Baseball color line
Encyclopedia
The color line in American
baseball
excluded players of black African descent from Organized Baseball, or the major leagues
and affiliated minor leagues, until Jackie Robinson
signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization for the 1946 season. Racial segregation
in professional baseball is sometimes called a gentlemen's agreement
, meaning a tacit understanding, because there was no written policy at the highest level of baseball organization. Some leagues did rule against member clubs signing black players, however, as the color line was drawn during the 1880s and 1890s.
On the "other side" of the color line, many black baseball clubs were established and especially during the 1920s to 1940s there were several "Negro" or "Colored" Leagues in operation, which primarily featured those players barred from Organized Baseball. Some light-skinned Hispanic
players, some Native American
s, and even native Hawaiians played white baseball during that period.
Two months later the National Association of Base Ball Players
decided to ban "any club including one or more colored persons."
As baseball made the transition toward becoming a professional sport over the next decade, and the NABBP dissolved into competing organizations in 1871
, professional players were no longer restricted by this rule and, for a short while – in 1878 and again in 1884 – African American players played professional baseball. Over time, they were slowly excluded more and more. As prominent players such as Cap Anson
steadfastly refused to take the field with or against teams with African American
s on the roster, it became informally accepted that African Americans were not to participate in Major League Baseball
.
Still after 1871, formal bans existed only in minor league baseball. In 1884 in response to the Toledo Blue Stockings
of the American Association
having Moses Fleetwood Walker
, the first black man to play major league baseball, on their roster Cap Anson
of the Chicago White Stockings, then one of the most beloved and respected players at the time, threatened to not play in an exhibition game with them if Walker played. Anson backed down when he learned that he would forfeit a day's salary if he did so. A few years later in 1887 Anson, in response to the possibility of the Newark Little Giants
hiring the African American pitcher George Stovey
, threatened not to play any club who had a black man on their roster.
In part due to Anson's influence and of those of other white players, on July 14, 1887, the directors of the International League
voted to prohibit the signing of additional black players – although blacks under contract, like Frank Grant
of the Buffalo Bisons and Fleet Walker of the Syracuse franchise, could remain with their teams. Grant and Walker stayed through the 1888 season.
Shortly thereafter, the American Association
and the National League
both unofficially banned African-American players, making the adoption of racism in baseball complete.
By 1890, the International League was all white, as it would remain until 1946 when Jackie Robinson played for the Montreal Royals
.
As a result of this exclusive treatment of blacks, deceptive tactics were used by managers to sign African Americans, including several attempts, with the player's acquiescence, to sign players who they knew full well were African American as Native Americans despite the ban.
In 1901, John McGraw
, manager of the American League
Baltimore Orioles
, tried to add Charlie Grant
to the roster as his second baseman. He tried to get around the Gentleman's Agreement by trying to pass him as a Cherokee
Indian named Charlie Tokohama. Grant went along with the charade. However in Chicago Grant's African American friends who came to see him try out gave him away and Grant never got an opportunity to play ball in the big leagues.
On May 28, 1916, British Columbian Jimmy Claxton
temporarily broke the professional baseball color barrier when he played two games for the Oakland Oaks
of the Pacific Coast League
. Claxton was introduced to the team owner by a part-Native-American friend as a fellow member of an Oklahoma
tribe. The Zee-Nut candy company rushed out a baseball card for Claxton. However, within a week, a friend of Claxton revealed that he had both Negro and Native American ancestors, and Claxton was promptly fired. It would be nearly thirty more years before another black man-at least one known to be black-played organized white baseball.
There possibly were attempts to have people of African descent be signed as Hispanics. One possible attempt may have occurred in 1911 when the Cincinnati Reds
signed two light-skinned players from Cuba
, Armando Marsans
and Rafael Almeida
. Both of them had played "Negro Baseball", barnstorming as members of the integrated All Cubans
. When questions arose about them playing the white man's game, the Cincinnati managers assured the public that "...they were as pure white as Castile soap."
The African American newspaper The New York Age
had this to say about the signings:
Nonetheless, regardless of the skin tone of the Cuban players, at the very least blacks of the United States were still banned from white baseball albeit if Marsans and Almeida were in fact black but light skinned then their successful breaking of the color barrier has gone unheralded.
was founded in by Rube Foster, independent of Organized Baseball's National Commission (1903–1920). The NNL survived through 1931, primarily in the midwest, accompanied by the major Eastern Colored League
for several seasons to 1928. "National" and "American" Negro leagues
were established in 1933 and 1937 which persisted until integration. The Negro Southern League
operated consecutively from 1920, usually at a lower level. None of them, nor any integrated teams, were members of Organized Baseball, the system led by Commissioner Landis from 1921. Rather, until professional baseball in the United States was played in two racially segregated league systems, one on each side of the so-called color line. Much of that time there were two high-level "Negro major leagues" with a championship playoff or all-star game, as between the white major leagues.
, Kenesaw Mountain Landis
has been alleged to have been particularly determined to maintain the segregation. It is possible that he was guided by his background as a federal judge, and specifically by the then-existing constitutional doctrine of "separate but equal
" institutions (see Plessy v. Ferguson
). He himself maintained for many years that black players could not be integrated into the major leagues without heavily compensating the owners of Negro league teams for what would likely result in the loss of their investments. In addition, integration at the major league level would likely have necessitated integrating the minor leagues
, which were much more heavily distributed through the rural U.S. South
and Midwest
.
Although Landis had served an important role in helping to restore the integrity of the game after the 1919 World Series scandal
, his unyielding stance on the subject of baseball's color line was an impediment. His death in late 1944 was opportune, as it resulted in the appointment of a new Commissioner, Happy Chandler
, who was much more open to integration than Landis was.
