The
Playing Field
The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues
TEACHER'S GUIDE
This guide has been prepared to help the teacher
enhance the study of this video presentation. The
Playing Field is not only about baseball, it's about
exploring the Black experience and examining our
multicultural society.
The Playing Field
Teacher's Guide
By Michael H. Rothman
Edited by Gayle
Schafer
Video Produced by
Darryl Pitts Black
Ball Productions
Distributed by
All material in this program is the exclusive property of the copyright holder. Copying, transmitting, or reproducing in any form or by any means
without prior written permission from the copyright holder is prohibited (Title 17, U.S. Code
Sections 501 and 506).
Cover picture of Joe Williams supplied
by the Baseball Hall of Fame
©1993 Black Ball Productions
PURPOSES
The Playing Field is a video program that is relevant to all Americans. Through the telling of the story of the Negro baseball leagues,
The Playing Field presents a unique view of American history from
Reconstruction (1865-1877) to modern times. Through the use of
historical photographs and motion picture footage, the viewer is
taken on a journey that makes the past come alive. It shows how Black
ballplayers and the African-American culture in general, even when
they were facing the inequity and degradation of legal segregation,
could build positive and lasting institutions. By presenting historical
issues in an interesting, relevant and provocative manner, the video
leads naturally to discussion of many of the issues of today's
multicultural society.
LEVEL Grades 5 through 12
DESCRIPTION
The 23-minute video covers the period from the end of The Civil War
through the 1950s to the modem era. The gains that AfricanAmericans made due to the 14th and 15th Amendments are shown
and compared with the relative equality that was being shown in the
new entertainment of organized baseball. In the latter part of the 19th
Century, Plessy v. Ferguson became the law and segregation became
the rule. The rights of all minorities were set back. Organized
baseball refused to allow Black players, even though many were
superior talents. As a result, Negro professional teams were formed
and many remarkable athletes were given an outlet for their talents.
The Playing Fields shows how World War I changed the geography of
the population of Black America, bringing hundreds of thousands of
immigrants from southern farms to northern ghettos. It touches on the
heightened expectations of Black soldiers, the race riots of the 20s,
and the remarkable "Harlem Renaissance," which coincided with
the founding of the Negro National League and the Eastern
Colored League.
These leagues flourished through the Roaring 20s, the Depression,
and World War II. With major league baseball still segregated, the
Black leagues developed their own star system, which included
future Hall of Famers Satchell Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell,
and many others. The leagues played their East-West All Star Game in
Chicago which, became the year's biggest social and athletic event in
the Black community.
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Athletes in other sports, such as Jesse Owens and Joe Louis, brought
the African-American athlete into a more public view. During
World War II, the Negro Leagues were acknowledged as playing the
best baseball in America. But the war brought the greater issues into
focus. Black soldiers had made a strong contribution to the war
effort. Segregation was starting to be seen as a flawed and regressive
policy.
With the end of the war and the change at the top of major league
baseball's management, the time was right for new thinking. In
1947, Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers brought in Jackie
Robinson to play the infield. A college sports hero, an army veteran,
and a former player in the Negro leagues, Robinson was an immediate success. His entry led the way for a new influx of Black
ballplayers into the majors.
Soon after, the Supreme Court upheld the Brown v. Board of
Education case and segregation was dead. With it died the Negro
baseball leagues which were very much a part of the separate but
equal philosophy of the earlier era. But the story of these leagues
remains a classic American success story. It is a story of great
athletes and creative people who overcame the odds to establish
something that made people happy, gave a creative outlet for a whole
group of people, and even made some money by providing a waiting
audience with great entertainment.
LESSON OBJECTIVES
After viewing The Playing Field and participating in the lesson
activities, students should be able to exhibit knowledge in and
participate in discussion of the following areas:
• The evolution of race relations and civil rights from Reconstruction
through the 1950s.
• The history of the Negro Baseball Leagues.
• How baseball and sports reflect the development of the progress
of African-Americans and other minorities.
• How one ethnic group has dealt with adversity in a positive
manner.
MATERIALS IN THE LESSON
Video: The Playing Field, 23 minutes
Teacher's Guide (includes script of video narration) 8
Blackline Masters:
Report Topics 4
Quizzes Essay
Topics Interesting
Facts Time Line
INSTRUCTIONAL NOTES
The Playing Field is a versatile teaching tool that offers many
possibilities for the instructor. It can either be viewed as one unit or
neatly divided into four viewing segments.
