A pitcher, Sandel is best remembered for giving up the first base hit to Jackie Robinson who broke professional baseball's color barrier in 1946 while playing under a minor league contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Despite being offered a contract that paid him $350 a month, the most he had ever made, and being given a chance to play just one step below the major league level, Sandel was unable to pitch for Sacramento because like many other ball players of his era, his career was interrupted by World War II.

For Sandel, the time was not wasted because the Coast Guard placed him on its San Diego baseball team, where he not only continued pitching but, with the help of fellow players and coaches, finally mastered the curveball.

[2] After his release from military service, Sandel returned to professional baseball and was invited to the New York Giants' 1946 spring training camp.

"[2] – Interview with Rick Van BlairSandel spent the remainder of the 1946 season playing for the minor league Jersey City Giants.

In 1947, Sandel was promoted to the major leagues and spent the next two seasons as relief pitcher for the New York Giants.

But Sandel had played against Robinson, also a Californian, in baseball games on the west coast and harbored no ill feelings toward him.

After the first several pitches were thrown and the count ran to 2–1, Dick Bouknight, the Giants catcher, walked to the mound and demanded to know if Sandell was going to throw at Robinson.

[1][4] For both professional baseball as well as society it was a historic moment when Robinson crossed the plate and reached out to the offered handshake of white teammate George Shuba.

"[7]After Sandel was released by the Giants, he returned to the minor leagues and pitched in California until 1952 when he retired from baseball.