From the purely operational viewpoint, Landis' predictions on the matter would prove to be correct. The eventual integration of baseball spelled the demise of the Negro leagues, and integration of the southern minor leagues was a difficult challenge.
claimed that in , he tried to buy the then-moribund Philadelphia Phillies
and stock them with Negro league stars. Veeck maintained for years that when Landis got wind of his plans, he and National League president Ford Frick
scuttled it in favor of another bid by William B. Cox
.
In his autobiography, Veeck, as in Wreck, in which he discussed his abortive attempt to buy the Phillies, Veeck also stated that he wanted to hire black players for the simple reason that in his opinion the best black athletes "can run faster and jump higher" than the best white athletes.
Veeck realized that there was no actual rule against integration; it was just an unwritten policy, a "Gentlemen's Agreement". Veeck stated that Landis and Frick prevented him from buying and thus integrating the Phillies, on various grounds.
Around , Branch Rickey
, General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers
, held tryouts of black players, under the cover story of forming a new team called the "Brooklyn Brown Dodgers". The Dodgers were, in fact, looking for the right man to break the color line. Rickey had an advantage in that he was already an employee of the Dodgers. Also, Landis had died by this time and new commissioner Happy Chandler
was more supportive of integrating the major leagues. However, Veeck's story is arguably false based on press accounts of the time; notably, Philadelphia's black press never mentioned anything about a Veeck bid.
in October , intending him to play for the Dodgers. Chandler later wrote in his biography that although he risked losing his job as commissioner, he could not in good conscience tell blacks they couldn't play with whites when they'd just fought alongside them in World War II.
After a year in the minor leagues with the Dodgers' top minor-league affiliate, the Montreal Royals
of the International League
, Robinson was called up to the Dodgers in . He endured epithets and death threats and got off to a slow start. However, his athleticism and skill earned him the first ever Rookie of the Year
award, which is now named in his honor.
Less well-known was Larry Doby
, who signed with Bill Veeck's Cleveland Indians
that same year to become the American League
's first African American player. Doby, a more low-key figure than Robinson, suffered many of the same indignities that Robinson did, albeit with less press coverage. Both men were ultimately elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
on the merits of their play. Due to their success, teams gradually integrated African Americans on their rosters.
Prior to the integration of the major leagues, the Brooklyn Dodgers led the integration of the minor leagues. Jackie Robinson and Johnny Wright
were assigned to Montreal, but also that season Don Newcombe
and Roy Campanella
became members of the Nashua Dodgers
in the class-B New England League
. Nashua was the first minor-league team based in the United States to integrate its roster after . Subsequently that season, the Pawtucket Slaters, the Boston Braves'
New England League franchise, also integrated its roster, as did Brooklyn's class-C franchise in Trois-Rivières, Quebec
. With one exception, the rest of the minor leagues would slowly integrate as well, including those based in the southern United States
. The Carolina League
, for example, integrated in when the Danville Leafs
signed Percy Miller Jr.
to their team.
The exception was the Class AA Southern Association
. Founded in 1901 and based in the Deep South, it never yielded to integration. As a result, its major-league parent clubs were forced to field all-white teams during the 1950s, a period when African Americans and Latin American players of African descent were beginning to dominate baseball. By the end of the 1950s, the SA also was boycotted by civil rights leaders
. The Association finally ceased operation after the 1961 season, still a bastion of segregation. Its member teams joined the International, Sally
and Texas
leagues, which were all racially integrated.
were the last major league team to integrate, due to the steadfast resistance provided by owner Tom Yawkey
. The Red Sox had refused to consider signing Jackie Robinson after a brief tryout at Fenway Park
in April 1945. Boston city councilor Isadore Muchnick spurred that tryout by threatening to revoke the team's exemption from Sunday blue law
s.
The segregation policy was enforced by Yawkey's general managers: Eddie Collins
(through 1947), Joe Cronin
(1948–58), and Mike "Pinky" Higgins
(field manager 1955–59 and 1960–62, special assistant to the owner 1960, and general manager 1963–65). A strong team in the late 1940s, the Red Sox finished perpetually in the second division during the early and mid-1960s, the implication being that Boston shut itself off from the expanded talent pool due to its segregation policy.
When integration did come, it may have been half-hearted. The new General Manager Bucky Harris
promoted Pumpsie Green
from Boston's AAA farm club in July , but Green did not become a regular player, though Green's minor league record suggests he probably was no better than a fourth outfielder. Earl Wilson began a nearly five year run as a regular in the Red Sox' rotation beginning 1962. Felix Mantilla was slowly promoted from utility infielder to regular second baseman from '63-'65. By 1966, semi-dark skinned Jose Santiago had joined Wilson in the rotation and Boston had very dark skinned George Scott, George Smith, and Joe Foy in their regular line-up.
After a dismal ninth-place finish in 1966, General Manager Dick O'Connell
promoted Dick Williams
, manager of the club's Triple-A Toronto affiliate, to lead the major league team. Williams brought along many of his minor league players, some of whom were black. The Red Sox went on to win the "Impossible Dream" pennant and battle the fully integrated St. Louis Cardinals
for seven games in the 1967 World Series
. African-American Reggie Smith
finished second for the "Rookie of the Year"; George Scott had been third in 1966.
After Williams was fired in 1969, any commitment to a fielding a color-blind team began to slip. Perennially in need of pitching, the Red Sox made a habit of trading away its top black players: Scott went to the Milwaukee Brewers
, where he became a home run champion; Smith was peddled to the Cardinals and later became a top star with the Los Angeles Dodgers
. In the mid-'70s, future home run champion Ben Oglivie
was traded to Detroit
(he became a star in Milwaukee); future star first-baseman Cecil Cooper
was traded directly to Milwaukee to bring back an aging Scott.
