“If you ask me, he'll be out of the league by June. I don't think he can hit .240.”

--Jimmy Dykes, the manager of the Baltimore Orioles, during spring training 1954, about a young, highly touted Chicago Cubs infielder named Ernie Banks. Taken from “1954: The Year Willie Mays and the First Generation of Black Superstars Changed Major League Baseball Forever,” by Bill Madden.

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