Gaining and then losing momentum in Philadelphia

Seven months after Jackie Robinson retires, the Philadelphia Phillies – Robinson’s main antagonists in 1947 when he breaks baseball’s color barrier – become the National League’s last team to integrate 67 years ago today.

Coincidentally, the moment comes against the Brooklyn Dodgers, with whom Robinson makes history 10 years earlier, as the Phillies use John Kennedy as a pinch-runner in the eighth inning of a 5-1 loss to the Dodgers before a Monday afternoon crowd of 11,629 at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, N.J.

Kennedy earns a spot on the Opening Day roster after a spring training in which he hits a team-high .409 for the Phillies.

He also seemingly earns a spot in the Phillies’ starting lineup, but that opportunity dissipates when Kennedy hurts his right shoulder late in training camp.

A week later, on April 5, 1957, the Phillies send five players to the Dodgers for Chico Fernandez, a 25-year-old backup shortstop stuck in Brooklyn behind rising rookie Charlie Neal.

With Kennedy hurt, Fernandez immediately becomes the Phillies’ starting shortstop and the 30-year-old Kennedy does not get a chance to play until 67 years ago today in the Phillies’ sixth game of the season.

After that, Kennedy’s time in Philadelphia is measured in days, not months and years.

In the two weeks after his debut, Kennedy goes hitless in two at-bats, pinch runs three times and gets his only playing in the field in two games as a backup for Fernandez.

The Phillies then send Kennedy back to the minors, where he spends another four-plus seasons before retiring at the age of 34.