Tom Yawkey died in 1976 and Dick O'Connell failed in his efforts to acquire the team. Tom's widow Jean Yawkey eventually sold to Haywood Sullivan
and former team trainer Edward "Buddy" LeRoux, even though they did not have enough funds to run a top franchise in the dawning era of free agency. By the early 1980s, the Red Sox were almost bereft of African Americans not only on the field, but even in the minor leagues. In 1983, the first losing season since 1966, only one player on the major league roster was black, the perennial star Jim Rice
. As George Scott noted in a Boston Globe article on the team's apparent racism, not having many black players on the team meant that there was a dearth of social as well as psychological help for a black player, particularly in a city racked by racial turmoil.
Other professional sports teams in Boston were integration leaders, however.
The institutional racism of the Red Sox had become a public scandal in New England. Most journalists laid the blame on owner Sullivan, a Southerner. Yawkey has frequently been labeled a Southerner in spirit. In fact, he was a Michigan
-born, New York
-bred timber baron who had been friends with the overt racist Ty Cobb
as a young man and maintained an estate in South Carolina
. Sullivan hailed from Alabama
and seemed an unreconstructed Southerner despite all his years in New England. He had made his career with the Red Sox by good relations with Mrs. Yawkey, becoming something akin to an adopted son to the childless couple.
As chief executive, Haywood Sullivan found himself in another racial wrangle that ended in a courtroom. The Elks
Club of Winter Haven, Florida
, the Red Sox spring training
home, did not permit black members or guests. Yet the Red Sox allowed the Elks into their clubhouse to distribute dinner invitations to the team's white players, coaches, and business management. When the African-American Tommy Harper
, a popular former player and coach
for Boston, then working as a minor league instructor, protested the policy and a story appeared in the Boston Globe, he was promptly fired. Harper sued the Red Sox for racial discrimination and his complaint was upheld on July 1, 1986. Sullivan sold his share of the Red Sox in November 1993. In Harper rejoined the Boston organization as a coach and in 2007 he was listed as a player development consultant for the team.
* A case has been made for Ernie Banks
as the de facto first black manager in the major leagues. On May 8, 1973, Chicago Cubs
manager Whitey Lockman
was ejected from the game. Coach Ernie Banks filled in as manager for two innings of the 12-inning 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres
. The Sporting News Official Baseball Guide prior to the 1974 season stated flatly that on May 8, "Ernie Banks became the major leagues' first black manager, but only for a day" (page 129). The other two regular coaches on the team were absent that day, opening this door for Banks for the one occasion, but Banks never became a manager on a permanent basis.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
excluded players of black African descent from Organized Baseball, or the major leagues
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
and affiliated minor leagues, until Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization for the 1946 season. Racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
in professional baseball is sometimes called a gentlemen's agreement
Gentlemen's agreement
A gentlemen's agreement is an informal agreement between two or more parties. It may be written, oral, or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or through mutually beneficial etiquette. The essence of a gentlemen's agreement is that it relies upon the honor of the parties...
, meaning a tacit understanding, because there was no written policy at the highest level of baseball organization. Some leagues did rule against member clubs signing black players, however, as the color line was drawn during the 1880s and 1890s.
On the "other side" of the color line, many black baseball clubs were established and especially during the 1920s to 1940s there were several "Negro" or "Colored" Leagues in operation, which primarily featured those players barred from Organized Baseball. Some light-skinned Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
players, some Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
s, and even native Hawaiians played white baseball during that period.
Origins
Formal beginning of segregation followed the baseball season of 1867. On October 16, the Pennsylvania State Convention of Baseball in Harrisburg denied the colored Pythian Baseball Club.Two months later the National Association of Base Ball Players
National Association of Base Ball Players
The National Association of Base Ball Players was the first organization governing American baseball. The first, 1857 convention of sixteen New York City clubs...
decided to ban "any club including one or more colored persons."
As baseball made the transition toward becoming a professional sport over the next decade, and the NABBP dissolved into competing organizations in 1871
1871 in baseball
-Champions:*National Association : Philadelphia Athletics*National Association of Amateur Base Ball Players: Star of Brooklyn, 30–13*National Association of Junior Base Ball Players: Fly Aways-National Association final standings:...
, professional players were no longer restricted by this rule and, for a short while – in 1878 and again in 1884 – African American players played professional baseball. Over time, they were slowly excluded more and more. As prominent players such as Cap Anson
Cap Anson
Adrian Constantine Anson , nicknamed "Cap" and "Pop", was a National Association and Major League Baseball first baseman...
steadfastly refused to take the field with or against teams with African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s on the roster, it became informally accepted that African Americans were not to participate in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
.
Still after 1871, formal bans existed only in minor league baseball. In 1884 in response to the Toledo Blue Stockings
Toledo Blue Stockings
The Toledo Blue Stockings formed as a minor league baseball team in Toledo, Ohio in 1883. They won the Northwestern League championship in 1883. Their home ballpark was League Park....
of the American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
having Moses Fleetwood Walker
Moses Fleetwood Walker
Moses Fleetwood Walker [″Fleet″] was an American Major League Baseball player and author who is credited with being the first African American to play professional baseball.-Baseball career:...
, the first black man to play major league baseball, on their roster Cap Anson
Cap Anson
Adrian Constantine Anson , nicknamed "Cap" and "Pop", was a National Association and Major League Baseball first baseman...
of the Chicago White Stockings, then one of the most beloved and respected players at the time, threatened to not play in an exhibition game with them if Walker played. Anson backed down when he learned that he would forfeit a day's salary if he did so. A few years later in 1887 Anson, in response to the possibility of the Newark Little Giants
Newark Little Giants
The Newark Little Giants were a professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey in the late 1880s. They played in the Eastern League for one year until moving to the International League in 1887....
hiring the African American pitcher George Stovey
George Stovey
George Washington Stovey is considered the best African-American baseball pitcher of the nineteenth century, but discrimination barred him from the majors and led him to move from team to team until he had no further opportunities to play in the minors...
