The Question Myth of Ruthie Campanella

I came across her from the Sports Illustrated story discussing Roy Campanella in 1990 by Ron Firmite. It mostly discussed his career with the Dodgers, Jackie Robinson, and the accident that paralyzed him life and the afterwards. It briefly discussed his first wife, Ruthie and how the accident caused the separation. Roy accused of her adultery and then Firmite mentioned her death in 1963. Tommy Lasorda mentioned about her leaving due to his paralysis and about making you wonder why she died? This theme held true in the 1974 movie Its Good To Be Alive where the Ruth showed her alcohol problems and mentioned about him not being to perform due to his paralysis. When Roy died in 1993, same kind of deal but the next week his former teammate, Don Drysdale, died of a heart-attack. That is when things started to change for me, slowly.


When Don died, the whole Dodger was talking about him being a man's man and so on (who could forget about Hawk Harrelson crying). Now, Don was a great guy and very honest in his broadcast but he had drinking issues. I mean, two years before, he got busted with a D.U.I. and sent a lady to the hospital. In his book, Once a Bum, Always a Dodger, every other paragraph seemed to mention about alcohol consumption. Many people have said this death was attributed to his drinking including Mickey Mantle who died two years later. It gave me an impression that Roy was pushed aside for Don. At first, I thought it was a racial but the Edward Murrow show 'Person to Person" which featured Campanella showed me something else. 


The background of this was that Roy hit a game winning homer to win Game 3 of the 1953 World Series. Now, he comes home to his family and does the interview. What really stuck was the unhappiness and uneasiness of the whole family including the children. With the exception of Roy Jr., nobody was smiling when Morrow was throwing questions to them. Ruthie looked miserable and sort of tired-passive as if the family got into an argument before the show. What blew me away was how Roy, Sr. behaved? He was smiles and all that but when it came to talking about his kids, he was just praising Roy, Jr. and how he was going to be the star of family-- in front of his other children. He didn't talk about them at all only introducing them to Morrow.


Now, mind you I have seen this with other parents like Richard Williams but this is Roy Campanella after hitting game winning homer in the World Series. Likewise, he acted like it was another ho-hum game (The Dodgers were trying to win their first World Series). The kids acted like his father struck out. I have seen the children of Jackie Robinson look unhappy but I never saw that weariness and unhappiness in his wife, Rachel when they were interviewed for pictures and magazines. But, Jackie showed favorite to his slowest child, Jackie Jr. Maybe reading too much into it but something just wasn't right in Dodger town.

Ruth with Roy and daughter after the accident.

This was in the mid-90's. No blogs then and no commercial publications were going to break myth about Roy and Ruthie Campanella. Only time could do it. But I did look at stories of the Negro-Leagues. There were mentions about Roy having a wife and two girls by the time he was 20 years old. That they were living in his parents home. They mentioned her name as Bernice Ray and why he didn't fight in World War II. Then he divorced her and married Ruth. People didn't divorce back then because it was expensive and Roy was Italian and black living in his parents home! Now, separate, yes. No mention about Bernice. For that matter with Roy's parents. They just seem to disappear when it comes to written when he joined the Negro Leagues. When did they die and so on? Did they care for him when he got paralyzed, too? But this one is about Ruth not Babe but Ruthie.


First I like to know who she was and what she was before she met Roy? I heard she had a son before Roy named David that Roy adopted. He was a do-wop singer before drugs and alcohol killed him at age 41. A newspaper clips mentions him in 1959 about being getting arrested for juvenile gang fight while his father was recovering from his paralysis. You know, I don't remember him on that Edward Morrow interview?  With Roy, I now hear the stories about his womanizing and that he was at a mistress's house before the accident. So, Ron Firmite can you stop the "B.S.ing" and your obsession of Reggie Jackson selfishness. Second, I like to hear from Roy, Jr. and how he felt about his mom and what really went on. That goes for Tony and John as well as the daughter's view which we never heard a thing about. Finally, I like to hear about how things really went down with Ruth and was it a Tiger Woods thing?


Ruthie Campanella has been vilified wrongly for all these years to cover Roy's indiscretions.  She is no angel but I don't think Roy was either and the truth is slowly coming out. Likewise, I think he followed the Kubler-Ross theory about his paralysis instead of the optimism one that his former teammates talk about.  The people in Dodger land history, Campanella family, and the Robinson family need to step up and tell the truth.   This is totally wrong. The writers and the truth seekers from that time need to be punished severely for still covering up the truth. Because, Ruthie Campanella is still being punished for no good reason by print.