier-breaking moments in sports history.
Among those taking a swing at commemorating the occasion in their own way will be the Albuquerque Isotopes.
Longtime play-by-play announcer Josh Suchon tackled the endeavor of trying to answer the question: Who broke down color barriers in New Mexico – before and after Robinson’s historic day 75 years ago?
Josh Suchon, Albuquerque Isotopes play-by-play announcer, is shown in this undated file photo.
A former newspaper reporter who later worked the pre- and postgame radio shows for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Suchon said he remembers trying to bring more to Jackie Robinson Day coverage working with Robinson’s old team than the same stories told every year – always seeking new angles to tell the story and honor the occasion.
“I love baseball. I love history,” said Suchon. “And when we were thinking about what we should do for Jackie Robinson Day (with the Isotopes), I was curious. Who’s the Jackie Robinson in New Mexico? I didn’t know. So I started to research who would be considered the Jackie Robinson of New Mexico.”
Several months of research later, Suchon produced and narrated a powerful 6-minute, 13-second video that will be presented before Friday’s game and available on the team’s YouTube page to view now for anyone interested in the fascinating story of the sport’s history in the Land of Enchantment.
The deep dive highlights dozens of players from more than a century of professional baseball in the state and in Albuquerque specifically through the heyday of the Albuquerque Dukes’ dominant years and modern connections with numerous Dukes and Isotopes players, recent managers like Lorenzo “Lo” Bundy and Glenallen Hill all the way to current isotope Wynton Bernard.
But the video predominantly highlights the stories of four pioneers.
Bud Fowler played professionally in Santa Fe in 1888 and will be inducted later this summer into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
Bill Pettis played for powerhouse teams in Albuquerque and later played for 12 years in the Negro Leagues.
Bazz Owen Smaulding was a four-sport star at Albuquerque High who played in the Negro Leagues and later for professional teams in Madrid, Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
Herb Simpson arguably had the biggest lasting impact on the game in this state of the group highlighted in the video. It was Simpson who integrated the West Texas-New Mexico League in 1952, five years after Robinson’s MLB debut. Simpson was a popular Albuquerque Duke for three seasons.
As noted by Suchon, Simpson’s 1953 re-signing with the Dukes “drew big headlines” and his play with the Dukes led to “dozens of black players getting signed all throughout the league.” That 1953 pennant-winning Dukes team had four black players.
In 1954, Simpson was in uniform when he got married at home plate before a game at Tingley Field.
“Bud Fowler. Bill Pettis. Bazz Owen Smaulding. Herb Simpson. They were the pioneers,” Suchon reads over in the video. “They were the Jackie Robinsons of New Mexico, and because of them, they led the way for the next generation of Black ballplayers to thrive in the Land of Enchantment.”
MAKING A DIFFERENCE: The Isotopes will also be presenting a new “Jackie Robinson Making A Difference Award” to the Powdrell family, owners of Albuquerque’s Mr. Powdrell’s Barbeque.
“We wanted to highlight what Jackie did off the field,” said Suchon. “It’s the first Black-owned, or one of the first, and it’s the longest continuously-running Black-owned business in Albuquerque.”
I’ve got acute laryngitis and sitting out tonight. I feel great. I just have no voice. I don’t want to miss #JackieRobinsonDay tomorrow, so getting my rest. We’re using Tacoma’s @CurtoWorld broadcast. He’s really good, plus he’s a huge reason I’m in this industry. pic.twitter.com/Qko3pguUuh
— Josh Suchon (@Josh_Suchon) April 15, 2022
ON THE CALL: Suchon missed calling Thursday night’s game with laryngitis.
Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto’s feed back to Washington was also used locally for the game around New Mexico and online on MILB.TV, which streams all Triple-A games, normally using the audio from the home team’s booth.
Suchon said, in a text message, that while I may have been able to give it a go on Thursday night, he didn’t want to risk missing Friday’s game.
“I’m not missing Jackie Robinson Day,” he said.
‘TOPES FRIDAY: Vs. Tacoma
Isotopes Park, 7 pm, 610 AM/95.9 FM
PROMOTION: Jackie Robinson Night
PROBABLES: Rainier’s RHP Daniel Ponce de Leon (0-0, 0.00) vs. Isotope’s RHP Zach Neal (0-1, 16.20)
THURSDAY: The Isotopes scored seven runs in the first two innings and cruised to an 11-8 win over the Tacoma Rainiers in front of an announced home crowd of 6,617.
The Isotopes (3-6) won back-to-back games for the first time this season and got home runs from Elehuris Monteros (solo homer that was estimated as traveling 442 feet), Carlos Pérez (3-run) and Colton Welker ( grand slam).
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