Leo Durocher

The year 1947 was also notable because on April 9 (the day before Robinson's promotion to the Dodgers), it was announced, six days before the start of the baseball season, that Durocher had been suspended from baseball for one year by baseball commissioner Albert B. (Happy) Chandler for an "accumulation of unpleasant incidents in which he has been involved which the commissioner construes as detrimental to baseball." Chandler's action was greeted with shock and disbelief by Durocher and Dodger fans. The Times's Arthur Daley wrote: "Leo Durocher is like the man who is hailed into a traffic court for passing through a red light and then is sentenced to the electric chair. In this instance, the penalty does not fit the crime and is much too severe."