Question about Leland's item--racist letter from Larry McPhail?

[GregMitch34]

See this offering in this month's auction. It seems to say that that the letter is "unsigned" but then attributes it to Larry McPhail--possibly because there is a reference to Yanks not planning to sign any "Negroes" and he was club president. Still: I wonder why no certain of that. McPhail was indeed on committee at time studying if and when to break color barrier.

http://www.lelands.com/Auction/AuctionDetail/74436/Fall-2014/Sports/Negro-League-Latin-Japan-and-International-Baseball/Lot677~Incredibly-Racist-1945-Document-The-Negro-in-Baseball-by-Larry-MacPhail

[slidekellyslide]

See this offering in this month's auction. It seems to say that that the letter is "unsigned" but then attributes it to Larry McPhail--possibly because there is a reference to Yanks not planning to sign any "Negroes" and he was club president. Still: I wonder why no certain of that. McPhail was indeed on committee at time studying if and when to break color barrier.

http://www.lelands.com/Auction/AuctionDetail/74436/Fall-2014/Sports/Negro-League-Latin-Japan-and-International-Baseball/Lot677~Incredibly-Racist-1945-Document-The-Negro-in-Baseball-by-Larry-MacPhail

I don't think it's a secret that MacPhail is the author of this document. He was vehemently opposed to integration of baseball. The Yankees did not have a black player on the team until 1955. It was his recommendation that the major leagues not integrate.

His son on the other hand may have seen things quite differently...he was the GM of the Colorado Springs Sky Sox and had many former Negro League players on his roster when many teams in the Western League had none.

[GregMitch34]

Still need source for this being accepted as McPhail and not conjecture....

[boneheadandrube]

Email?

[ksabet]

Email?

I saw that to0, got a little chuckle.

[boneheadandrube]

I saw that to0, got a little chuckle.


I didn't know who McPhail was, so I thought he got a racist email from Lelands and came here with a question about it...that made me laugh.

[slidekellyslide]

Still need source for this being accepted as McPhail and not conjecture....

This document is actually known as "The MacPhail Report"...you can read about it here.

http://seamheads.com/2014/09/09/how-major-league-owners-justified-opposition-to-integration-in-1946/

[joshleland]

Thank you to Dan Bretta for taking the time to clarify this with posting of the mcPhail report
I was not aware of this when I wrote the cool but it was somehow common sense to me that it was mcPhail authored combined with a piece of info I will reveal here
I initially wanted to add this a day or do ago but hesitated
This lot has an interesting history
I was offered not this lot but I received in the snail mail a weak photocopy in the of a letter signed by mcPhail that was probably a cover letter to the document discussed here
keep in mind I did not know yet that the document offered in my current auction (closes january 16) existed
I do not recall the exact content but it was brief and regarding negro players in baseball
Great piece right
Offered 1500$ and in a weak moment sent the check before I had the item in hand (huge mistake, my desire to have it got ahead of me)
Got it along with some unimportant documents regarding negroes in America from various politicos in the 1940s and the mcPhail letter turns out was a form letter with a stamped signature
Crap
Asked to return it, no way
Guy was a bit nuts, I'm the expert and should have known better (don't you love that one) plus I actually owed HIM money
The extra unsolicited stuff he sent me along with the mcPhail letter (but not the mcphail report) had very valuable stamps on the envelopes (not true) and that I owed him money (best defense is a good offense I suppose)
I went back and forth now heatedly in emails with him to no avail
And in a I don't know why moment sent everything back which I felt was pretty much valueless
Then he inexplicably sent me the group of stuff you now see in the auction (with no 1500$) which included some of the material I originally back and some new stuff more valueless stamps plus with the now entitled mcPhail report
It did NOT include the original mcPhail stamped letter which I bought for 1500$, why I have no clue
Perhaps he felt he could use the letter in a similar scam yet felt enough guilt to send me some other stuff or just in case I sued him which we did speak about
To make this even more curious and to paint a more vivid picture the guy was in the fashion industry (I can't for the life of me recall exactly how I know that), had a very foreign sounding name, wrote poor English (I never spoke to him communicating only by email and originally by snail mail)
But I did hear his voice and he he had a thick accent I could not place
I did leave a message on his answering machine so I heard his voice
All this sounds very cloak and dagger but it's 100% true
I'm telling you this because there was more behind me just "making up" that the report was authored by mcPhail
I don't recall if mcphail actually mentions the report in the letter, it might have, but it was just obvious at the time when I wrote the auction copy several months ago
But this story is so fantastic, or maybe it's not and that's just me, and here and elsewhere can be cynical at times and would find all this self serving
The magic bullet letter that shows that I didn't make the mcphail authorship up exists somewhere with a foreign agent fashionistas who thinks common stamps are valuable and preys on poor unsuspecting hobbyists with his blurred xeroxes
Oprah I'm ready for my interview
Mr DeMille I'm ready for my closeup
Now that I step back from all this love this story
Did I make all this up, was it all a dream we will wake up from, unfortunately no
So Greg with all due respect, I don't know you and your quest for due diligence is a good thing and I applaud you for it
However many times there is more that goes into the declarations I make regarding the pieces we sell
Sometimes one plus one equals four as we skip three with common sense, a leap of faith, or something you the reader cannot see or that we neglected to add
I have been doing this a very long time and have made such declarations for years before there was an Internet and there were few other experts to fall back on
We made these declarations (and still do) while many of the pieces we offer to the public was for the first time ever
We used our prior knowledge, common sense, a darn good library (now made virtually obsolete by the Internet), and doing what research we could with our backs to the wall from catalogue deadlines
Plus we had the best eyes in the business and still do
This is spelled out by our 25+ years of accountable auction catalogues and the fact that we stand here while others have fallen
Our material and our firm has stood the test of time while others have not
That's because of two central reasons
The first is we will not sell anything we question regardless of any outside opinions or authentication services that have no stake in this whatsoever
The second is our eye, meaning that of myself and my partner michael heffner We can look at stuff and know what's right and what's not
While others sold and still sell fakes regardless of the outcry of seasoned experts and a consensus of opinion we did and do not
We do not use the authentication services as a weapon standing weakly behind them in the face of this consensus of opinion
The services can be wrong and should be used as just another gear in the process and not in spite of all else
They are one man who is human too
And we have our past catalogues on the Internet (www.Lelands.com) to prove this out
We are all human, we all make mistakes, but it's how you deal with them that defines you
Sincerely
Joshua Leland Evans
Chairman
Lelands.com
P.S. I will scan the report and put it up on the item description so you can see what it's all about