Today I will let you know of a few pieces of information about Jackie Robinson that are not as well known. I personally find these facts interesting and I always like to be as informed as possible about a topic.
Fact #1: Jackie Robinson was not the first African American to play in the MLB. Welday Walker played for five games in 1884 for the Toledo Blue Stockings (then considered part of the major league). That same year Moses Fleetwood Walker (his brother) played in 63 games. Moses Fleetwood Walker is generally the one credited with being the "first" and it happened 60 years before Robinson played for the Dodgers. Recently, though that has been challenged by the society of baseball research. That group found that in 1879 William Edward White played in one game for the Providence Grays. White was considered to be of mixed race. However, White was listed as Caucasian so it is difficult to tell what nationality he was. It is clear that the first non-white baseball player in the majors was either William Edward White or Moses Fleetwood Walker though. To find out about what happened to Moses Fleetwood Walker you can read this
article written this morning.
If Robinson wasn't the first, then why do we say he broke the color barrier?
We say it because he did break the color barrier. Major League Baseball had no rules on segregation until after 1919. During that season was the infamous Black Sox scandal and the owners felt it important to have a more firm governing body over the sport. Enter Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Landis of course banned the Black Sox from baseball (including Shoeless Joe Jackson and Buck Weaver) who would appear from stats anyway to not be in on the fix). Anyways, that is not all that Landis did. Landis was also a huge racist at the time and decided to segregate baseball. This was not a formal decision so he is not blamed for it, but no black players played in MLB while Landis was Commish so you be the judge. Bill Veeck who signed at one time Larry Doby as a player and a manager once tried to buy the Philadelphia Phillies. His goal in 1942 (5 years before Robinson played in the majors) was to buy the team and stock it with black players. This was blocked by Kenesaw Mountain Landis and unfortunately never happened. Landis died in 1944 and in 1945 Branch Rickey got Jackie Robinson to join the Dodgers farm team. Coincidence, you decide. Unfortunately, Landis's decisions still remain, the Black Sox are still banned and the MVP trophies are still named after him. To me this is baseball's biggest black eye. Rename the MVP trophies and remove the ban of Shoeless Joe and put him in the hall.
Robinson's jersey is retired, but Yankees closer Mariano Rivera still wears #42 and several players wear the jersey annually on April 15, today. Ken Griffey Jr. actually came up with the idea to honor Robinson by wearing #42 on this date.
The person to break the color barrier in the American League was Larry Doby. The Hall of Fame OF did it with the Indians in the same season Robinson entered the league. We will have more on Doby later.
Jackie Robinson may have been the most important figure in sports history. He was a great man and we are all lucky that he was willing to go through what he went through.
-Noland
Jackie Robinson would be an American Hero even if it wasn't for his military
service. For those following this blog, you know that I posted two things about
Robinson back on Jackie Robinson day. You can find those stories by clicking on
the Jackie Robinson tab at the top of the page. Most people only know about him
for what he did on the field. Robinson was equally impressive and influential
off of it.