, threatened not to play any club who had a black man on their roster.
In part due to Anson's influence and of those of other white players, on July 14, 1887, the directors of the International League
International League
The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
voted to prohibit the signing of additional black players – although blacks under contract, like Frank Grant
Frank Grant
* , Personal profiles at Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. – identical to Riley -External links:* – unknown content, URL confirmed 2010-04-16...
of the Buffalo Bisons and Fleet Walker of the Syracuse franchise, could remain with their teams. Grant and Walker stayed through the 1888 season.
Shortly thereafter, the American Association
American Association (19th century)
The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...
and the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
both unofficially banned African-American players, making the adoption of racism in baseball complete.
By 1890, the International League was all white, as it would remain until 1946 when Jackie Robinson played for the Montreal Royals
Montreal Royals
The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec, that existed from 1897–1917 and from 1928–60 as a member of the International League and its progenitor, the original Eastern League...
.
Sub rosa efforts at integration
While professional baseball was regarded as a strictly whites-only affair, in fact the racial color bar was directed against blacks exclusively. Other races were allowed to play in professional white baseball. One example was Charles Albert Bender, a star pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1910. Bender was the son of a Chippewa Indian mother and a German father and had the inevitable nickname "Chief" from the white players. They apparently voiced no visceral objection to him for being not being white and in fact he was well liked and respected by his teammates and opponents.As a result of this exclusive treatment of blacks, deceptive tactics were used by managers to sign African Americans, including several attempts, with the player's acquiescence, to sign players who they knew full well were African American as Native Americans despite the ban.
In 1901, John McGraw
John McGraw
John McGraw may refer to:* John McGraw , , New York lumber tycoon, and one of the founding trustees of Cornell University* John McGraw , , Governor of Washington state from 1893–1897...
, manager of the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
Baltimore Orioles
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...
, tried to add Charlie Grant
Charlie Grant
Charles Grant was an African American second baseman in negro league baseball. Grant nearly crossed the baseball color line decades before Jackie Robinson when Major League Baseball manager John McGraw attempted to pass him off as a Native American named "Tokohama".-Background:Grant was born in...
to the roster as his second baseman. He tried to get around the Gentleman's Agreement by trying to pass him as a Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
Indian named Charlie Tokohama. Grant went along with the charade. However in Chicago Grant's African American friends who came to see him try out gave him away and Grant never got an opportunity to play ball in the big leagues.
On May 28, 1916, British Columbian Jimmy Claxton
Jimmy Claxton
Jimmy Claxton was a black baseball pitcher, and the first black man to play organized white baseball in the twentieth century....
temporarily broke the professional baseball color barrier when he played two games for the Oakland Oaks
Oakland Oaks (PCL)
The Oakland Oaks were a minor league baseball team in Oakland, California that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 through 1955, after which the club transferred to Vancouver, British Columbia...
of the Pacific Coast League
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
. Claxton was introduced to the team owner by a part-Native-American friend as a fellow member of an Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
tribe. The Zee-Nut candy company rushed out a baseball card for Claxton. However, within a week, a friend of Claxton revealed that he had both Negro and Native American ancestors, and Claxton was promptly fired. It would be nearly thirty more years before another black man-at least one known to be black-played organized white baseball.
There possibly were attempts to have people of African descent be signed as Hispanics. One possible attempt may have occurred in 1911 when the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
signed two light-skinned players from Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Armando Marsans
Armando Marsans
Armando Marsans was a Major League Baseball outfielder from 1911 to 1918. He played in three different major leagues in his career: with the Cincinnati Reds in the National League , with the St. Louis Terriers in the Federal League , and with the St...
and Rafael Almeida
Rafael Almeida
Rafael D. Almeida was a Major League Baseball third baseman from 1911 to 1913 with the Cincinnati Reds.Almeida and Armando Marsans debuted together with the Reds on July 4, 1911...
. Both of them had played "Negro Baseball", barnstorming as members of the integrated All Cubans
All Cubans
The All Cubans were a team of Cuban professional baseball players that toured the United States during 1899 and 1902-05, playing against white semiprofessional and Negro league teams. The team was the first Latin American professional baseball team to tour the United States...
. When questions arose about them playing the white man's game, the Cincinnati managers assured the public that "...they were as pure white as Castile soap."
The African American newspaper The New York Age
The New York Globe
The New York Globe was a daily New York City newspaper published from 1904 to 1923, when it was bought and merged into the New York Sun.-History:...
had this to say about the signings:
Nonetheless, regardless of the skin tone of the Cuban players, at the very least blacks of the United States were still banned from white baseball albeit if Marsans and Almeida were in fact black but light skinned then their successful breaking of the color barrier has gone unheralded.
The Negro leagues
The Negro National LeagueNegro National League (the first)
The Negro National League was one of the several Negro leagues which were established during the period in the United States in which organized baseball was segregated. Led by Rube Foster, owner and manager of the Chicago American Giants, the NNL was established on February 13, 1920 by a...
was founded in by Rube Foster, independent of Organized Baseball's National Commission (1903–1920). The NNL survived through 1931, primarily in the midwest, accompanied by the major Eastern Colored League
Eastern Colored League
The Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Clubs, more commonly known as the Eastern Colored League , was one of the several Negro leagues, which operated during the time organized baseball was segregated.- History :...
for several seasons to 1928. "National" and "American" Negro leagues
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
were established in 1933 and 1937 which persisted until integration. The Negro Southern League
Negro Southern League
The Negro Southern League was a Negro baseball league organized in 1920 that lasted into the 1940s. Negro leagues in Southern United States were far less organized and lucrative than those in the north due to Jim Crow laws. Tom Wilson organized the Negro Southern League in .For most of its...
operated consecutively from 1920, usually at a lower level. None of them, nor any integrated teams, were members of Organized Baseball, the system led by Commissioner Landis from 1921. Rather, until professional baseball in the United States was played in two racially segregated league systems, one on each side of the so-called color line. Much of that time there were two high-level "Negro major leagues" with a championship playoff or all-star game, as between the white major leagues.
