Major League Baseball

Does Herb Pennock deserve his reputation?

Published Dec. 1, 2014 1:38 p.m. ET

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A few weeks ago, Herb Pennock was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. For the occasion, the Inquirer's Frank Fitzpatrick wrote a well-reported, thoughtful piece about Pennock's reputation. Please read the whole thing, but here's a key snippet:

Pennock's in the Hall of Fame and shouldn't be, but that's because of his performance, not his supposed racism. I've heard people suggest that integrity can't count in Hall of Fame arguments, because some Hall of Famers were racists. But that's a canard. If we kick out all the supposed racists, there go a hefty percentage of the white Hall of Famers born before ... oh, just for argument's sake, let's say 1935. If we kick out all the guys who harbor, somewhere deep within the dark recesses of their souls, some prejudice or another toward others ... well, there go all of them. 

Because there go all of us.

I recently heard someone on the radio say something quite profoundly. We all want to draw that line, with the good people on one side and the bad people on the other. Except that line's actually within each of us. So instead of putting The Knight of Kennett Square on the other side of that line, I will continue to believe he made some mistakes in his life, harbored some prejudices, and has served as a convenient foil in one of our favorite stories.

We might never know the truth about that phone call. But if Pennock was severely prejudiced against black baseball players in 1947, he was far, far from alone. And you might want to be careful where you draw that line.

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