Raymond Emmett "Dandy or Hooks", Dandridge, Sr.

Hall Of Fame Induction:  1987

The son on the former Alberta Thompson and former semi-pro catcher, Archie Dandridge, Ray Dandridge’s trademarks were his horseshoe-shaped legs, his pillow-sized glove, and his ability to swallow up bunts and toss out runners just before they stepped on first base.  The standard joke was that a train would stand a better chance of going through Dandy’s legs than a baseball.  He was, as one writer said, “A third base Houdini.”

Dandridge’s career began in 1933 with the Detroit Stars, managed by the disciplinarian Candy Jim Taylor.  Dandridge had been the captain of the semi-pro Richmond All-Stars when they played a game against the Stars.  Taylor like what he saw, enticed Dandridge’s father with a $25 bonus, and the Stars had a third baseman.  Taylor paid his new player only $15 a week but added hitting instructions as a bonus.  Taylor tossed away Dandridge’s light stick, stepped into the batting cage, and told him to look and listen.  Dandridge, a former home run hitter, was given a 37-ounce bat by Candy Jim and taught how to hit line drives to all fields.  It was a lesson Dandridge never forgot.

The 1933 season was not a profitable one for the Stars.  Forced to sell the team bus, Taylor sent the players packing back home.  Dandridge finished the season with the Nashville Elite Giants.  The next spring he signed with the Newark Dodgers and made his first appearance in the East-West All-Star classic.  In 1936, the Newark team was sold to Abe and Effa Manley and renamed the Eagles.  There he joined the great shortstop Willie “The Devil” Wells.  Together, they formed a barrier on the left side of the infield more solid then the great wall of China.  In 1937, Dandy and the Devil represented the East squad in the All-Star game.  Clark Griffith, then owner of the Washington Senators begged, “Let me know when those two bowlegged men are coming to Washington.  Please don’t let me miss them.”

After three productive seasons with the Eagles, Dandridge said adios and grabbed the grand peso from millionaire Jorge Pasquel of Mexico.  Baseball-crazed Mexicans were willing to double and sometimes triple stateside salaries.  Dandridge made about $10,000 a season with the Veracruz Diablos, plus living expenses and a maid.  He, his first wife Florence, their two sons and a daughter enjoyed the Mexican hospitality.  And it wasn’t just the money they liked.  There was another attraction for black players—being treated as first-class citizens.

Dandridge was well worth his salary, smashing the offerings of major league pitchers like Dizzy Dean, Sal Magile, Whitney Ford, Max Lanier, Vic Raschi, Allie Reynolds and others.  In 1948, he established a league record by hitting in 32 consecutive games.  Dandridge was a bonafide hero in Mexico, hitting .331 in eight seasons.  And his love of the game kept him playing all winter, too—either in Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico or Cuba.  In 11 seasons, he compiled a .282 lifetime batting average in the traditionally tough Cuban league.

In 1942, he returned to the Newark Eagles.  Two years later, he re-signed with the Eagles for a stateside personal high of $360 a month.  Dandridge had another fine season, hitting .369 and was selected to his third East-West All-Star game.  Cum Posey, owner of the Homestead Grays, placed him on his all-time all-star team in 1944, commenting, “...there was never a smoother functioning master at third base than Dandridge, and he can hit that apple, too.”  Rollo Wilson, sportswriter and later commissioner of the league claimed, “As far as I can recall there has been but one real third baseman developed in colored baseball since Judy (Johnson) passed from the game.  His name is Ray Dandridge.”

When the ’44 season ended, Dandridge was off to Mexico once again, where he continued his rough treatment of pitchers for the next three seasons.  In 1948, Dandy’s benefactor Pasquel was killed in an airplane crash, and Dandridge came back to the U.S. to become manager of the New York Cubans.  While he was managing the Cubans, the New York Giants plucked him and pitcher Dave Barnhill from the club, leaving unheralded Minnie Minoso behind.  The Giants assigned Barnhill and Dandridge to their Triple-A Minneapolis Millers farm team.

At 36, his best years behind him, Dandridge hit .362 for the Millers in 1949.  He missed the American Association batting championship by two points.  The next year, a young fellow from Alabama named Willie Mays joined the Millers.  Mays was hitting .477 when he got the call from the big leagues, leaving old man Dandridge behind to entertain the fans.  Dandy didn't let them down, in 150 games he led the league in, at bats (627) and hits (195), while hitting .311.  The American Association honored Dandridge with the Silver Ball Award as its Most Valuable Player.

With such outstanding credentials, Dandridge thought he wold be next.  But Dandridge never got his passport to prime time.  Horace Stoneham, owner of the Giants, refused to bring him to New York or sell him to another major league team, supposedly because of his popularity in Minnesota.  He closed out his third season with the Millers at the age of 38, hitting .324.  Nearly forty years old, Dandridge played one more season with Minneapolis, hitting .291 in 618 at bats, and added a career high 27 doubles.

He moved to the Pacific Coast League with the Sacramento and Oakland teams, before finally hanging his gold glove up with Bismarck of North Dakota, where he hit .360.  He never made it to the big time.  Some said he was too old, while others whispered that the owners thought there were already too many black players in the majors.

After his playing days were over, Dandridge scouted briefly for the San Francisco Giants.  He later became supervisor of a recreation center in Newark, New Jersey.  He was honored when Newark renamed West Side Baseball Park Ray Dandridge, Sr. Field.

In 1984, Dandridge moved with his second wife, Henrietta, to Palm Bay, Florida, where he was honored with the naming of Dandridge Avenue.

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