Chico Fernandez Integrated The Phillies With Flair
We look back at the fan-favorite infielder Chico Fernandez, who was the first person of color to play for the Phillies back in 1957.
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . Chico Fernandez first came up with the Dodgers in 1956, then got his first everyday chance with the Phillies in 1957. Later in his career with the Tigers, he had the odd distinction of being traded twice in one day. On May 8, 1963, Fernandez was dealt from the Tigers to the Milwaukee Braves in exchange for outfielder Lou Johnson and cash considerations. Later that day, the Braves traded him to the Mets in exchange for right-handed pitcher Larry Foss and $20,000.
. . . In addition to pulling off a daring steal of home while with the Phillies, during his Tigers tenure, Fernandez stole home in another big spot. On July 4, 1961, in the second game of a doubleheader between the Tigers and Yankees, Fernandez stole home with the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning with slugging teammate Rocky Colavito at the plate. The Yankees ended up tying the game in the bottom half, but Detroit won in extra innings with a go-ahead bunt single. Both teams were locked in the American League pennant race that year, with the Tigers finishing the year at 101-61 but a distant second behind the 109-53 Yankees.
Leading Off
Breaking the Color Line in Philadelphia: Go, Go, Chico
By Russ Walsh
It is Black History Month, which seems a good time to revisit the fraught racial history of the Philadelphia Phillies. If you Google “the first black player to play for the Philadelphia Phillies,” the name John Kennedy will pop up. Kennedy is generally recognized as the man who integrated the Phillies, but the story is a bit more complicated than that.
Kennedy entered his first game on April 22, 1957, as a pinch-runner. Six days before that, however, on April 16, Humberto “Chico” Fernandez was the Opening Day shortstop for the Phillies. Fernandez, a Cuban of African and Spanish heritage, always contended that he never got credit for his role in the integration of baseball.
By the spring of 1957, 10 years after the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier, the Phillies had still not fielded a Black ballplayer. The team was under pressure to change their policy from the local African American newspaper, the Philadelphia Tribune, and from the changing demographics of Philadelphia that found Connie Mack Stadium in the middle of a rapidly changing neighborhood that was becoming increasingly African American. Attracting African American fans to the ballpark meant, in part, fielding some players of color.
Finally, after team owner Bob Carpenter, who had resisted integration, ceded the general manager duties to former Yankees front office veteran Roy Hamey, the Phillies started to develop players of color in their Minor League system. Hamey brought former Negro League infielder John Kennedy to Spring Training in 1957, to see if he could plug the Phillies’ gap at shortstop (longtime Phillies shortstop Granny Hamner, who had suffered a shoulder injury, was being moved to second base). The newspapers, the Phillies front office, and Kennedy himself reported his age as 23. Kennedy, who had kicked around the semi-pro leagues of Florida after his military service, was actually 30.
Kennedy had a good spring, handling all the plays at short and hitting a solid .333. The Tribune optimistically predicted stardom for the speedy infielder. But questions about Kennedy’s arm strength (his best position was second base), and perhaps suspicions about his age, caused the Phillies to go shopping for a better option at shortstop.
On April 5, five days after signing Kennedy to a Major League contract, the Phillies sent reserve outfielder Elmer Valo, several farm hands, and $75,000 to the Dodgers for the highly touted Chico Fernandez. Fernandez, who had been the heir apparent to Pee Wee Reese in Brooklyn for several years, was immediately installed as the Phillies’ starting shortstop, and Kennedy was relegated to the bench.
At first, the Philadelphia Tribune seemed to recognize that the Phillies now had two players of color on the team. According to Kennedy biographer Michael Marsh, “The Tribune praised the team in an editorial. ‘The Phillies have done it at last. When this city’s representative in the National Baseball League takes the field in a week from now, there will be a Negro in the lineup [Fernandez], and another sitting on the bench [Kennedy]. … We wish both men luck and congratulate the Phillies on the move.’” A crowd of well-wishers greeted the two players when the team arrived at North Philadelphia train station to begin the season.
