Hats off to Jackie Robinson, but.....................
John W. "Bud" Fowler
Born: March 16, 1858 in Fort Plain, New York, US
Died: February 26, 1913 in Frankfort, New York, US (Aged 54)
Played from 1878 to 1895.
John "Bud" Fowler is the earliest known African-American player in organized professional baseball; that is, the major leagues and affiliated minor leagues. He played more seasons and more games in Organized Baseball than any African American until Jackie Robinson was into his 11th professional season in 1958.
Moses Fleetwood ″Fleet″ Walker
Born: October 7, 1856 Mount Pleasant, Ohio
Died: May 11, 1924 Cleveland, Ohio (aged 67)
Moses Fleetwood Walker and Cap Anson
Better known, and credited for being the real reason it took so long for players like Jackie Robinson to be allowed, as well as encouraged, to play Major League Baseball, was Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother, Welday Walker, thanks to the Hall of Fame player Adrian "Cap" Anson, the Babe Ruth of his time.
Walker had his first encounter with Cap Anson in 1884, when Toledo played an exhibition game against the Chicago White Stockings on August 10. Anson refused to play with Walker on the field. However, Anson did not know that on that day Walker was slated to have a rest day. Manager Charlie Morton then decided to play Walker, and told Anson the White Stockings would forfeit the gate receipts if they refused to play. Anson then agreed to play.
Walker and Anson crossed paths again with the famed Negro pitcher George Stovey, making them the first negro battery, Walker was the catcher. As portrayed in the book Get That Nigger Off the Field. by Art Rust Jr., Cap Anson did not back down, and segregation was cemented in Major League Baseball until 1947. Both Stovey and Walker watched the game from the bench.
On the same day as this exhibition game, the owners of the International League formally voted to not sign black players to their team rosters. Soon, the National League and American Association would follow suit, and blacks would be excluded from all minor and major leagues by the beginning of the 1897 season. Although nothing was formally put into the major league rule book, baseball’s color line had been drawn.
The owners made the rules and it took Branch Ricky, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the ban.
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson
Born: January 31, 1919 Cairo, Georgia,
Died: October 24, 1972 Stamford, Connecticut (aged 53)
The first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. As the first major league team to play a black man since the 1880s, the Dodgers ended racial segregation that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues for six decades.
