Bob Motley
Ballplayers Wounded in Combat
| Date and Place of Birth: | March 11, 1923 Autaugaville, AL |
| Date and Place of Death: | September 14, 2017 Kansas City, MO |
| Baseball Experience: | Negro League and Minor League |
| Position: | Umpire |
| Rank: | Unknown |
| Military Unit: | US Marine Corps |
| Area Served: | Pacific Theater of Operations |
Negro Baseball League Umpire, Robert C. "Bob"
Motley, was born in Autaugaville, Alabama to sharecropping father
William Motley and domestic working mother Eula Inez (née Parker). The
sixth of eight children born to the union, his father died from tainted
well water when Bob was only four years old. After his father’s death,
the family moved to Anniston, Alabama where Bob spent his formative
years.
To help his family financially, Bob began working as a bellboy at the
all-white Jefferson Davis Hotel when he was twelve years old. Dividing
his time between school and work, Bob had little time for play but would
soon discover a passion for sports, particularly baseball. Without the
means to buy or access to equipment, Bob and his playmates made their
own bats and balls by using tree limbs or broom handles for bats, and
rocks wrapped with rags and strings for balls.
Having endured enough discrimination in the Deep South, in 1940, at the
age of seventeen, Bob boarded a freight train headed North, hoboing his
way to Dayton, Ohio to live with his uncle Samuel Parker who had also
escaped the South. He immediately found a job at Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base reaming out bullet chambers on M1 Carbine rifles. Little did
he know, he would soon be carrying one of these weapons into battle
himself.
As World War II raged on, Bob voluntarily enlisted into the Marine Corps
on May 21, 1943. Unbeknownst to him at the time, he was making history
becoming one of the country’s first black Marines known as the Montford
Point Marines. Battling in the South Pacific, Motley helped invade
Saipan, Tinian, Okinawa and Guam. During a hard- fought battle on the
island of Okinawa, he suffered a gunshot to the foot and ended up in the
military hospital.
While recovering, fate intervened, and Motley would discover that his
near-death injury had led him to discover what would become a lifelong
passion, umpiring. Hearing a pick- up baseball game being played by
distressed soldiers near the unit hospital, a wounded Motley hobbled
over to the makeshift field and volunteered to umpire. Never having
umpired before, calling balls and strikes was a natural fit for the
healing soldier.
Honorably discharged on February 1, 1946, and receiving a Purple Heart,
Motley moved to Kansas City, Missouri which would be the place he would
call home for over seventy years. Bob landed a job at General Motors
assembly plant and worked for the auto company for 37 years.
Starting in 1947, Motley began his journey umpiring in the Negro
Leagues. He quickly developed a unique and animated style unlike any
other umpire. Bob’s trademarks included, jumping high into the air to
call a runner out on a close play, and, doing the splits low to the
ground with his arms stretched wide open to signal a safe call. He made
sure his bellows of “yer out” and “safe” were loud enough for everyone
in the stadium to hear. Loved by the entertained crowd, Bob worked his
way up through the ranks ultimately becoming Chief Umpire in the
league. For a decade, Motley umpired games with legendary Black
ballplayers including: Satchel Paige, Hilton Smith, Willie Mays, Goose
Tatum, Ernie Banks, Buck O’Neil, Hank Aaron and the man he says was the
greatest African-American ballplayer at that time, Hall of Famer Willard
Brown. A career highlight was umpiring three Negro League East-West All
Star games in Chicago’s Comiskey Park.
In 1951, Bob married Edna Pearline (née Hayes) and the couple would have
two children. With a growing family to support, Bob continued to follow
his passion for umpiring, often getting a leave of absence from his job
to go on the road with various Negro League teams.
In 1957, Motley would continue to hone his umpiring craft by enrolling
at the Al Somer Umpire School in Daytona Beach, Florida. One of the
first three African-Americans to attend the school, Motley graduated top
of the class two years in a row. In August 1958, Motley accepted a
position in the Pacific Coast League, AAA level baseball, one-tier below
the majors. It was the first time in history that any umpire, black or
white, had gone directly from umpire school into a high-ranking level in
professional baseball.
After two seasons on the west coast, Motley could see that integration
into the majors was not going to come swiftly, so he opted not to renew
his contract. Still not one to take no for an answer, he continually
tried to break the Major Leagues color barrier for years, writing the
commissioner and seeking the support of his white counterparts who had
graduated beneath him in umpire school who had made it to the
majors. Bob would never realize this dream for himself, but his campaign
helped heighten the awareness of discrimination and paved the way for
younger umpires of color who followed in his footsteps.
In addition to umpiring in the Negro and Pacific Coast Leagues, Motley
was a sought- after arbiter for several College World Series games
throughout the 70s. He also officiated semi-pro, high school and college
sports including basketball and football in and around the Kansas City
area.
In 2007, Motley penned his memoir Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants & Stars:
True Tales of Breaking Barriers, Umpiring Baseball Legends, and Wild
Adventures in the Negro Leagues, with his son Byron. Later that year,
“Bob Motley Day” was declared in his adopted hometown of Kansas
City. And in June 2009, Motley was honored in his birth state of Alabama
with an induction into the Calhoun County Sports Hall of Fame.
Bob was a founding member of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas
City and the top season ticket seller for the Kansas City Royals
Baseball Club for nearly 40 years.
Honoring his pioneering achievement as a U.S. Marine, in 2012, Bob, and
approximately 400 living Montford Point Marines, received the
Congressional Gold Medal of Honor for their World War II service in a
celebration in Washington, DC.
In a posthumous recognition, a life-style statue of Motley was added
behind home plate to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museums’ “Field of
Legends” in November 2017.
Bibliography:
Motley, Bob & Motley, Byron., Ruling Over Monarchs, Giants & Stars: True
Tales of Breaking Barriers, Umpiring Baseball Legends, and Wild
Adventures in the Negro Leagues, Skyhorse/Sports Publishing, 2007/2013.
Kelly, Brent., I Will Never Forget, McFarland & Company, 2003.
Heaphy, Leslie A., The Negro Leagues 1869-1960, McFarland & Company,
2003.
Lester, Larry., Black Baseball National Showcase, University of Nebraska
Press, 2001
Many thanks to Bob's son, Byron, for contributing this wonderful biography.
Date Added June 16, 2020
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