Backround

Roy Campanella was born on November 19, 1921, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  In 1937 Campanella played for the team Bacharach Giants which was a semi- pro team. Right after that he started playing catcher for the Baltimore Elite Giants in the Negro National League.  His father was Italian- American and his mother was African- American, that's why they forced him to be on the Negro Leagues until 1948.^[1]  Once again he changed teams and started playing on the Mexican league for 2 years.  Thanks to Campanella, the Dodgers won 4 pennants in 1949, 1953, 1954, and 1955. The decades sadest tragedy was when Campanella's baseball career was cut short in 1958 when he was in a car accident and got paralyzed.  He was a spring training coach for many years with the Dodgers.  He wrote an autobiography called It's Good To Be Alive, and later it was made into a movie.Campanella died on June 26, 1993. 

Significance

 Roy Campanella was known to be one of the worlds greatest baseball catchers.  Campanella played for numerous teams including Bacharach Giants, Baltimore Elite Giants, Negro National League, the Mexican League and the Dodgers.  After hitting 13 homeruns in 35 games he got called onto the Dodgers.  In 1949 his batting average was .287, and hit 22 homeruns that year and earned a spot onto an All-Star team, in addition to helping the Dodgers.  His lifetime batting average was .276 and he hit 856 RBI's.^[2]  Dusty Baker- a former dodgers player quoted "In the days that he caught, catching was basically a white positon... catching was a thinking position that most of America didnt think people like Campanella could handle. He broke the mold..."  Thanks to Campanella, everyone today is aloud and not afraid to play baseball.

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