Roy Campanella (November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993), nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player — primarily at the position of catcher — in the Negro Leagues and Major League Baseball. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Widely considered to have been one of the greatest catchers in the history of the game, Campanella played for the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1940s and 1950s, as one of the pioneers in breaking the color barrier in ...
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Roy Campanella (November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993), nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player — primarily at the position of catcher — in the Negro Leagues and Major League Baseball. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Widely considered to have been one of the greatest catchers in the history of the game, Campanella played for the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1940s and 1950s, as one of the pioneers in breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. His career was cut short in 1958 when he was paralyzed in an automobile accident.
Campanella's father John was of Italian descent; however, because his mother Ida was African American, he was barred from Major League Baseball before 1947, the season that non-white players were admitted to the Major Leagues for the first time since the 19th century. Campanella began playing Negro League baseball for the Washington Elite Giants in 1937, dropping out of school on his sixteenth birthday. The Elite Giants would move to...
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