Kenesaw Mountain Landis
During his 1921–1944 tenure as the first baseball commissionerBaseball Commissioner
The Commissioner of Baseball is the chief executive of Major League Baseball and its associated minor leagues. Under the direction of the Commissioner, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts...
, Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Kenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death...
has been alleged to have been particularly determined to maintain the segregation. It is possible that he was guided by his background as a federal judge, and specifically by the then-existing constitutional doctrine of "separate but equal
Separate but equal
Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law that justified systems of segregation. Under this doctrine, services, facilities and public accommodations were allowed to be separated by race, on the condition that the quality of each group's public facilities was to...
" institutions (see Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in private businesses , under the doctrine of "separate but equal".The decision was handed...
). He himself maintained for many years that black players could not be integrated into the major leagues without heavily compensating the owners of Negro league teams for what would likely result in the loss of their investments. In addition, integration at the major league level would likely have necessitated integrating the minor leagues
Minor league baseball
Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...
, which were much more heavily distributed through the rural U.S. South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
and Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
.
Although Landis had served an important role in helping to restore the integrity of the game after the 1919 World Series scandal
Black Sox Scandal
The Black Sox Scandal took place around and during the play of the American baseball 1919 World Series. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life from baseball for intentionally losing games, which allowed the Cincinnati Reds to win the World Series...
, his unyielding stance on the subject of baseball's color line was an impediment. His death in late 1944 was opportune, as it resulted in the appointment of a new Commissioner, Happy Chandler
Happy Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and...
, who was much more open to integration than Landis was.
From the purely operational viewpoint, Landis' predictions on the matter would prove to be correct. The eventual integration of baseball spelled the demise of the Negro leagues, and integration of the southern minor leagues was a difficult challenge.
Bill Veeck and Branch Rickey
Baseball executive Bill VeeckBill Veeck
William Louis Veeck, Jr. , also known as "Sport Shirt Bill", was a native of Chicago, Illinois, and a franchise owner and promoter in Major League Baseball. He was best known for his publicity stunts to raise attendance. Veeck was at various times the owner of the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis...
claimed that in , he tried to buy the then-moribund Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
and stock them with Negro league stars. Veeck maintained for years that when Landis got wind of his plans, he and National League president Ford Frick
Ford Frick
Ford Christopher Frick was an American sportswriter and executive who served as president of the National League from to and as the third Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1951 to . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970...
scuttled it in favor of another bid by William B. Cox
William B. Cox
William D. Cox was an American businessman and sports executive.-New York Yankees :A Yale University alumnus and wealthy lumber broker, Cox first entered the sports world when he headed a group that bought the New York Yankees of the third American Football League in 1941...
.
In his autobiography, Veeck, as in Wreck, in which he discussed his abortive attempt to buy the Phillies, Veeck also stated that he wanted to hire black players for the simple reason that in his opinion the best black athletes "can run faster and jump higher" than the best white athletes.
Veeck realized that there was no actual rule against integration; it was just an unwritten policy, a "Gentlemen's Agreement". Veeck stated that Landis and Frick prevented him from buying and thus integrating the Phillies, on various grounds.
Around , Branch Rickey
Branch Rickey
Wesley Branch Rickey was an innovative Major League Baseball executive elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967...
, General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
, held tryouts of black players, under the cover story of forming a new team called the "Brooklyn Brown Dodgers". The Dodgers were, in fact, looking for the right man to break the color line. Rickey had an advantage in that he was already an employee of the Dodgers. Also, Landis had died by this time and new commissioner Happy Chandler
Happy Chandler
Albert Benjamin "Happy" Chandler, Sr. was a politician from the US state of Kentucky. He represented the state in the U.S. Senate and served as its 44th and 49th governor. Aside from his political positions, he also served as the second Commissioner of Major League Baseball from 1945 to 1951 and...
was more supportive of integrating the major leagues. However, Veeck's story is arguably false based on press accounts of the time; notably, Philadelphia's black press never mentioned anything about a Veeck bid.
Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby
The color line was breached when Rickey, with Chandler's support, signed the African American player Jackie RobinsonJackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
in October , intending him to play for the Dodgers. Chandler later wrote in his biography that although he risked losing his job as commissioner, he could not in good conscience tell blacks they couldn't play with whites when they'd just fought alongside them in World War II.
After a year in the minor leagues with the Dodgers' top minor-league affiliate, the Montreal Royals
Montreal Royals
The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec, that existed from 1897–1917 and from 1928–60 as a member of the International League and its progenitor, the original Eastern League...
of the International League
International League
The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
, Robinson was called up to the Dodgers in . He endured epithets and death threats and got off to a slow start. However, his athleticism and skill earned him the first ever Rookie of the Year
MLB Rookie of the Year Award
In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is annually given to one player from each league as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America . The award was established in 1940 by the Chicago chapter of the BBWAA, which selected an annual winner from 1940 through 1946...
award, which is now named in his honor.
Less well-known was Larry Doby
Larry Doby
Lawrence Eugene "Larry" Doby was an American professional baseball player in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball....
, who signed with Bill Veeck's Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
that same year to become the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
's first African American player. Doby, a more low-key figure than Robinson, suffered many of the same indignities that Robinson did, albeit with less press coverage. Both men were ultimately elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
on the merits of their play. Due to their success, teams gradually integrated African Americans on their rosters.
