Remembering the late Bobby Morgan, one of last remaining Brooklyn Dodgers

Bobby Morgan grew up in Oklahoma City, went to Classen High School, fought 16 months in World War II’s European Theater and played baseball for the Boys of Summer Brooklyn Dodgers. 

You might say it was quite a life. 

Morgan died June 1 at age 96. His family preferred no announcement, so news of Morgan’s death has been slow to reach the people who knew him and a baseball fraternity that honored his status as one of the final seven living Brooklyn Dodgers. 

“He had the craziest stories,” said David Irwin, who worked for years with Morgan at Pancho’s Liquortown in northwest Oklahoma City. 

War tales, and tales of the Dodgers having to help Jackie Robinson escape from protesting mobs during spring training in Florida after Robinson had broken baseball’s color barrier in 1947. 

Morgan in 1997 told The Oklahoman that Robinson’s ordeal was much more harrowing than even the history books report. 

"You don't realize what that man went through," he said. "The abuse. Verbal abuse from the fans. Just fierce. 

"We're sitting on the bench, there really wasn't much we could do about it. We wished we could go up in the stands and whip someone." 

More:The Collected Wisdom of Brooklyn Dodgers infielder Bobby Morgan

Morgan was born in Oklahoma City on June 29, 1926. He went to Horace Mann Elementary and Harding Junior High; played baseball with the YMCA little league and American Legion. 

Morgan signed with the Dodgers out of high school, then went to the war. He returned to baseball in 1947 and was called up to the Dodgers in 1950. 

In three years — 1950, 1952-53 — as a utility infielder with Brooklyn, Morgan batted .241 with 21 home runs and 70 runs batted in, in 586 at-bats. 

Retired Oklahoma City doctor Jack Gilleran grew up in New York as a Dodger fan. Later in life, he became friends with Morgan. 

“I used to watch those guys play when I was a kid,” Gilleran said. “Love ‘em all.” 

Gilleran would go into Pancho’s and listen to Morgan’s old stories. Maybe the best was Willie Mays’ self-proclaimed greatest catch, off a Morgan drive. Mays virtually knocked himself out as he ran into the wall but held onto the ball. 

Morgan “was so pissed off, he was already back in the dugout, when (Giants manager Leo) Durocher and the umpire ran out onto the field and found the ball in his glove. 

“He was fun to talk to.” 

I can attest. Ten years ago, Morgan met me at the Quail Springs AMC; we watched “42,” the Jackie Robinson movie. Morgan gave it a thumbs-up. 

"I'm very proud of playing with him," Morgan said. "I'm proud to be a Boy of Summer.” 

By baseball historian accounts, only six Brooklyn Dodgers remain alive: 96-year-old Carl Erskine, whose 1952 no-hitter was preserved by two brilliant fielding plays by Morgan; Tommy Brown, 95; Fred Kipp, 91; Edmond’s Jim Gentile, 89; the great Sandy Koufax, 87; and Bob Aspromonte, 85. 

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