African Americans Changed The Game

The Negro Leagues were one of the most important and influential movements to happen in baseball history. Without these ‘Invisible Men’, who knows where baseball’s racial standpoint with not only African American’s, but others such as Cuban, Dominican, and South American players, would be in the Major Leagues. Throughout the book, one pressing theme stays from beginning to end: Segregation.

Baseball has always been more than just a sport to the American people. For many, it is a way of life, teaching not just brute skills but life lessons and morals. In the wake of World War I, racism and bigotry abounded in the United States. Even though the integration of schools had recently been instated, Jim Crow laws severely limited the activity of African Americans in society, resulting in baseball teams being limited to whites. Jackie Robinson made an important step in gaining rights for African Americans when he broke the color barrier of baseball in 1947. He did this by making civil rights his ambition even before the protests began (Coombs 117). Jackie Robinson’s fame as a baseball player and determination to defeat adversity

Black American men were banned from being able to play professional baseball from the early 1900’s till the late 1940’s. This sparked the creation of what was known as the Negro Leagues. The first successful Negro League was formed in 1920 by Andrew "Rube" Foster (https:// negroleaguebaseball.com), but suspended operations in 1931 due to the financial hardships associated with the Great Depression (Baseball: An Illustrated History, G. Ward, Page 87). As the Great Depression ended and America got closer to WWII, the popularity of the Negro leagues grew. The creation of the Negro National League and the Negro American League represented the two premier Negro leagues in the 1930’s and 1940’s. They were just as organized as their white counterparts. They played a 140 game schedule, had their own all-star games, as well as their own World Series (Baseball: An Illustrated History, G. Ward, Page 247). The Negro leagues flourished during WWII. The white players of the professional teams were being drafted and their

In 1947 if you were any race other than white could not play in major league baseball. “Jackie Robinson, took the first steps toward integrating the sport's major league teams when he signed a contract to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947” (Smith para 1). Jackie Robinson was the first African-American player in the major league baseball. If Jackie Robinson didn’t sign to the Dodgers then who knows how segregated baseball or the world in general would be. The Brooklyn Dodgers were the first to sign an African-American on there team. The Brooklyn Dodger coach ask for Jackie Robinson to come out and talk to him.

Before there were players such as Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball was strictly white players only. The color line of Major League Baseball excluded black players until the late 40’s. This didn’t stop the colored men of America from playing the beloved American sport. The creation of the Negro Leagues in 1920 by Rube Foster gave colored men a chance to play in their own professional league, similar to the Major Leagues, but for African-American men. The creation of the Negro Leagues was a result of the Jim Crow Laws, state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Enacted after the Reconstruction period in the U.S., these laws continued in force until 1965. These laws created

Sports in a society bring people together and help aid in people making friendships or gaining respect for each other. Baseball isn’t a traditional game that minorities play in and possibly one of the most well-known sports for segregation with the Negro League being formed for African Americans before they integrated. Whites were perceived as the better baseball players so African American and minority baseball players weren’t allowed to play with them (Jiobu, 1988). African American baseball players weren’t worse baseball players and actually had better stats and success in the Negro League. Some even believed they were worse players because they were told so by the white people who were seen as the smarter race even though the numbers said

Although the court case of Plessy v. Ferguson declared segregation to be legal as long as things were equal in 1896, baseball had already done this about ten years prior. There was a creation of the Negro League in the 1920s through the 1940s so that African Americans could have the same opportunities and white players even though they were not allowed on any of the major league teams. Jackie Robinson was a rookie player on the Kansas City Monarchs, a Negro League team, and being along side Satchel Paige, no one even noticed who he was. According to the reading in Jackie Robinson and Race in America by Thomas Zeiler, Satchel Paige was the first negro player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and he possibly believed to be one of the best pitchers of all time. Another comrade of Robinson’s during his time in the Negro League would be Josh Gibson, one of the greatest catchers and hitters of all time. The owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers,

