Chapter One
Chapter one on the integration of Major League Baseball
The Rise of Segregated Baseball
Seth Thomas
Baseball becomes a great analogy for an America that is afraid of change, yet depends on it. In the early days of the United States, the Appalachian mountains were the deep West, and we were afraid of it. Had fear gripped our infancy for too long, our current situation would be barely recognizable. It would be difficult to imagine an America designated to the east coast, just as few can imagine baseball with out Barry Bonds and Willie Mays. But before any of these players made it to national prominence, the general public did imagine baseball separate along racial lines, with no expectation that integration would ever occur.
There is a large amount of evidence to support the view that, early on, baseball was often played across racial lines. It took formal leagues to insist on a color barrier, so it came as no surprise when the "National Association of Base Ball Players" announced in 1867 that no team "composed of one or more colored persons" would be admitted. The association claimed it was doing this for everyones safety, stating "if colored clubs were admitted, there would be in all probability some division of feeling whereas, by exculding them no injury could result to anyone" (McKissack 8). With the Civil War still fresh in everyone's mind, it is amazing that the North would let this policy slip by, only two years after more than 635,000 casualties were suffered to rid America of racial hatred (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia).
Four years later, when the first professional league sprouted, it would be far too risky to officially write up rules barring black players. Baseball stayed segregated for more than half a century, and none of it was official. It all worked under a so called "Gentleman's Agreement", where every owner understood that black players were not welcome. Early on, this line was not as firm and unbreakable as it would come to be in the next decades. There were at least 60 black players playing against whites (mostly on teams formed completely by blacks) in the same league. For literally a week, a league was formed called the "League of Colored Base Ball Clubs" in 1887 and it was a legitimate minor league. It seemed total integration was not far off, until the leagues collapse the same week it opened (Encyclopedia Britannica Online).
Anyone can fool themselves into believing that the Negro Leagues were amateurish, a joke and a side show, but the numbers speak for themselves. During the years of segregated baseball, black players played their white counterparts in off-season exhibition games at least 438 times. Of those, the black players took 309. Whites won 129 (Burns 198).
These were major league teams (many times they were All-Star teams) that were playing each other. Many have claimed that the white teams did these games only for the extra checks, and did not try. But when one team is winning 75 percent of the time, that's not a few games in the balance. That is complete and utter domination. It is not surprising then that there were some white men in positions of power in baseball who wanted to use this untapped pool of talent.
One such person who made an attempt at this early on was John McGraw, who managed the New York Giants. In 1901, he signed a black second basemen named Charlie Grant. With the color line firmly in place by now, he passed him off as Native American, even changing his name to Charlie Tokahoma. When a couple black friends were seen with him, the 'scandal' was made public and Grant never made the team (Burns and Ward, Baseball: An Illustrated History 86). Half a decade later, there was an effort made to bring in Harvard's black short stop, which also failed (Encyclopedia Brtiannica Online).
The most famous attempt to bring in a black player prior to 1947, was when Bill Veeck attempted it in 1943. He wished to buy a team and then sign up the Negro leagues All-Star team. These plans had to be attempted with utmost secrecy. As soon as Commissioner Judge Landis caught whiff of Veecks plans, he denied his attempt to buy a club. Landis is believed to have done this many times in his time as Commissioner, despite stating there is no color bar. He himself believed 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" (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia). However, with the death of Landis in 1944, a hurdle in the plans to integrate Major League Baseball was gotten rid of.
Branch Rickey had been waiting for his chance to change the game again, after he started the farm system in St. Louis. With Judge Landis removed from the equation, and pro-integration commissioner "Happy" Chandler, everything seemed in place. Chandler once said "I don't believe in barring Negroes from baseball just because they are Negroes" and his failure to be reselected as the commissioner is largely believed to be because of integration (Wkipedia, the Free Encyclopedia).
The Rise of Segregated Baseball
Seth Thomas
Baseball becomes a great analogy for an America that is afraid of change, yet depends on it. In the early days of the United States, the Appalachian mountains were the deep West, and we were afraid of it. Had fear gripped our infancy for too long, our current situation would be barely recognizable. It would be difficult to imagine an America designated to the east coast, just as few can imagine baseball with out Barry Bonds and Willie Mays. But before any of these players made it to national prominence, the general public did imagine baseball separate along racial lines, with no expectation that integration would ever occur.
There is a large amount of evidence to support the view that, early on, baseball was often played across racial lines. It took formal leagues to insist on a color barrier, so it came as no surprise when the "National Association of Base Ball Players" announced in 1867 that no team "composed of one or more colored persons" would be admitted. The association claimed it was doing this for everyones safety, stating "if colored clubs were admitted, there would be in all probability some division of feeling whereas, by exculding them no injury could result to anyone" (McKissack 8). With the Civil War still fresh in everyone's mind, it is amazing that the North would let this policy slip by, only two years after more than 635,000 casualties were suffered to rid America of racial hatred (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia).
Four years later, when the first professional league sprouted, it would be far too risky to officially write up rules barring black players. Baseball stayed segregated for more than half a century, and none of it was official. It all worked under a so called "Gentleman's Agreement", where every owner understood that black players were not welcome. Early on, this line was not as firm and unbreakable as it would come to be in the next decades. There were at least 60 black players playing against whites (mostly on teams formed completely by blacks) in the same league. For literally a week, a league was formed called the "League of Colored Base Ball Clubs" in 1887 and it was a legitimate minor league. It seemed total integration was not far off, until the leagues collapse the same week it opened (Encyclopedia Britannica Online).
Anyone can fool themselves into believing that the Negro Leagues were amateurish, a joke and a side show, but the numbers speak for themselves. During the years of segregated baseball, black players played their white counterparts in off-season exhibition games at least 438 times. Of those, the black players took 309. Whites won 129 (Burns 198).
These were major league teams (many times they were All-Star teams) that were playing each other. Many have claimed that the white teams did these games only for the extra checks, and did not try. But when one team is winning 75 percent of the time, that's not a few games in the balance. That is complete and utter domination. It is not surprising then that there were some white men in positions of power in baseball who wanted to use this untapped pool of talent.
One such person who made an attempt at this early on was John McGraw, who managed the New York Giants. In 1901, he signed a black second basemen named Charlie Grant. With the color line firmly in place by now, he passed him off as Native American, even changing his name to Charlie Tokahoma. When a couple black friends were seen with him, the 'scandal' was made public and Grant never made the team (Burns and Ward, Baseball: An Illustrated History 86). Half a decade later, there was an effort made to bring in Harvard's black short stop, which also failed (Encyclopedia Brtiannica Online).
The most famous attempt to bring in a black player prior to 1947, was when Bill Veeck attempted it in 1943. He wished to buy a team and then sign up the Negro leagues All-Star team. These plans had to be attempted with utmost secrecy. As soon as Commissioner Judge Landis caught whiff of Veecks plans, he denied his attempt to buy a club. Landis is believed to have done this many times in his time as Commissioner, despite stating there is no color bar. He himself believed 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" (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia). However, with the death of Landis in 1944, a hurdle in the plans to integrate Major League Baseball was gotten rid of.
Branch Rickey had been waiting for his chance to change the game again, after he started the farm system in St. Louis. With Judge Landis removed from the equation, and pro-integration commissioner "Happy" Chandler, everything seemed in place. Chandler once said "I don't believe in barring Negroes from baseball just because they are Negroes" and his failure to be reselected as the commissioner is largely believed to be because of integration (Wkipedia, the Free Encyclopedia).