Early impact of African Americans on Baseball
The early impact of African Americans on baseball is a significant chapter in the sport's history, illustrating both the challenges and contributions of black players. Welday and Moses Walker were the first African Americans to play in the major leagues in 1884, but their presence was met with resistance, leading to a ban by baseball's first commissioner, Judge Landis, in the 1920s. This exclusion compelled African American athletes to form their own teams, with the Cuban Giants establishing the first all-black team in 1885. The Negro National League, founded in 1920 by Rube Foster, marked the beginning of organized black baseball, followed by the Eastern Colored League in 1923 and the Negro American League in 1936.
These leagues thrived despite financial instability and often engaged in barnstorming—traveling to play exhibition games. Notable teams like the Kansas City Monarchs and the Homestead Grays showcased exceptional talent, with players such as Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige later entering the Baseball Hall of Fame. The integration of baseball began in 1945 when Jackie Robinson and John Wright signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers' farm team, culminating in Robinson breaking the color barrier in 1947. While the influx of African American talent dramatically elevated the game's quality, the decline of all-black leagues led to their eventual folding by the 1960s. By the end of the twentieth century, African Americans represented over 10 percent of Hall of Fame inductees, reflecting their profound impact on baseball, although progress in managerial and administrative roles remained slow.
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Early impact of African Americans on Baseball
Two brothers, Welday and Moses Walker, became the first African American baseball players in the major leagues. They played for the Toledo, Ohio, team in 1884. Integrated baseball, however, was poorly accepted, and by the 1920s, baseball’s first commissioner, Judge Landis, prohibited black players. African American players, with the door to the major leagues closed to them, formed all-black teams in order to pursue their playing activities.
Initially black baseball teams were formed to play exhibition games against white teams or other black teams. The Cuban Giants, formed on Long Island, New York, in 1885, was the first all-black team. Although some short-lived black leagues were formed in the early twentieth century, the first successful one was the Negro National League, founded by Rube Foster in 1920. In 1923, a second black league, the Eastern Colored League, was formed. Because of the financial instability of the first Negro leagues, many teams survived by barnstorming—making exhibition tours—across the United States. A notable barnstorming was undertaken by the Kansas City Monarchs, who, beginning in 1931, traveled the country with a portable lighting system and played night games several years before the first white major league night game.
In 1936, the Negro American League was formed to replace its failed predecessors. The two most successful teams were the Kansas City Monarchs, who won seven championships, and the Homestead Grays (originally based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), who won nine pennants. Several members of these teams, including catcher Josh Gibson, pitcher Satchel Paige, and infielder Jackie Robinson, were eventually elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The beginning of the end for the all-black leagues came in 1945 when Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers signed African American stars Jackie Robinson and John Wright to play on a Brooklyn farm team in Montreal. The first US integrated professional baseball team of the modern era was the Dodgers' farm team in Nashua, New Hampshire, featuring African American players Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe during the 1946 season (Campanella also became the first African American to manage an integrated team when he subbed in as manager for one game). Robinson then broke the major league color barrier in 1947 with Brooklyn and was named rookie of the year. The door opened by Robinson was soon entered by Larry Doby, the first African American in the American League (Cleveland), and other black players. By the 1940s, the Negro American League, while retaining older stars such as Gibson, was losing most of its younger talent—Campanella, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron—to the major leagues. The drain of talent and subsequent declining attendance resulted in the folding of the Negro American League in 1960.
The impact of African Americans on major league baseball was dramatic: The sudden influx of talented players significantly raised the level of play. The composition of the Baseball Hall of Fame illustrates this impact. Even though black players were omitted from the hall from 1936 until 1962 (the year of Robinson’s induction), by the close of the twentieth century, more than 10 percent of inductees were African Americans. Progress in other areas of the game was slower. It was 1974 before an African American, Frank Robinson, became a major league manager. Even by the end of the twentieth century, few African Americans could be found in administrative positions.
Bibliography
"African-American Baseball." History Detectives. PBS, 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
Hogan, Lawrence D. The Forgotten History of African American Baseball. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2014. Print.
Hogan, Lawrence D. Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2006. Print.
Kirwin, Bill. Out of the Shadows: African American Baseball from the Cuban Giants to Jackie Robinson. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2005. Print.
"Negro Leagues History." Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, 2004. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.