Clay Hopper

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Clay Hopper

Clay Hopper was an American baseball player and manager in the minor leagues. He played from 1926 to 1941 and then managed until 1956. He is best known for guiding Jackie Robinson’s first integrated team and for his long career as a minor league manager.

Early life
- Born October 3, 1902, in Porterville, Mississippi; later lived in Greenwood, Mississippi.
- Attended Mississippi State University (then Mississippi A&M), where he was a three-year baseball letterman. He played on the 1924 team that won a major Southern conference title.

Baseball career
- Spent his playing days in the minor leagues (1926–1941). On July 17, 1927, he hit four home runs in a single game for the Danville Veterans.
- Joined the Rochester Red Wings for the last three weeks of 1928 and helped win the league pennant.
- Became a player-manager with the Laurel Cardinals in 1929. Played for the Greensboro Patriots in 1930 but did not manage.
- Managed the Scottsdale Cardinals in 1931, then joined the St. Louis Cardinals’ system as a player-manager for the Elmira Red Wings. Later led the Greensburg Red Wings to a league championship in 1934.
- Promoted to manage the Springfield Cardinals in 1938, then the Columbus Red Birds in 1939, and the Houston Buffaloes in 1942.

- In 1942, Hopper joined the Brooklyn Dodgers organization. He managed the Mobile Bears to a league title in 1945.
- In 1946, he became the Montreal Royals’ manager in the International League. That year Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers’ farm system and was assigned to Montreal. Hopper, who opposed integration at the time, asked Dodgers executive Branch Rickey to move Robinson, but Robinson stayed with Montreal. Robinson later said Hopper treated him well, and the Royals won the Governors’ Cup as International League champions. Hopper was named the Minor League Manager of the Year for 1946 by Sporting News and helped recommend Robinson’s promotion to the major leagues in 1947.
- Hopper remained Montreal’s manager through 1949, during which the team won three Governors’ Cups.
- In 1950, he was reassigned to manage the St. Paul Saints in the American Association as Montreal’s manager changed to Walter Alston.

- From 1952 to 1955, Hopper managed the Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League, a league not affiliated with a major league team at that time. He was named the PCL Manager of the Year in 1953.
- In 1956, he managed the Hollywood Stars (a Pirates affiliate) in the PCL and then retired from baseball after the season.

Legacy
- Hopper ranks 15th all-time in minor league wins as a manager.
- He was posthumously inducted into the International League Hall of Fame in 2009.

Personal life
- Lived in Greenwood, Mississippi, and worked as a cotton broker during the off-season.
- Portrayed by Brett Cullen in the 2013 film 42, which tells the Jackie Robinson story.