Baseball, America 's Pastime

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.

A pastime is a hobby that is performed in someone’s spare time. The term America’s pastime is something that the entire nation enjoys and participates in. Since its creation, baseball has taken the top spot as the nation’s favorite recreation. For generations it filled the homes of Americans whether it be via television, conversation, or participation. Families would travel together to their local baseball stadium and root for the home team. Kids would organize games at their local baseball field and play until dark. Stars like Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio were idols to fans, both young and old. It was evident that baseball was in the peoples hearts and truly was America’s pastime. However, today there is a debate whether baseball is still The United States number one choice of hobby. It is unclear whether it actually is America’s pastime or if that term is just associated with the game. Although the game has deep roots, due to the rise in popularity of other professional sports, a drop in baseball game viewings and a decrease in the number of young fans, baseball should no longer be considered America’s pastime.

     "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.

The story of Jackie Robinson has become one of America's most iconic and inspiring stories. Since 1947, American history has portrayed Jackie Robinson as a hero, and he has been idolized as a role model to the African American baseball community. It is an unarguable fact that he was the first to tear down the color barriers within professional baseball. The topic of Robinson’s role in integration has long been a point of discussion amongst baseball historians. Researchers have accumulated thousands of accredited documents and interviews with friends and team mates such as short stop, Pee Wee Reese, and team owner, Branch Rickey. However, few journalists have asked why Robinson was selected and what was Branch

In Buck O’Neil’s book, I Was Right on Time, he mentions a phrase that was common for Negro League ball players to hear back in the day. O’Neil writes, “John McGraw said he’d give 50,000 dollars for Donaldson if he’d been white…we heard that a lot about a lot of players through the years” (O’Neil 78). But unfortunately for many of the ballplayers at that time, they weren’t white. And as a result of their skin color and the Jim Crow laws of the time, African American, including ballplayers like Buck O’Neil, had to endure troubling times and unjust hardships. On the surface, I Was Right on Time is a memoir, a story about O’Neil’s time spent navigating through black baseball and his stories of some of the greatest to play the game, but underneath the tales of a great American sport, is a great American travesty; a real look into the days of segregation and the harshness of racial problems in 20th century America.

Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby were very determined to stick with the game they loved and to make a change. Thanks to their performance both on and off the ball field, “other owners began to seek talented black players, and by 1952, there were 150 black players in organized baseball” (Branch). Their “actions had repercussions far beyond the sports world” (Jim). The integration of baseball was an enormous smack in the face to all of segregation. Many racial barriers quickly tumbled down with the integration of baseball; restaurants, hotels, and stores removed their “white only” signs bringing blacks and whites together. Robinson and Doby could not have won the battle against segregation on their own, the press helped to make their struggle to be known throughout the country.

In the biography Jackie Robinson and the American Dilemma by John R. M. Wilson, it tells the story of racial injustice done after world war II and explains how Jackie Robinson was pioneer of better race relations in the United States. The obstacles Jackie Robinson overcame were amazing, he had the responsibility to convert the institutions, customs, and attitudes that had defined race relations in the United States. Seldom has history ever placed so much of a strain on one person. I am addressing the importance of Jackie Robinson’s trials and triumphs to American racial dynamics in the post war period to show how Robinson was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement and brought baseball fans together regardless of race.

The year is 1936, in Pasadena, California. A single mother works many odd jobs just to put food on the table for her five children. These children, all black, face discrimination every day. They, along with their minority friends, are rarely included in activities. The youngest of them, however, appears to have a great gift for sport. He is a shortstop for the baseball team, quarterback for the football team, and guard on the basketball team, and he excelled in all three. On August 28th, 1945, now a former college athlete and veteran, he had a meeting with Branch Rickey. That day, Jackie Robinson signed a contract to be the first black player in Major League Baseball. Of course, many black people have excelled in many areas. Though racism has always been a part of society, many black people have been able to make great accomplishments and are now celebrated for what they do.