As Marsh states, “On Opening Day, Fernandez broke the color barrier with the Phillies when he started against the Dodgers.” But as Fernandez’s star ascended in Philly, Kennedy’s was rapidly eclipsed. After just five appearances with the team, Kennedy was sent back to the Minor Leagues, never to appear in the Major Leagues again.
On the field, Fernandez quickly became a fan favorite. He played with a flair not seen in Connie Mack Stadium in years. He was a slick, if occasionally erratic, fielder and a daredevil on the bases. It is this latter characteristic that endeared Fernandez to fans. On May 25, in the fourth inning with the Phillies playing the Pirates, Chico stole home with the tying run. His sprawling successful slide surprised the Pirates and the Phillies batter Stan Lopata, who had to jump out of the way in the on-deck circle. As Chico stood and dusted himself off, the fans cheered lustily. Soon, whenever Chico got on base, the chants of “Go, Chico, Go!” reverberated in the ballpark. And go he did.
Chico’s derring-do was entertaining, but it also sometimes got him in hot water with managers. After two years as the Phillies’ shortstop, in 1959 Chico was benched in favor of journeyman Joe Koppe. Manager Eddie Sawyer was critical of what he saw as Fernandez’s lackadaisical play. Fernandez virtually disappeared deep on the Phillies’ bench, appearing rarely after June of that year.
At the end of the season, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers, where he revived his career with three solid seasons as the Tigers’ starting shortstop. Chico could not escape criticism in Detroit either, where they always seemed to be looking for his replacement, but his teammate Rocky Colavito had nothing but praise for him.
“Chico was a damn good player and a good guy,” Colavito told the Detroit Free Press’ Bill Dow. “He did the unexpected and Chico was no dummy.”
After a season as a reserve with the New York Mets, Fernandez bounced around the Minor Leagues, Mexico, and Japan before hanging up his spikes and settling in Detroit, where he eventually got his family out of Cuba to join him.
While not a bitter man, Fernandez did feel that he never got the credit he was due for being the first player of color on the Phillies and the first Latino to play regularly for the Tigers. Fernandez was subject to the same indignities as African American players, including separate living quarters, eating his meals in the kitchen while the rest of the team ate in a dining room, and not being assigned a roommate on road trips.
Fernandez also suffered the indignity of having his name changed. Early in his career in the Dodgers’ farm system, management told him his given name of Humberto was too much of a mouthful for American fans and they redubbed him “Chico,” the Spanish equivalent of “boy.”
While Fernandez endured racial discrimination, the white press never considered the light-skinned Cuban to be a barrier breaker. His role as the first player of color on the Phillies was never mentioned in the mainstream press during his playing days. The Philadelphia Tribune, which at first celebrated the inclusion of both Kennedy and Fernandez on the Phillies, eventually viewed Fernandez as the man who blocked Kennedy from getting a full shot at the Phillies’ roster.
Despite the lack of recognition, Fernandez was proud of his role in opening opportunities to Latin American players.
“I can tell you; I went through some hell,” he told Bill Dow of the Detroit Free Press, “but I just loved baseball.”
Humberto “Chico” Fernandez died in Florida at age 84 on June 11, 2016.
You can read Humberto “Chico” Fernandez SABR biography here.
You can read about John Kennedy’s Phillies debut here.
Russ Walsh is a retired teacher, diehard Phillies fan, and student of the history of baseball with a special interest in the odd, quirky, and once in a lifetime events that happen on the baseball field. He writes for both the SABR BioProject and the SABR Games Project and maintains his own blog The Faith of a Phillies Fan. You can reach Russ on Twitter @faithofaphilli1
Extra Innings
“They took away my first and last name, and I was afraid they were going to change my whole name and I wouldn't know who the hell I was.” — Fernandez on the Dodgers changing his name from Humberto Fernandez Perez to Chico Fernandez
“I can tell you that I went through some hell, but I just loved playing baseball." — Fernandez on being one of the only Latino MLB players during his career