Prior to the integration of the major leagues, the Brooklyn Dodgers led the integration of the minor leagues. Jackie Robinson and Johnny Wright
Johnny Wright (baseball player)
John Richard "Johnny" Wright was a Negro League pitcher who played briefly in the International League of baseball's minor leagues in 1946, and was on the roster of the Montreal Royals at the same time as Jackie Robinson, making him a plausible candidate to have broken the baseball color barrier...
were assigned to Montreal, but also that season Don Newcombe
Don Newcombe
Donald Newcombe , nicknamed "Newk", is an American former Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher who played for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers , Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians .Until 2011 when Detroit Tigers Pitcher Justin Verlander did it, Newcombe was the only baseball...
and Roy Campanella
Roy Campanella
Roy Campanella , nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player, primarily at the position of catcher, in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball...
became members of the Nashua Dodgers
Nashua Dodgers
The Nashua Dodgers was a farm club of the Brooklyn Dodgers, operating in the class-B New England League between 1946 and 1949. It is believed to be the first professional baseball team based in the United States in the twentieth century to play with a racially integrated roster...
in the class-B New England League
New England League
The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played sporadically in five of the six New England states between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League Baseball clubs in Boston and alongside stronger, higher-classification...
. Nashua was the first minor-league team based in the United States to integrate its roster after . Subsequently that season, the Pawtucket Slaters, the Boston Braves'
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
New England League franchise, also integrated its roster, as did Brooklyn's class-C franchise in Trois-Rivières, Quebec
Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières means three rivers in French and may refer to:in Canada*Trois-Rivières, the largest city in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada*Circuit Trois-Rivières, a racetrack in Trois-Rivières, Quebec...
. With one exception, the rest of the minor leagues would slowly integrate as well, including those based in the southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
. The Carolina League
Carolina League
The Carolina League is a minor league baseball affiliation which operates in the South Atlantic Coast of the United States. Before 2002, it was classified as a "High A" league, indicating its status as a Class A league with the highest level of competition within that classification, and the fifth...
, for example, integrated in when the Danville Leafs
Danville Leafs
The Danville Leafs were a professional minor league baseball team that played in the city of Danville, Virginia.Professional baseball first made its appearance in Danville in 1905 when the town fielded a team, the Tobacconists, in the short-lived Virginia-North Carolina League...
signed Percy Miller Jr.
Percy Miller Jr.
Percy Miller, Jr. is a former minor league baseball player who broke the color barrier in the Carolina League. The son of Negro league pitcher Percy Miller, he made his debut for the Danville Leafs in August 1951, and played in 19 games that season. Bill White, who would be the second black player...
to their team.
The exception was the Class AA Southern Association
Southern Association
The Southern Association was a higher-level minor league in American organized baseball from 1901 through 1961. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A , Class A1 and Class AA...
. Founded in 1901 and based in the Deep South, it never yielded to integration. As a result, its major-league parent clubs were forced to field all-white teams during the 1950s, a period when African Americans and Latin American players of African descent were beginning to dominate baseball. By the end of the 1950s, the SA also was boycotted by civil rights leaders
African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)
The African-American Civil Rights Movement refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights to them. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South...
. The Association finally ceased operation after the 1961 season, still a bastion of segregation. Its member teams joined the International, Sally
Southern League (baseball)
The Southern League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the Southern United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The original league was formed in , and shut down in . A new league, the Southern Association, was formed in , consisting of twelve teams...
and Texas
Texas League
The Texas League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the South Central United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The league was founded in 1888 and ran through 1892...
leagues, which were all racially integrated.
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red SoxBoston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
were the last major league team to integrate, due to the steadfast resistance provided by owner Tom Yawkey
Tom Yawkey
Thomas Austin Yawkey, born Thomas Austin , was an American industrialist and Major League Baseball executive. Born in Detroit, Michigan, Yawkey became president of the Boston Red Sox in 1933, and was the sole owner of the team for 44 seasons, longer than anyone else in baseball history.-Early...
. The Red Sox had refused to consider signing Jackie Robinson after a brief tryout at Fenway Park
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club since it opened in 1912, and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. It is one of two "classic"...
in April 1945. Boston city councilor Isadore Muchnick spurred that tryout by threatening to revoke the team's exemption from Sunday blue law
Blue law
A blue law is a type of law, typically found in the United States and, formerly, in Canada, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction on Sunday shopping...
s.
The segregation policy was enforced by Yawkey's general managers: Eddie Collins
Eddie Collins
Edward Trowbridge Collins, Sr. , nicknamed "Cocky", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman, manager and executive...
(through 1947), Joe Cronin
Joe Cronin
Joseph Edward Cronin was a Major League Baseball shortstop and manager.During a 20-year playing career, he played from 1926–45 for three different teams, primarily for the Boston Red Sox. Cronin was a major league manager from 1933–47...
(1948–58), and Mike "Pinky" Higgins
Pinky Higgins
Michael Franklin "Pinky" Higgins was an American third baseman, manager, front office executive and scout in Major League Baseball who played for three teams and served as manager or general manager of the Boston Red Sox during the period of through . He batted and threw right-handed.-Playing...
(field manager 1955–59 and 1960–62, special assistant to the owner 1960, and general manager 1963–65). A strong team in the late 1940s, the Red Sox finished perpetually in the second division during the early and mid-1960s, the implication being that Boston shut itself off from the expanded talent pool due to its segregation policy.
When integration did come, it may have been half-hearted. The new General Manager Bucky Harris
Bucky Harris
Stanley Raymond "Bucky" Harris was a Major League Baseball player, manager and executive. In 1975, the Veterans Committee elected Harris, as a manager, to the Baseball Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
promoted Pumpsie Green
Pumpsie Green
Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green is a former Major League Baseball backup infielder who played with the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets . He was a switch-hitter who threw right-handed....
from Boston's AAA farm club in July , but Green did not become a regular player, though Green's minor league record suggests he probably was no better than a fourth outfielder. Earl Wilson began a nearly five year run as a regular in the Red Sox' rotation beginning 1962. Felix Mantilla was slowly promoted from utility infielder to regular second baseman from '63-'65. By 1966, semi-dark skinned Jose Santiago had joined Wilson in the rotation and Boston had very dark skinned George Scott, George Smith, and Joe Foy in their regular line-up.
