African Americans in baseball

Racial segregation

During baseball’s infancy, a colour barrier was put up by the first formal organization of baseball clubs, the National Association of Base Ball Players, which decreed in 1867 that clubs “which may be composed of one or more coloured persons” should not be permitted to compete with its teams of gentlemen amateurs. When the first professional league was formed four years later, it had no written rule barring Black players, but it was tacitly understood that they were not welcome.

However, the colour line was not consistently enforced during the early years of professionalism. At least 60 Black players performed in the minor leagues during the late 19th century—mostly in all-Black clubs. In 1884 two African Americans played in a recognized major league, the American Association. They were Moses Fleetwood (“Fleet”) Walker, a catcher for the Association’s Toledo, Ohio, team, and his brother Welday, an outfielder who appeared in six games for Toledo.

The number of Black players in professional leagues peaked in 1887 when Fleet Walker, second baseman Bud Fowler, pitcher George Stovey, pitcher Robert Higgins, and Frank Grant, a second baseman who was probably the best Black player of the 19th century, were on rosters of clubs in the International League, one rung below the majors. At least 15 other Black players were in lesser professional leagues. Although they suffered harassment and discrimination off the field, they were grudgingly accepted by most of their teammates and opponents.

A League of Colored Base Ball Clubs, organized in 1887 in cities of the Northeast and border states, was recognized as a legitimate minor league under organized baseball’s National Agreement and raised hopes of sending Black players to big league teams. However, the league’s first games attracted small crowds, and it collapsed after only one week. While no rule in organized baseball ever stated that Black players were banned, a so-called “gentlemen’s agreement” to exclude Blacks eventually prevailed.

There were other disturbing signs of exclusion for Black players in 1887. The Syracuse (New York) Stars of the International League suffered a mutiny when pitcher Douglas (“Dug”) Crothers refused to sit for a team portrait with his Black teammate Robert Higgins. In Newark, New Jersey, Black pitcher Stovey was kept out of an exhibition game with the major league Chicago White Stockings at the insistence of Cap Anson, Chicago’s manager and one of the most famous players of baseball’s early days. And the St. Louis Browns, American Association champions, refused to play an exhibition game against the all-Black Cuban Giants. The night before the scheduled game, eight members of the Browns handed a message to the team’s owner that read: “[We] do not agree to play against Negroes tomorrow. We will cheerfully play against white people at any time.”

In mid-season that year the International League’s board of directors told its secretary to approve no more contracts for Black players, although it did not oust the league’s five Blacks. The Ohio State League also wrestled inconclusively with the colour question. It was becoming clear that the colour bar was gradually being raised. Black players were in the minor leagues for the next few years, but their numbers declined steadily. The last Black players in the recognized minor leagues during the 19th century were the Acme Colored Giants, who represented Celoron, New York, in the Iron and Oil Leagues in 1898.

As the 20th century dawned, separation of the races was becoming the rule, especially in the South. The U.S. Supreme Court had written segregation into national law in 1895 in Plessy v. Ferguson, which approved separate schools for Black and white children. In the South, state laws and local ordinances placed limits on the use of public facilities by African Americans and forbade athletic competition between Blacks and whites. In the North, African Americans were not usually segregated by law, but local custom dictated second-class citizenship for them.

Nevertheless, the idea of Black players in the major and minor leagues was not yet unthinkable. In 1901 John J. McGraw, manager of the Baltimore Orioles in the new American League, tried to sign a Black second baseman named Charlie Grant by saying that he was a Cherokee man named Tokohama. The effort failed when rivals correctly identified Grant instead as a member of the Chicago Columbia Giants, a Black team. Five years later there was an abortive attempt to bring African American William Clarence Matthews, Harvard College’s shortstop from 1902 to 1905, into the National League.

