[Old School Hound]

Happy Chandler a racist
Chandler's first year in office as baseball commissioner was marked by the decision of Brooklyn Dodgers' general manager Branch Rickey to break baseball's race barrier. Although all 15 other clubs disapproved, Chandler welcomed the idea, and in October 1945, the Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson to a 1946 contract with their Montreal farm team in the International League. In 1947, Robinson became the first black player to play Major League Baseball.

In 1988, Kentucky Governor Wallace Wilkinson gave Chandler voting rights on the University of Kentucky’s board of trustees (he had previously been an honorary, non-voting member). During a trustees meeting that April, the University’s investments in Africa that April were discussed. The almost-90-year-old Chandler said, “You all know Zimbabwe is all n****r now. There aren’t any whites.” These comments spurred protests, threats of strikes by students, and calls for Wilkinson to replace Chandler on the university board.