[Eoscstudents] Black History

[Levenia Carey]

Good Day Everyone:

Happy Valentine's Day, it is a good day to stay cuddle next to a warm 
fireplace or a warm heart - you decide.  Today we placed the spotlight 
on the Negro Baseball Leagues.   These leagues formed by all-black teams 
prior to the integration of professional baseball in 1947.  The first 
salaried African-American ballplayer was John "Bud" Fowler, hired in 
1872 by an all-white club in New Castle, Pennsylvania.  But after 
touring with a black team, he was not allowed to rejoin the white club.

The first African-American professional team - the Cuban Giants - made 
its debut in 1885.  By pretending to be foreign, the players were able 
to tour Florida and the Southwest at a time when native Hispanics were 
also unwelcome in major league baseball.  In an unsuccessful attempt to 
undermine baseball's color line in 1901, Baltimore Orioles manager John 
McGraw put black player Charlie Grant on his roster under the name of 
Charlie Tokahama and tried to claim he was a Cherokee Indian.

Nationwide black baseball leagues were organized following World War I, 
thanks partly to the efforts of star pitcher Rube Foster, who was 
co-owner and manager of the Chicago American Giants.  The pay was low, 
traveling accommodations were poor, and the players, who usually played 
in rented stadiums when the resident white teams were on the road, often 
were not allowed to use "white" dressing rooms. Teams regularly played 
schedules of 60 to 70 games.  During the off-season, they often played - 
and beat - major league white players in exhibition games.

The Negro leagues produces some of baseball's finest players, among them 
Josh Gibson, whose career statistics include over 900 home runs and a 
lifetime batting average of .423.  Even better know was pitcher Satchel 
Paige.  Other legendary players included Leon Day, Chet Brewer, Oscar 
Charleston, Ray Dandridge, John Henry "Pop" Lloyd, James "Cool Papa" 
Bell, Walter "Buck" Leonard, and William "Judy" Johnson.  Among the 
major teams were the Pittsburgh Crawfords, the Kansas City Monarchs, the 
Leland Giants, and the St. Louis Stars.

In 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers under Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson 
to a major league contract. It signified a turning point in U.S. racial 
history and an end to the Negro leagues, even though some white teams 
were slow to sign black players.  The Red Sox did not integrate until 
1959.  In 1971, the Baseball Hall of Fame began to induct players from 
the Negro Leagues.

Have a great afternoon.

Marilynn, Brenton, Levenia, NAACP/Psycho Clubs
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.onenet.net/pipermail/eoscstudents/attachments/20070214/e156b2c5/attachment.html