Increasingly, Black players who wanted to play professionally had to join all-Black teams. (Several swarthy players in the big leagues were widely assumed to be Black although they claimed to be white Latin Americans. No admitted Black men played in the white leagues at the time.) Ninety percent of the country’s African American citizens lived in the South, but migration to Northern states was increasing. With the growing base of potential fans in the North, top-quality Black teams appeared in the Northeast and Midwest. Among them were the Genuine Cuban Giants and Cuban X Giants of New York City (both made up of African Americans despite their names), the Cuban Stars and Havana Stars (both with real Cubans), the Lincoln Giants of New York City, the Philadelphia Giants, the Bacharach Giants of Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Homestead (Pennsylvania) Grays, the Hilldale Club of Philadelphia, and the Norfolk (Virginia) Red Stockings. In the Midwest the leaders were the Chicago American Giants, the Columbia Giants, the Leland Giants, and the Union Giants of Chicago, the Kansas City (Missouri) Monarchs, and the Indianapolis ABCs. Especially noteworthy was the All Nations team, composed of African Americans, whites, a Japanese, a Hawaiian, a Native American, and several Latin Americans. On its roster at various times before World War I were two of the greatest Black pitchers, John Donaldson and José Méndez.

These teams vied for the mythical “colored championship of the world” and also played white semipro and college teams. Salaries were modest. Journeymen players earned $40 to $75 a month, while a star might command more than $100. Some Chicago teams played in the city’s semipro league on weekends, occasionally competing against big leaguers from the Cubs and White Sox who played under assumed names. During the week, they played white clubs in nearby towns.

Major league teams often played Black teams during spring training trips to Cuba and sometimes had postseason games against Black clubs in the United States. In 1909, for example, the Chicago Cubs won three close games in a series with the Leland Giants. In 1915, eastern Black teams won four of eight games against big league teams, including a five-hit shutout of the National League champion Philadelphia Phillies by Smokey Joe Williams of the New York Lincoln Giants. In the late 1920s, Commissioner Landis forbade big league clubs from competing in toto in the off-season. Partisans of Black baseball believed it was because Black teams often beat the major leaguers.

In the Midwest a few teams barnstormed all season long. The Kansas City (Kansas) Giants, for example, were on the road all summer, traveling mostly by railroad. Their opponents were white semipro teams throughout the Midwestern states and southern Canada. Although a Black face was a novelty in the small towns, the players remembered that by and large they had little trouble finding food and lodging in the rural areas.

Formed in 1920 and 1921, respectively, the Negro National League and the Negro Eastern League played in New York City; Chicago; St. Louis, Missouri; Kansas City, Missouri; Detroit, and other cities that had absorbed a large influx of African Americans from the South during and after World War I. In the 1920s a Negro World Series was begun and was held annually until the Negro leagues failed in the 1930s. A second Negro National League was founded late in that decade, and the Negro American League, formed in 1936, ultimately had Eastern and Western divisions that in 1952 played a Negro East-West game. Among the most famous players in the various Negro leagues were Josh Gibson (who was credited with hitting 89 home runs in one season), Satchel Paige, Bill Yancey, John Henry Lloyd, Andrew (“Rube”) Foster, and James Thomas (“Cool Papa”) Bell. After World War II, attendance at Negro league games declined as outstanding players were lost to formerly all-white teams. (For more in-depth information on this topic, see Negro leagues.)

Integration

Several major league teams either discussed or attempted the racial integration of professional baseball in the 1940s. The interest in integration then was sparked by several factors—the increasing economic and political influence of urban Blacks, the success of Black ballplayers in exhibition games with major leaguers, and especially the participation of African Americans in World War II. The hypocrisy of fighting fascism abroad while tolerating segregation at home was difficult to ignore. During the war, protest signs outside Yankee Stadium read, “If we are able to stop bullets, why not balls?” A major obstacle to integration was removed in 1944 with the death of Commissioner Landis. Though he had made several public declarations that there was no colour barrier in baseball, during his tenure Landis prevented any attempts at signing Black players. (He blocked, for example, Bill Veeck’s purchase of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1943 after learning that Veeck planned to stock his team with Negro league All-Stars.) On the other hand, Landis’s successor, Happy Chandler, was openly supportive of bringing integration to the sport.

