SR 106 (LSB 5157SS (8) 84)

SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 106

BY  HATCH, HOGG, MATHIS, DVORSKY, HORN, DEARDEN, FRAISE, GRONSTAL, KIBBIE, BLACK, McCOY, BEALL, WILHELM, QUIRMBACH, RAGAN, BOWMAN, SENG, SCHOENJAHN, BOLKCOM, DOTZLER, DANIELSON, RIELLY, and JOCHUM

A Resolution honoring Art Pennington, an American baseball great.

   WHEREAS, only rarely does the Senate have the opportunity to celebrate the life and work of an American who still lives among us, a man, not just a memory; and
   WHEREAS, Arthur D. Pennington now lives quietly in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but 70 years ago, long before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, Mr. Pennington was known as “Superman” and was a star of the Negro baseball leagues; and
   WHEREAS, as a black man, Mr. Pennington was denied an opportunity to play major league baseball, but for almost 20 years, Mr. Pennington played the game throughout the Americas, including Havana, Cuba, and Caracas, Venezuela; and
   WHEREAS, at 17, Mr. Pennington traveled to Chicago, joining the Chicago American Giants of the Negro league; and
   WHEREAS, the “Superman” was one of the Negro league’s brightest stars and played in the prestigious Negro League East/West All-Star Game in 1942, 1946, and 1950; and
   WHEREAS, Mr. Pennington was an All-Star during the golden era of the Negro leagues and maintained an eight-year batting average of .336, emerging as a Negro league star in 1945, batting .359 and .500 as the first baseman for the Giants; and
   WHEREAS, over the following decades, Mr. Pennington played with some of the greatest baseball players of all time including Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Hank Aaron, Buck O’Neil, James Thomas “Cool Papa” Bell, Willie Mays, Roy Campanella, and many others; and
   WHEREAS, it was during this period of time, his prime years, that much of his statistical data was lost because of limited record keeping for the Negro leagues; and
   WHEREAS, in 1949, Mr. Pennington returned to the United States with his wife Anita, a Caucasian woman of Spanish origin, at a time when in some states it was still illegal for African Americans and Caucasians to marry; the implications of their interracial marriage had unforeseen repercussions on his baseball career and quite possibly prevented him from playing Major League baseball; and
   WHEREAS, in 1959, Mr. Pennington retired from the game he loved so much and made a home and a new life in Cedar Rapids, where he worked at Collins Radio for many years, played on the company baseball team, and ran for several political offices including sheriff, mayor, and safety commissioner; and
   WHEREAS, featured in the books Baseball’s Forgotten Heroes and The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues and in the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Art Pennington was a great American baseball player; and
   WHEREAS, to this day Mr. Pennington is a living reminder of the challenges that African Americans faced in our country based not on their skill but on the color of their skin, and while some African Americans succeeded in their pursuits during this shameful period in our country’s history, others still had to endure discrimination and prejudice and were prevented from fulfilling their goals; for Mr. Pennington that goal was playing in the major leagues; NOW THEREFORE,

   BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, That the Senate honors the “Superman”, Arthur D. Pennington, one of America’s finest baseball players and a civil rights pioneer whose life and contributions have for too long been overlooked, and

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That because of the racial divides of the 1940s and 1950s, Mr. Pennington never received the recognition he deserved, therefore the Senate urges that he be considered for admission to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.