The first African American Professional Baseball Player

[suddenseer]

It is NOT Jackie Robinson!!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Fleetwood_Walker

[kb2vxa]

Who said Robinson was the first Black pro baseball player? He was the first Major League player in the MODERN ERA breaking the color barrier when he was hired by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Walker played in the 1880s and left baseball shortly before Jim Crow became complete, that's not the modern era. Let's not confuse professional baseball with the Major Leagues, the Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans.

[suddenseer]

I'm not confused. Professional means he was paid. I did not use the term "major league", or "bigs", or whatever. He was a black man who apparently played well enough to not divide his teammates. I really do understand the differences of the pre 1901 baseball era, and "modern" baseball with it's intra league, DH, performance enhancing drugs, $10 beer. The Cincinnati Red stockings became the first professional baseball team in 1869. They are still around today. There are things that connect the two eras.

[N2NH]

The American Association was the Major Leagues in those days. I've played as catcher. I didn't use mask, shin guards or chest protector, but I can't imagine playing without a glove, like that.

One other thing...


Walker has traditionally been credited as the first African-American major league player. However, research in the early 21st century by the Society for American Baseball Research indicates William Edward White, who played one game for the Providence Grays in 1879, may have been the first.

and...


Walker was attacked by a group of white men in Syracuse, New York in April 1891. He stabbed and killed a man named Patrick Murray during the attack. The Sporting Life reported "Walker drew a knife and made a stroke at his assailant. The knife entered Murray's groin, inflicting a fatal wound. Murray's friends started after Walker with shouts of 'Kill him! Kill him!' He escaped but was captured by the police, and [was] locked up."

Walker was charged with second-degree murder and claimed self-defense. He was acquitted of all charges on June 3, 1891. Adding to the weight of the verdict, was that Walker was acquitted by an all-white jury. The Cleveland Gazette reported "When the verdict was announced the court house was thronged with spectators, who received it with a tremendous roar of cheers... Walker is the hero of the hour.From your link

They were not the savages back then that we've been led to believe.

[koØm]

I'm not confused. Professional means he was paid. I did not use the term "major league", or "bigs", or whatever. He was a black man who apparently played well enough to not divide his teammates. I really do understand the differences of the pre 1901 baseball era, and "modern" baseball with it's intra league, DH, performance enhancing drugs, $10 beer. The Cincinnati Red stockings became the first professional baseball team in 1869. They are still around today. There are things that connect the two eras.

"How 'bout dem Reds....?"


ETA: It's a local thing. Forty years ago when I first started servicing Xerox machines, one of the first things my boss told me was, if on service call on a customer's site and the conversation slow, I could always throw out that phrase, "How 'bout them Reds?" and wait for a response and then go with the conversation in the customers direction; the more they talked, the less I had to say.

.

[N8GAV]

I got to get some pictures of Walker's grave. He is buried here in Steubenville, the HOF has a marker on his grave stating he was the first black player in pro baseball. I will ask my daughter to do that this week, it is interesting to read.

[suddenseer]

From what I have read of American history, white people north of the Mason-Dixon line were racist. They may have been against slavery, but they would not break bread with black people. The segregation here in Ohio was unspoken, and often unwritten. There were certain public facilities such as restrooms, and drinking fountains that were "white only", and "colored" sans signs. The movie theaters had a "colored" section. I used to work at a large family owned cinema chain headquartered here in Springfield, Ohio. I was a manager at age 17. Yes, I was 17 checking ID's of young looking patrons wishing to buy admittance to X-rated pictures. There were no black managers anywhere in the company. I was specifically told that I could hire a "pretty young black woman" for the concession stand, yet was forbidden to hire a black male for any position over than janitor. I struck up a friendship with one of the janitors. He was an elderly black man who worked 2 jobs to support his much younger second family. He showed me the section where the "colored" were required to sit.

Having stated all of that, step back in time 120 plus years. For white professional baseball players to allow, and work with a black member of the team was very unique to say the least. He must have been an awesome athlete for them to allow it. Today, maybe he would be a hall of famer even without the performance enhancing drugs.