In 1947 Jackie Robinson became the first Black player in the modern major leagues. His arrival was the result of careful planning by Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey, who began researching the idea of signing a Black player and scouting for the right individual when he joined the Dodgers in 1942. In a meeting with Robinson in 1945, Rickey badgered the player for several hours about the abuse and hostility he would receive from players and fans and warned him that he must not retaliate. Robinson agreed and spent the 1946 season with the Dodgers minor league franchise in Montreal in preparation for playing in the big leagues. His first season with Brooklyn was marred by all the hostility that Rickey had predicted (even from a handful of teammates), but it also was marked by Robinson’s determined play, which eventually won over fans and opponents, as well as helping the Dodgers win the National League pennant and earning him the Rookie of the Year award. Robinson, who was named Most Valuable Player in the National League after his third year, was followed into the major leagues immediately by Larry Doby and in 1948 by Satchel Paige. Both played for the American League Cleveland Indians, who won the World Series in 1948. Despite the successes of Robinson, Doby, and Paige, full integration of the major leagues came about slowly and was not completed until 1959 when Elijah Green joined the Boston Red Sox.

The impact of Black players on the field was significant. They brought over from the Negro leagues an aggressive style of play that combined power hitting with daring on the base paths. Black players soon established themselves as major league stars. In the 1950s and ’60s, players such as outfielders Willie Mays and Hank Aaron (who set the all-time career home-run record) and pitcher Bob Gibson posted statistics that ranked them among the best ever to play the game. Later, Reggie Jackson, Ozzie Smith, and Barry Bonds were definitive players of their respective eras. In 1962 Robinson became the first Black player inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame. In the 1970s, membership in the Hall was opened to the bygone stars of the Negro leagues.

By that time acceptance of Black players had become commonplace. However, inclusion of minorities in coaching and administrative positions was virtually nonexistent. In 1961 Gene Baker became the first African American to manage a minor league team, and in the mid-1960s there were only two African American coaches in the major leagues. In 1975 the Cleveland Indians made Frank Robinson the first Black field manager in major league history. However, opportunities for minorities in managerial positions were rare, and their representation in leadership positions remains an issue.

Women in baseball

Women have played organized baseball since the 1860s. Students at the all-female Vassar College formed baseball teams as early as 1866. In 1875 three men organized a women’s baseball club in Springfield, Illinois, divided it into two teams, the Blondes and the Brunettes, and charged admission to see them play. In the early 20th century, barnstorming teams known as “Bloomer Girls” were formed in various parts of the United States and took on amateur and semiprofessional teams that included both men and women.

In its early stages, women’s involvement in professional baseball was largely an attempt to profit from the novelty of female players. An Ohio woman, Alta Weiss, pitched for the otherwise all-male semiprofessional Vermilion Independents in 1907. Jackie Mitchell became the first female professional baseball player when she signed a contract with the minor league Chattanooga (Tennessee) Lookouts in 1931. Mitchell pitched in an exhibition game against the New York Yankees and struck out their two star players, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Organized baseball formally banned women from signing professional contracts with men’s teams in 1952, and the prohibition is still in effect.

When World War II made the suspension of major league baseball a possibility, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was founded with four teams—the Rockford (Illinois) Peaches, the Racine Belles and the Kenosha Comets (both of Wisconsin), and the South Bend (Indiana) Blue Sox. The AAGPBL drew large crowds because of its players’ athletic abilities. The league management, however, was concerned that the players appear feminine to the fans, and rules encouraging the wearing of lipstick and long hair and banning the wearing of trousers off the field were promulgated. On the field, the women initially played fast-pitch softball (which features a larger ball and underhand pitching), but by 1948 overhand pitching had been introduced, and eventually the only difference of note between men’s baseball and AAGPBL baseball was the size of the diamond, which in the AAGPBL had a shorter distance between bases. During its 11-year existence (1943–54), the league received a great deal of national attention, but by the 1950s the televising of major league baseball had led to dwindling interest in the women’s teams, and the league folded. These female players were eventually recognized with an exhibit at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1988. In 1992 the feature film A League of Their Own dramatized the story of the AAGPBL.

Beginning in 1994, the Colorado Silver Bullets, sponsored by a brewing company and managed by Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro, competed against men’s teams for four years. Between 1997 and 2000 Ila Borders, a left-handed pitcher, played for two men’s teams in the independent Northern League. While women have participated in professional baseball for more than a century, their impact on the game has been limited.