After a dismal ninth-place finish in 1966, General Manager Dick O'Connell
Dick O'Connell
Richard Henry O'Connell was an American front office executive in Major League Baseball. He was executive vice president of the Boston Red Sox from 1961 through 1977 and served as general manager of the team from September 16, 1965, through October 24, 1977, a period during which he played a...
promoted Dick Williams
Dick Williams
Richard Hirschfeld "Dick" Williams was an American left fielder, third baseman, manager, coach and front office consultant in Major League Baseball. Known especially as a hard-driving, sharp-tongued manager from 1967–69 and 1971–88, he led teams to three American League pennants, one National...
, manager of the club's Triple-A Toronto affiliate, to lead the major league team. Williams brought along many of his minor league players, some of whom were black. The Red Sox went on to win the "Impossible Dream" pennant and battle the fully integrated St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
for seven games in the 1967 World Series
1967 World Series
The 1967 World Series matched the St. Louis Cardinals against the Boston Red Sox in a rematch of the 1946 World Series, with the Cardinals winning in seven games for their second championship in four years and their eighth overall...
. African-American Reggie Smith
Reggie Smith
Carl Reginald Smith is a former Major League Baseball outfielder, coach and front office executive. During a 17-year big league career , Smith appeared in 1,987 games, hit 314 home runs and batted .287. He was a switch-hitter who threw right-handed. In his prime, he had one of the strongest...
finished second for the "Rookie of the Year"; George Scott had been third in 1966.
After Williams was fired in 1969, any commitment to a fielding a color-blind team began to slip. Perennially in need of pitching, the Red Sox made a habit of trading away its top black players: Scott went to the Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
, where he became a home run champion; Smith was peddled to the Cardinals and later became a top star with the Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
. In the mid-'70s, future home run champion Ben Oglivie
Ben Oglivie
Benjamin Ambrosio Oglivie Palmer is a former Major League Baseball left fielder for the Boston Red Sox , Detroit Tigers , and the Milwaukee Brewers . He also played two seasons in Japan for the Kintetsu Buffaloes...
was traded to Detroit
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
(he became a star in Milwaukee); future star first-baseman Cecil Cooper
Cecil Cooper
Cecil Celester Cooper , nicknamed "Coop," is a former first baseman in Major League Baseball and the former manager of the Houston Astros. From through , Cooper played for the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers...
was traded directly to Milwaukee to bring back an aging Scott.
Tom Yawkey died in 1976 and Dick O'Connell failed in his efforts to acquire the team. Tom's widow Jean Yawkey eventually sold to Haywood Sullivan
Haywood Sullivan
Haywood Cooper Sullivan was an American college and professional baseball player who was a catcher, manager, general manager and club owner in Major League Baseball...
and former team trainer Edward "Buddy" LeRoux, even though they did not have enough funds to run a top franchise in the dawning era of free agency. By the early 1980s, the Red Sox were almost bereft of African Americans not only on the field, but even in the minor leagues. In 1983, the first losing season since 1966, only one player on the major league roster was black, the perennial star Jim Rice
Jim Rice
James Edward "Jim" Rice , nicknamed "Jim Ed", is a former Major League Baseball left fielder.Jim Rice played his entire career for the Boston Red Sox from 1974 to 1989...
. As George Scott noted in a Boston Globe article on the team's apparent racism, not having many black players on the team meant that there was a dearth of social as well as psychological help for a black player, particularly in a city racked by racial turmoil.
Other professional sports teams in Boston were integration leaders, however.
The institutional racism of the Red Sox had become a public scandal in New England. Most journalists laid the blame on owner Sullivan, a Southerner. Yawkey has frequently been labeled a Southerner in spirit. In fact, he was a Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
-born, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
-bred timber baron who had been friends with the overt racist Ty Cobb
Ty Cobb
Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb , nicknamed "The Georgia Peach," was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. He was born in Narrows, Georgia...
as a young man and maintained an estate in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. Sullivan hailed from Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
and seemed an unreconstructed Southerner despite all his years in New England. He had made his career with the Red Sox by good relations with Mrs. Yawkey, becoming something akin to an adopted son to the childless couple.
As chief executive, Haywood Sullivan found himself in another racial wrangle that ended in a courtroom. The Elks
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is an American fraternal order and social club founded in 1868...
Club of Winter Haven, Florida
Winter Haven, Florida
Winter Haven is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 26,487 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 estimates, the city had a population of 32,577, making it the second most populated city in Polk County...
, the Red Sox spring training
Spring training
In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...
home, did not permit black members or guests. Yet the Red Sox allowed the Elks into their clubhouse to distribute dinner invitations to the team's white players, coaches, and business management. When the African-American Tommy Harper
Tommy Harper
Tommy Harper is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder and third baseman. He played with the Cincinnati Reds , Cleveland Indians , Seattle Pilots , Milwaukee Brewers , Boston Red Sox , California Angels , Oakland Athletics , and the Baltimore Orioles .-High School...
, a popular former player and coach
Coach (baseball)
In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, or head coach, who determines the lineup and decides how to substitute players during the game...
for Boston, then working as a minor league instructor, protested the policy and a story appeared in the Boston Globe, he was promptly fired. Harper sued the Red Sox for racial discrimination and his complaint was upheld on July 1, 1986. Sullivan sold his share of the Red Sox in November 1993. In Harper rejoined the Boston organization as a coach and in 2007 he was listed as a player development consultant for the team.
