I was born in Manhattan in 1966, on Reggie’s birthday actually – so I won’t pretend to understand what it was like for inter-racial couples here in NY in the 60s. I remember it was a big issue in the 70s, (lived in Flushing) and what a big deal shows like All In The Family, and The Jeffersons were. I remember my parents telling me the times were changing for the better.

I believe by the mid-60s even Weiss had seen and felt the changes coming, and knew there was nothing he, as an old man, could do about it. He might have taken his bigotry to the grave, but I like to think he wised up in his last years in the game – even if he wasn’t smart enough to draft Jackson.

Noam is right on here. Today it is generally and widely acceptable to have inter-racial relationships. It still gets commented on in some circles, but it is taken matter-of-factly in others. I remember growing up in the mid-1970s and hearing about it being a BIG issue back then. If it was big in 1976, it must have been big in 1966.

My thinking is: by the time Reggie came up, Weiss had accepted that Black players were in the league to stay, and he was signing Black players, so why would a player’s love-life figure into his assessment? If he thought Reggie was the best option would his choice of dates really sway his opinion? You say absolutely. I don’t know.

Is it not also possible that he really liked what he saw in the catcher he chose over Reggie? Is it not possible that it was purely a baseball decision (albeit a bad one)?

In the context of this conversation we should recall that Weiss was the one deciding in 1950 that he didn’t even want to take a look at a teenaged Negro Leaguer named Willie Mays. Then when he realized the rest of the majors was actually going to sign black players, pretty quickly signed Elston Howard (a slugging catcher, no less) But then Weiss let Howard languish in the minors for six years before calling him up to the big club.

as far as Weiss’ reputation as a scout, look at the Yankees from the decades he ran the team. There’s no question he was one of the most respected scouts in the game.

a – Baseball was integrated. Baseball players’ marriages: not integrated/interracial. You can’t name one baseball player that had interracial relationship in 1966 or before. It’s easy to imagine Weiss not wanting his African-American top pick to be seen around NYC with a white woman on his arm. Let’s not forget that in 1966 interracial marriage wasn’t even legal in every state in the US.

b – To paraphrase ARod, I had never heard that one before. Branch Rickey? yes. Paul Krichell? yes. George Weiss, *most legendary scout*? hadn’t heard that.

c – I think here you’re attributing today’s sensibilities to a time almost 50 years past. In the 50s and 60s the biggest stars were outfielders and pitchers (esp. OFs: Mantle, Mays, Williams, Musial, Snider, Aaron, Clemente)

I think it’s easy now to forget how our culture has treated interracial relationships through the years. When Spike Lee made “Jungle Fever” in 1992 or so it created a lot of controversy. I don’t think that movie would even be made now, less than 20 years on.

Sorry if my reply was too forceful, but as the product of an interracial marriage, it’s a topic I given a lot of thought to.

a – Weiss’ Mets, and the game itself, were well-integrated by the time Reggie came around.

b – as perhaps the game’s most legendary talent scout, Weiss surely must have known Reggie was raised in a predominantly white neighborhood.

c – how many GMs (regardless of race) wouldn’t pick a lefty-slugging catcher prospect over an outfielder? It’s not a stretch to think it was purely a baseball decision.

Understandably, Weiss’ reputation as a bigot followed him to the Mets, but unless I’m missing something the Reggie rumor doesn’t add up.