Baseball in Latin America

Baseball was first played in the United States in the 1840s but soon after became an international sport. The game was introduced into Cuba in 1864 when Cuban students returned home from the United States with a bat and ball. Baseball took hold and in fact became part of the Cuban identity in the independence struggle against Spain in the last quarter of the 19th century. Cubans helped spread the game throughout the Caribbean region. Two Cuban brothers took baseball to the Dominican Republic in the 1880s, and Cubans, along with local nationals who had studied in the United States, introduced baseball to Venezuela in 1895 and to Puerto Rico in 1897.

Cuban refugees from the independence struggle, along with railroad workers and U.S. merchant marines, introduced baseball to various regions of Mexico between 1877 and the 1890s. Today baseball remains the most important sport in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela and is among the most popular sports in Puerto Rico. Football (soccer) remains the dominant sport in Mexico but is challenged by baseball in certain regions of the country; baseball is also an important sport in Central America. In the final decades of the 20th century, players from Latin American countries and Puerto Rico became an increasingly dominant force in major league baseball in the United States.

Professional leagues currently exist in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. Games are played between October and January, and the winners of the four leagues meet in the Caribbean Series each February. In Mexico there is also a summer league affiliated with Minor League Baseball (the governing body of minor league baseball in the United States) that has been given Triple A status. In both the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, summer rookie leagues are affiliated with Minor League Baseball.

Professional baseball leagues existed in Cuba (see also Cuban League) from 1878 until 1961, when the Cuban government abolished the professional game. With all the Cuban talent now at the amateur level, the Cubans began to dominate international amateur competition, winning the first gold medals given in baseball at the Olympic Games in Barcelona (1992).

Baseball in Asia and the Pacific

Baseball was introduced into Japan in the 1870s. It quickly gained popularity and by the end of the century had become a national sport. Today the annual Koshien tournament in Ōsaka, featuring the country’s top high-school teams, is nationally televised and can draw more than 50,000 fans.

A professional league was organized in 1936, and the two current leagues, the Central and the Pacific, began to operate in 1950 (see also Japanese baseball leagues). The champions of the two leagues meet each October in the Japan Series, the equivalent of the World Series in the United States. The most famous Japanese professional player is Oh Sadaharu, who hit 868 home runs while playing for the Yomiuri Giants between 1959 and 1980. (Barry Bonds, the leading home-run hitter in U.S. major league baseball, had a career total of 762.)

While the Japanese leagues have long imported players from the United States, only recently have Japanese players begun to play in the major leagues in the United States. In 1995 pitcher Hideo Nomo became the first Japanese citizen to join an American major league team, having pitched professionally in the Japanese major leagues. Nomo won National League Rookie of the Year honours for his performance with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1995, became a hero in Japan, and drew the attention of the American public to the quality of Japanese baseball. Ichiro Suzuki, as an outfielder with the Seattle Mariners at the turn of the 21st century, was another player who impressed American baseball fans.

The most impactful Japanese player to join the major leagues was Shohei Ohtani. Both a pitcher and a designated hitter, Ohtani became the first two-way player in the majors in nearly a century when he made his debut with the Los Angeles Angels in 2018. He won the Rookie of the Year award and captured Most Valuable Player honours in 2021 after establishing himself as one of the best pitchers and hitters at the sport’s highest level of competition.

Baseball is also an important sport in Korea, where there is a professional league, the Korea Baseball Organization, that has fielded an eight-team circuit since 1982. Taiwan, which has produced several Little League world champion teams, has two professional leagues, the Chinese Professional Baseball League, a four-team league that started in 1990, and the Taiwan Major League, a four-team league that began operations in 1997. Australia has an eight-team professional league, the International Baseball Association Australia, which started in 1989.

International competition

Baseball debuted as an Olympic sport at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain, and in the late 1990s the International Baseball Federation permitted professionals to play in international competitions. But because the Olympic Summer Games take place during the Major League Baseball season, the Olympic tournament failed to attract the top players in the sport. In 2005 the International Olympic Committee voted to drop the sport from the Summer program following the 2008 Olympics. That same year the International Baseball Federation sanctioned the World Baseball Classic, a triennial international competition between national teams consisting of professional and amateur players. The inaugural World Baseball Classic was held in March 2006. It featured 16 teams from all parts of the globe and was won by Japan.