If you teach in a school that does not have an African-American
population, the video can be used as a primer for exploring the Black
experience and examining our multicultural society.
In a school that has a predominant African-American population,
The Playing Field can be shown as a part of Black History Month or
as a vehicle to help motivate students who may not be aware of the
significance of this area of their heritage.
In a school of mixed ethnic or racial populations The Playing Field
can lead to a productive discussion of basic racial attitudes and
increased respect for the differences and similarities that mark our
society.
The video lends itself to a combination of fact-based questions and
answers, essay questions, and outside research.
TEACHER PREPARATION
1. View the video at least two times.
2. Read the complete teacher's guide.
3. Decide which exercises fit your needs.
4. Decide how to use the video: as Black History; as a cultural
diversity exercise; as American history; a combination of the
three.
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STUDENT PREPARATION
The week before the video is to be presented, assign the students to
research and write short reports about various aspects addressed by
the video. Topics could include:
VIV Amendment
XV Amendment
Reconstruction
Baseball in the 19th Century
Plessy v. Ferguson
The Black Soldier in WW I
The race riots of 1919
The Harlem Renaissance
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Baseball in the 20th Century
The 1936 Olympics
Joe Louis
Jesse Owens
The Black Soldier in WW II
Jackie Robinson
Brown v. Board of Education
A Blackline Master titled Report Topics has been provided. Copies
can be made and distributed so students can select a topic.
Some reports may be turned in and shared with the class later (see
Student Reports, Page 7) and others can be shared with the other
members of the class as a way of providing background information
and readiness for viewing the video.
VIDEO PRESENTATION
The 23-minute video can be shown at one time or divided into the
four naturally occurring segments. There is no right or wrong way.
Both can work well. Four quizzes in the form of Blackline Masters
have been provided for each segment if partial viewing is chosen.
The quizzes will help keep the students involved over the three-day to
one-week period that will probably be required for study of the unit.
The quizzes can be combined if one-time viewing is chosen.
DAILY QUIZZES
PART 1
1. What were the two constitutional amendments that guaranteed the
right to vote and equal protection under law? 14th and 15th
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2. Who was the first known Black baseball player?
Moses Fleetwood Walker
3. Did black and white players ever play baseball together? Yes,
from 1871-1887
4. What was decided by Plessy v. Ferguson?
That separate but equal facilities for different races was legal and
proper.
5. How did this affect baseball?
It provided a legal basis for keeping African-American players out
of organized baseball.
6. What were separate but equal laws called?
Jim Crow
7. What was the first Negro professional team? The
Cuban Giants
8. Why did they have their unusual name?
Because foreigners were more accepted as baseball players than
American Negroes.
9. What was barnstorming?
Traveling to any city or town that would pay for a game.
10. Who was the major league manager who attempted to have a
Negro player on his team? John McGraw of the Baltimore Orioles.
PART 2
1. What three things caused the migration of Blacks from the
South to the North from 1910 on? More jobs, better pay and
less restrictive Jim Crow laws.
2. Did Black soldiers serve in WW I? How many?
Yes. 360,000.
3. What were some of the problems that led to the post-war race riots?
Disillusionment, no jobs, no benefits, no concern for the
welfare of the men who fought and died for their country.
4. What was the flourishing of Black culture in the 1920s called? The
Harlem Renaissance.
5. Who were some of the cultural and political leaders to come out
of this period?
Answers will vary buy may include Marcus Garvey, Duke
Ellington, Adam Clay ton Powell, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
6. When was the first Black baseball league formed? 1920
7. Where was it founded?
Chicago
8. What was it called? Negro
National League
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9. What was the second league called?
Eastern Colored League
PART 3
1. Who was the booking agent for the league? What other team
did he promote? Abe Saperstein. Harlem Globetrotters.
2. Who was Kenesaw Mountain Landis?
Commissioner of baseball.
3. How did the stock market crash affect the Black community? It
made the bad conditions worse.
4. What did Gus Greenlee do in 1933? He
reformed the Negro leagues.
5. When was the first East-West Negro League All Star Game
Played? 7933
6. What made this event important?
It was a major cultural event in the community and a chance to
show pride.
PART 4
1. Who was Jesse Owens?
A track and field athlete who at one time was considered the
world's fastest human. 1. What did he accomplish at
the 1936 Olympics?
He won three gold medals and embarrassed Hitler and his
theories of Aryan superiority.
