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San Antonio Missions outfielder Joe Durham was leading the Texas League in hitting with a .391 batting average through fifty games in early June 1957. Here’s guessing no one then would have known what it meant that Durham’s OPS was 1.101. The minor-league club’s parent organization, the Baltimore Orioles, certainly knew it was time to get Durham into the majors and called him up on June 10.Yet there were entire series played earlier that season when Durham was benched for lesser teammates. He sat neither because of a slump nor for any disciplinary reason. The 25-year-old standout knew beforehand he would sit out those series. When the Missions played road games against the Shreveport Sports, Durham didn’t play. He wasn’t allowed to play.Joe Durham was…

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