Nothing But a Man
In October 1969, just after the baseball season ended, the owner of my favorite team, the Saint Louis Cardinals, traded two all-stars, Gold Glove outfielder Curt Flood and catcher Tim McCarver, to the Philadelphia Phillies for the much-troubled, troublemaking, and immensely talented first baseman Dick Allen. There were a few other players in the mix, but that was the heart of the trade. Flood and Allen were black.
Allen, who had grown up in the more tolerant working-class suburbs of Pittsburgh, underwent one misery after another, trying to play in Philadelphia for racist and notoriously unforgiving fans. Flood, whose early career had been stalled by a racist manager in Saint Louis, did not want to leave his team and his city. The...
PhD, is a Distinguished Professor at Thales College and the author of over thirty books and many articles in both scholarly and general interest journals. A senior editor of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, Dr. Esolen is known for his elegant essays on the faith and for his clear social commentaries. In addition to Salvo, his articles appear regularly in Touchstone, Crisis, First Things, Inside the Vatican, Public Discourse, Magnificat, Chronicles and in his own online literary magazine, Word & Song.
Get Salvo in your inbox! This article originally appeared in Salvo, Issue #74, Fall 2025 Copyright © 2025 Salvo | www.salvomag.com https://salvomag.com/article/salvo74/manhood-in-the-balance