3. Who was Joe Louis?
A Black man and heavyweight boxing champion of the world.
4. Did African-American soldiers participate in WWII? Yes.
Although they still fought in segregated units.
5. How did WW II affect the Negro baseball leagues? Because
many of the white stars were in the service, it became the best
brand of baseball available to the public.
6. How much money did the Negro baseball leagues make in their
prime? $2 million per year.
7. What excuses were used for not letting Black players into the
major leagues?
They didn't want to play, blacks & whites couldn't work to
gether, they weren't good enough and it would destroy the
Negro leagues.
8. Who was the first contemporary Black baseball player in the
major leagues and for what team did he play. Jackie Robinson
for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
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9. What was the Supreme Court decision that eliminated legal
segregation? Brown v. Board of Education.
10. How did the end of segregation impact the Negro leagues?
All the best players became major leaguers and the league
eventually had to fold.
FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES
DISCUSSION
Discuss the Video
Students get the most good from the program when the discussion is
free and open-ended. The video is unique in that it opens for
discussion virtually the entire U.S. history of the Black struggle and
race relations from the Civil War to the present. It has been
effective to start by focusing on a specific aspect of the video. For
example:
• Why did Reconstruction fail?
• How does the history of organized baseball parallel that of race
relations in general?
• Did the students know there were Negro baseball leagues before
they saw the video? What do they think of them now?
Student Reports
Have the students who prepared reports (see Student Preparation,
Page 4) present them to the class. They will then lead the discussion of
these specific areas.
What If...?
Have the students imagine what it would be like if basketball didn't
have Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul Jabbar or Magic Johnson;
football without Barry Sanders, Warren Moon or Jerry Rice;
baseball without Willie Mays, Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds.
Jackie Robinson led the way so that all professional athletics could be
open to people of all races. What did he have to go through in
order to make it in the majors? Could you have done what he did?
Multiculturallsm
Lead a discussion about the struggles of various racial, religious
and ethnic groups that have migrated to the United States of
America. Ask:
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• Do the lessons of this video only apply to African-Americans?
• Were other institutions, such as foreign language newspapers, arts
groups (Yiddish theatre, Slavic folk dancers, Mariachi bands,
etc.), a result of separate but equal thinking?
• Is integration really possible?
• Where does integration end and assimilation begin?
DEBATE
Select two teams to argue the following topic:
Resolved, Equal opportunity in baseball and all other parts of the
culture was good for the society as a whole.
The Pro side can argue that the quality of baseball is better. Having all
the best athletes in one league makes for a better product. It can also
claim that sports have become a viable laboratory for improvement in
race relations, showing Black, White, Hispanic and whoever else
working together on the same team for a common goal.
The Con side can argue that the Black community has a genuine need
for a distinct culture with distinct institutions in order to be part of
American society. It can build on the special circumstances of the
African-American population. It can argue that all attempts to
integrate are doomed to failure because America cannot overcome
its basic and built-in racism.
This topic is sophisticated and should not be entered into lightly.
Students should be selected who can present arguments with the
seriousness that the subject deserves.
ESSAY TOPICS
A Blackline Master has been provided for your students to choose
one of the following essay topics. This can be used as an extention of
the report topics (page 4 under Student Preparation or Blackline
Master titled Report Topics)', a topic can be assigned for extra credit;
groups can be formed within the class to research and discuss any of
the topics listed; or you may have your own ideas for its use.
1. Discuss Black life coming out of slavery and into Reconstruction.
Was America ready for equality? Were slaves ready for citizenship?
How did this major change affect the success/failure of Reconstruction?
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2. Why do race riots happen? What are the similarities and differences between the post WW I riots and those during WW II, the
1960s and those in Los Angeles on 1992?
3. Why have sports served as a stepping stone for a succession of
minorities?
4. Put yourself in the position of major league baseball in the first half of
this century. Why would you want to exclude African-Americans
from the game?
5. What was the Harlem Renaissance? Who were some of the people
who were considered part of it? Why was it important?
6. What other cultural communities, besides African-American,
developed unique cultural, athletic, or fraternal institutions.
7. What was the effect of Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of
Education on other institutions?
INTERESTING FACTS
A Blackline Master has been provided simply as additional information
for students.
1. The Kansas City Monarchs were the first professional team to
regularly use lights for night baseball.
2. The concept of an All Star game was developed by Gus Greenlee in
1933. Later in the same year, the idea was appropriated by
Chicago newspaper columnist Arch Ward and adopted by the major
leagues.