Professional baseball firsts
- player, professional: Bud Fowler, 1878. Fowler never played in the major leagues.
- player, major leagues: Moses Fleetwood WalkerMoses Fleetwood WalkerMoses Fleetwood Walker [″Fleet″] was an American Major League Baseball player and author who is credited with being the first African American to play professional baseball.-Baseball career:...
, debut game May 1, 1884, catcherCatcherCatcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
for ToledoToledo Blue StockingsThe Toledo Blue Stockings formed as a minor league baseball team in Toledo, Ohio in 1883. They won the Northwestern League championship in 1883. Their home ballpark was League Park....
at Louisville - all-black team, openly professional: Cuban Giants, 1885
- all-black team in a minor league:
- pitcher, major leagues: Dan BankheadDan BankheadDaniel Robert Bankhead , was the first black pitcher in Major League Baseball. After a strong career in the Negro League playing for the Memphis Red Sox, he was signed at age 24 by Branch Rickey to play in the Brooklyn Dodgers' farm system...
, debut game August 26, 1947, for Brooklyn at home - Most Valuable PlayerMost Valuable PlayerIn sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
, major leagues: Jackie RobinsonJackie RobinsonJack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
, 1949 - field managerManager (baseball)In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
, level AAA: Héctor LópezHéctor LópezHéctor Headley López Swainson is a former left fielder and third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Kansas City Athletics and New York Yankees from to...
, 1969 - nine-man lineup, major leagues: Pittsburgh PiratesPittsburgh PiratesThe Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
, 1971 - field managerManager (baseball)In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
, major leagues: Frank RobinsonFrank RobinsonFrank Robinson , is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He played from 1956–1976, most notably for the Cincinnati Reds and the Baltimore Orioles. He is the only player to win league MVP honors in both the National and American Leagues...
, debut game April 8, 1975, for ClevelandCleveland IndiansThe Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
at home * - general managerGeneral manager (baseball)In Major League Baseball, the general manager of a team typically controls player transactions and bears the primary responsibility on behalf of the ballclub during contract discussions with players....
, major leagues: Bill LucasBill LucasWilliam DeVaughn Lucas was the first African-American general manager in Major League Baseball as front-office boss of the Atlanta Braves from mid-September 1976 until his death at age 43 in May 1979...
, 1976 - First World Series winning field manager: Cito GastonCito GastonClarence Edwin "Cito" Gaston is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. His major league career as a player lasted from 1967–1978, most notably for the San Diego Padres and the Atlanta Braves...
1992 with the Toronto Blue JaysToronto Blue JaysThe Toronto Blue Jays are a professional baseball team located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball 's American League ....
. He repeated the next season. - First National LeagueNational LeagueThe National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
field manager to manage a World Series: Dusty BakerDusty BakerJohnnie B. "Dusty" Baker, Jr. is a former player and current manager in Major League Baseball, currently the manager of the Cincinnati Reds. He enjoyed a 19-year career as a hard-hitting outfielder, mostly with the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers...
2002 with the San Francisco GiantsSan Francisco GiantsThe San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
.
* A case has been made for Ernie Banks
Ernie Banks
Ernest "Ernie" Banks , nicknamed "Mr. Cub", is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and first baseman. He played his entire 19-year baseball career with the Chicago Cubs . He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977.-High school years:Banks was a letterman and standout in football,...
as the de facto first black manager in the major leagues. On May 8, 1973, Chicago Cubs
Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
manager Whitey Lockman
Whitey Lockman
Carroll Walter "Whitey" Lockman was a player, coach, manager and front office executive in American Major League Baseball.-Role in miraculous 1951 comeback:...
was ejected from the game. Coach Ernie Banks filled in as manager for two innings of the 12-inning 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are a Major League Baseball team based in San Diego, California. They play in the National League Western Division. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the National League Pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, losing in the World Series both times...
. The Sporting News Official Baseball Guide prior to the 1974 season stated flatly that on May 8, "Ernie Banks became the major leagues' first black manager, but only for a day" (page 129). The other two regular coaches on the team were absent that day, opening this door for Banks for the one occasion, but Banks never became a manager on a permanent basis.
See also
- History of baseball in the United StatesHistory of baseball in the United StatesThe history of baseball in the United States can be traced to the 18th century, when amateurs played a baseball-like game by their own informal rules using improvised equipment...
- Negro league baseballNegro league baseballThe Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
- List of first black Major League Baseball players by team and date
- List of African-American firsts
Further reading
- Gordon, Patrick. Octavius Catto & the Pythian Baseball Club: The beginnings of black baseball. Philadelphia Baseball Review. March 2008.
- Gordon, Patrick. On the field, the Pythian Club was rivaled by few: Catto led a stellar organization. Philadelphia Baseball Review. April 2008.
- Heaphy, Leslie A. The Negro Leagues 1869-1960. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. 2003. ISBN 0-7864-1380-8
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Playing for Keeps: Philadelphia's Pythian Base Ball Club — This subsite provides school lesson materials and original sources including the "Report to the Pythian Baseball Club, December 1867" by its delegate to the Pennsylvania and National baseball conventions, October and December.
- Kahn, Roger. A President Lay Dying: Some history, false and true. Confirmed 2010-04-14.
- Lanctot, Neil. Negro League Baseball: the rise and ruin of a black institution. Philadelphia: U. of Penn. Press. 2004. ISBN 0-8122-3087-9 — 1933 to 1948
- McNeil, William F. Black Baseball Out of Season: pay for play outside of the Negro Leagues. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. 2007. ISBN 0-7864-2901-1
- Olsen, Jack. The Black Athlete: A Shameful Story; The Myth of Integration in American Sport. Time-Life Books. 1968.
- Rhodes, William C. $40 Million Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete. Crown Publishers. 2006.