As he does every so often, Vada Pinson III recently posted this painfully evocative photo of his dad to Facebook ... 

There's Vada Pinson and the fountain from which he was allowed to drink. If ever a simple snapshot captured the underside of the society in which so many players toiled, this is it. 

This is a photo from spring training in Florida taken some time between 1958 and 1963. As we know, Major League Baseball integrated in 1947 with the debut of Jackie Robinson. However, it wasn't until 1962 that some spring training hotels in the Deep South began to permit black players and white players to share accommodations. It wasn't until the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 that all spring training facilities integrated. 

Pinson would go on to be a two-time All-Star; win a Gold Glove in center; and tally 2,787 hits, 256 home runs, 485 doubles, and 305 stolen bases across parts of 18 big-league seasons. For much of that career, he succeeded despite occasionally being dehumanized in such a way. 

Can you imagine rising to the top of your profession despite a kind of sanctioned scorn working against you? It's hard to overstate the strength and perseverance required of black players of Pinson's generation to even make it to the batter's box or pitcher's mound.

(h/t: Bruce Markusen)