I stand corrected, Robinson and Doby did come up in the late 40's. A really good source of info on baseball history, including racial aspects, is Ken Burn's PBS series "Baseball", still available on video. Burn's mentions the 19th century black players and the fact that some blacks played later into the segregated era by posing as Cubans or American Indians. I also find fascinating his relating that white and black players competed against each other routinely in offseason exhibitions throughout this era, and that several polls of white major leaguers revealed that the vast majority had no objection the the inclusion of black players in the majors. Burns also reported that many white major league stars expressed great admiration for Negro League stars. It seems that the long segregation of the major leagues had little to do with player animosity and everything to do with what the owners considered effective marketing. Fortunately, in the two other major American sports of the era, boxing and cycling, blacks, though discriminated against, were not excluded, as shown by the success of Jack Johnson and Major Taylor. Perhaps, these being individual sports, those controlling them could not cite the objections of white teammates cited by baseball owners, which, as Ken Burns demonstrated, was mostly lies.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Houston, TX
> It's good learning about Major Taylor, someone I knew nothing about until
> the last couple days.
>
> But I thought I'd make a little correction regarding baseball. Branch
> Rickey brought Jackie Robinson to the National League in 1947, and Larry
> Doby came up (with the Indians) in 1948. But what most folks don't know
is
> that there were some black players in professional baseball in the 1880s,
> but by the end of the decade the bigots, led by Cap Anson (a "Hall of
> Famer"), managed to get them out of professional baseball. Thank goodness
> for Branch Rickey's foresight and Jackie Robinson's courage. . . .
>
> nath dresser
> spring green, wi (where the temps are in the 50s today, and may reach
> 60--and the mid-60s tomorrow!)