Since the abolition of slavery in the USA in 1883 and through the first half of the 20th Century, African Americans had been in a constant struggle to try and gain an equal footing in society. Like many aspects of American life, black sportsmen were segregated, and no African American had played professional baseball since 1884. For this reason, the integration of Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first African American to play Major League baseball in the modern era had a grand impact on the entire country. From the moment that Dodgers owner, Branch Rickey decided that Robinson would break the colour lone, the history of sport and the history of African Americans would not be the same again. The importance of his integration and the effect it had on civil rights can be looked at in many different ways. It had great effect on the African American community, instilling pride and belief once again in the American Dream for many who had once thought it impossible. It also had significant importance for civil rights groups, and brought about a figure who would fight his peoples quest for equal rights until the day he died. It was a significant risk taken by both Rickey and Robinson, professionally and personally. But it was a risk that both in the short term for African American sport, and in the long run for African American civil rights, was ultimately well worth taking.

Jackie Robinson’s life changed when he became the first black man to play in the World Series and Major League baseball during a time of racial tension in America. These life changing events challenged him because he had to face racially tense crowds and enured threats from teammates, opponents and bigoted fans. In paragraph three of the text, Robinson states,”Some of my own teammates refused to accept me because I was black”, “It hadn’t been easy to fight resentment expressed by team owners and bigoted fans screaming “n----” These quotes show challenges Robinson faced in racial tension in crowds and fans. Despite the racism he had faced, Robinson learned to have pride in his accomplishments and appreciate the support, courage and love shown by his supporters. In paragraph eleven the text says, “ People came in a hostile audience and made the turnstiles hum.” This quote shows the black people came to support Robinson even though they were not fans for baseball. And made Robinson feel like to succeed in his career. Robinson responded to these life-changing events by continuing to play baseball and prove himself on the field Robson's reactions impacted his society and country by encouraging more blacks to play professional sports integrating the Major Leagues and breaking the color barrier.

White baseball players refused to play if a black man was on their team and other teams refused to play ball against any team in the league that had a black man on the team. Even umpires were in on the ban against black, one stating that “he would always decide against a team that had black players” (Baseball, 2010, page 44). From there league owners formerly declared that they would no longer sign black players and eventually the leagues became all white players once more. Blacks would not be allowed in baseball for sixty years (Baseball, 2010, page 44).

American society in the 1940’s was racially segregated. Public facilities including buses, theaters, and railroad stations excluded black patrons. Among many other parts of American life, baseball, like most professional sports, was equally discriminatory against African Americans. The major league teams only signed white players and denied black men the opportunity to play professionally. Black players were restricted to their own Negro Leagues. Until one day in 1946, when Branch Rickey, an innovative Major League Baseball (MLB) executive, chose a black man named Jackie Robinson to become the first African American man to play professional baseball. Jackie broke the “color barrier” in the world of sports and became the most historically significant baseball player ever.

Although these leagues were formed due to racial segregation, it was the response of black leaders and representatives in a time of oppression that allowed black athletes to find a way to flourish. Tygiel writes, “The essence of black professional baseball is far more elusive than that of its white counterpart. The major leagues always constituted the epitome and cultural core of mainstream baseball, but the formal negro leagues represented no more than a segment of the black baseball experience. P. 117”Even though Tygiel states that the negro leagues were merely a segment of black baseball, it was much more than that. It was a gateway, an opportunity for blacks to display their skills to the world on a professional forum. The legendary Jackie Robinson would not have been a groundbreaker and the first African American to become integrated in white, American baseball if it weren’t for visionaries such as Andrew Rube Foster, Effa Manley, Ed Bolden, and many more who all aided in the prosperity of the negro leagues in one way or another.

In 1947, a brave and talented African American, Jackie Robinson, astonished the world by becoming the first person of color to play in the major league baseball. Through the first couple of years of his career, Robinson was called horrific names, had all types of things thrown at him on the field, and had hundreds of death threats. (Halberstam) (“Jackie Robinson/ WARREN GOLDSTEIN”)