Baseball’s Sukeforth dead at 98> Mainer helped Dodgers sign Jackie Robinson

Former major leaguer Clyde Sukeforth, a Mainer who played a role in breaking baseball’s color barrier in the 1940s, died Sunday. He was 98.

Sukeforth was born on Nov. 30, 1901, grew up in the Knox County town of Washington and lived for many years in Waldoboro.

Sukeforth was a solid catcher who compiled a .264 batting average over parts of 10 major league seasons, but his main claim to fame involved his role in bringing Negro League star Jackie Robinson into the majors.

The Mainer nicknamed “Sukey” became a confidante of Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey and worked for the organization as a scout.

Sukeforth said in 1987 that Rickey was determined to be the man who integrated baseball by bringing a black player into the major leagues. Sukeforth turned out to be the scout who helped make that possible.

In 1945 Rickey dispatched Sukeforth to Chicago to watch Robinson’s Kansas City Monarchs play the Lincoln (Ill.) Giants. Robinson ended up sitting out the game, but Sukeforth came away from a meeting impressed and set up an interview between Rickey and Robinson.

Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947.

Sukeforth served as a scout with the Dodgers from 1936-1951 and and later scouted for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves. Among the players he signed were Roberto Clemente and Don Newcombe.

Sukeforth hit .354 for Cincinnati in 1929 but suffered an eye injury in a 1931 hunting accident that hampered his hitting for the rest of his career. He hit just .207 after the accident.

He was inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 1977.