Baseball has always been America’s national pastime. In the early and all the way into the mid 50’s, baseball was America and America was baseball. The only thing lacking in the great game was the absence of African American players and the presence of an all white sport. America still wasn’t friendly or accepted the African American race and many still held great prejudice towards them. All this would change when the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey decided he was going to sign a Negro player. Jackie Robinson was that player and Jackie Robinson changed the game, America, and history. By looking specifically at his childhood adversity, college life and the hardships he encountered by becoming the first black player

     "Over the decades, African American teams played 445-recorded games against white teams, winning sixty-one percent of them." (Conrads, pg.8) The Negro Leagues were an alternative baseball group for African American baseball player that were denied the right to play with the white baseball payers in the Major League Baseball Association. In 1920, the first African American League was formed, and that paved the way for numerous African American innovation and movements. Fences, and Jackie Robinson: The Biography, raises consciousness about the baseball players that have been overlooked, and the struggle they had to endure simply because of their color.

When the topic of baseball comes up in a conversation, what do you think of? The field, a bat, the ball, or amazing plays, crucial games, and game winning performances. What about American history? Does World War II come to mind; most likely not. According to an article called “Food for Thought: Baseball and American History,” John P. Rossi quotes Jacques Barzun saying, “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.” Negro League Baseball can be used to shed light on the historical experience of African American’s in the United States.

Negro baseball leagues have a deep historical significance. Racism and “Jim Crow” laws encouraged segregation of African-Americans and whites. Arguably, the players on the negro baseball leagues were some of the best ever. Even today they are still being recognized and honored for their wonderful contribution to baseball as a whole. It started when major league owners had made a “gentleman’s agreement” to keep blacks from playing in the game. The barrier that went up was finally broken with a few black players being signed into white teams in the 1940s. It was once said by Martin Luther King Jr., “[Segregation] gives the segregator a false sense of superiority, it gives the segregated a false sense of inferiority.” While that is true of

When asked to describe a baseball the first word generally voiced is white, and before April 15, 1947 that is exactly what the game of baseball was, white. “There is no law against Negroes playing with white teams, or whites with colored clubs, but neither has invited the other for the obvious reason they prefer to draw their talent from their own ranks” (‘42’). These were the feelings of people living in 1947, that blacks and whites were not meant to play baseball together. Then, why decades earlier, had there been an African American in the league? In 1887, an African American Pitcher, George Stovey, was expected to pitch a game with Chicago, however, the first baseman, Cap Anson, would not play as long as Stovey was on the field. Other

The man who broke the color barrier, Jackie Robinson. Robinson was the first African-American to play in the MLB. Robinson overcame many obstacles in his career the main ones being racism and segregation. Robinson had a 10 year career with the Dodgers. Robinson became a civil rights activist being involved in the NAACP after his retirement from baseball. Jackie has received numerous awards not only for his physical abilities but for his impact he made on the world.

Before that, “blacks played in the “Negro Leagues”, which were developed as an alternative to the segregated all-white game” (US History.com). Most people resisted the efforts to integrate baseball, but that didn’t stop him from being allowed to play. During Robinson’s first season with the Dodgers, a group of his teammates decided to strike rather than play with Robinson. They were told that “they could leave if they wished but Robinson would still play” (US History.com).

The Negro Leagues, baseball leagues for merely black players, allowed urban communities to “pass down the tradition of ‘their’ game 25.” As the Negro leagues ended, baseball’s popularity diminished because it no longer acted as a unique and individualized aspect of African-American culture. The Negro Leagues and the black baseball movement inspired hope as a part of the larger civil rights movement of the 20th century and the black community utilized baseball “as a means of collective identity and civic pride 26.” African- American’s racial advances in baseball signaled the long term success of the larger civil rights movement of the 20th century. As a result, baseball became essential in identifying the progress and identity of African-American culture. Baseball lost its social prevalence after the African-American civil rights movement due to the emergence of other