3. Nine of the 11 men named as the National League's Most
Valuable Player were former Negro League players.
4. In 1927,an allBlackteam,ThePhiladelphiaRoyal Giants, was the
first professional baseball team to play in Japan, China, The Philippines, Australia and Hawaii. This was three years before Babe Ruth
and his All Star team made its more highly publicized journey to
many of the same countries.
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5. The Negro Leagues were criticized by many white writers for their
use of so called "tricky baseball." This included bunting, the hit and
run and aggressive base stealing, now considered an essential part of
baseball strategy.
TIME LINE
In order to clearly see the major events in U.S. history and some of
the major events in sports (particularly baseball) for the period of
time covered in The Playing Field, a Time Line Blackline Master has
been provided for xerography and distribution. The time line can
serve as a discussion guide or a bulletin board can be developed using
pictures or drawings depicting the events.
The suggestions we make here for your use of the Blackline Masters
provided for this program or any of the other activities suggested in
this guide can be embellished with your own imagination. We
encourage you to make the best use of all materials provided so that
students can get the most benefit from this video presentation.
SCRIPT OF RECORDED NARRATION
We have provided the entire script of this video for your convenience so
that you can review the information provided and refer to it for
class discussions and other activities.
The 1870's is known in American History as the Reconstruction
era. It was a time where America was struggling to mend the wounds
that tore apart the country during the civil war.
America was attempting to answer its color question for both
political and social reasons. Blacks were given the right to vote by the
14th Amendment and protection under the law was guaranteed by the
15th Amendment. Blacks responded immediately to this new voting
right. Men of color holding these offices was unprecedented and truly a
sign that America was trying to cope with its problem.
Baseball was developed around 1839 and was beginning to gain
national popularity. A league had been formed in 1871 and was
getting stronger by the year.
Little known is the fact that Black players were playing in the major
leagues during this time.
The first known player was Moses Fleetwood Walker, a catcher
with the Toledo club in the Eastern league in 1883. Although he
cannot be considered a great player statistically, nor can he be
considered among the best of the early players to play on white teams,
Reetwood was a college educated scholar and would later become a
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journalist, newspaper editor, and author of a book on Negro race
relations in America.
Fleetwood would be the first and, interestingly enough, the last
Black player of his era to play major league baseball.
The record at the end of the 1886 season showed that there were at
least eight Black ball players performing very well. Though these men
were performing well, there were constant reminders that their kind
was not wanted.
The start of the 1887 season was still one of promise for Black
players. The trouble started in June of 1887 when Syracuse Stars
pitcher Dug Crothers refused to be in a team picture with Higgins.
Crothers was fined, but that wouldn't be the end of such instances.
As the Reconstruction era came to a close, racial paranoia ran high.
Physical intimidation of Blacks at the polls became commonplace.
Hate groups such as the Klu Klux Klan were formed during this
period. Voting, in essence, was snatched away and Black politicians
would disappear.
At the same time Black voting rights were eliminated, so were
Black players from the major leagues in 1890. Owners made the
decision official in 1890 that Blacks and Whites should not play
baseball together, and great players of color were silently pushed out.
Six years later, a landmark case, Plessy versus Ferguson, in 1896,
would eloquently sum up the feeling of baseball owners and many in
the country during the time. The ruling in the Plessy case said that
separate but equal accomodations on railroad cars did not deprive
Blacks of their rights.
Though the case dealt specifically with the seating of a man of color
traveling from the North to the South, the decision of the Plessy case
was used to say that Blacks and Whites were not to be put together in
schools, restaurants, or any other social situation.
Separate but equal laws were called Jim Crow and would be the law of
the land until Brown versus the Board of Education, 1954.
The year of 1885 saw the first professional Negro team, the Cuban
Giants, formed by Frank P. Thompson. Thompson, a head waiter at a
Long Island resort, originally put this team together to entertain resort
guests. None of the men were Spanish, but adopted the name for other
reasons.
Larry Lester Interview: "During that period, before the turn of the
century, America did not accept Black people playing baseball, so this is
the way that they could show foreigners were acceptable but not
American Negroes."
The Cuban Giants, along with other Black teams, began barnstorming
or traveling to anyplace that offered money for a game.
The greatness of some of the early Black players was evident but
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a gentlemen's agreement had been struck. No Black players allowed.
Some managers with a desire to have the best talent available tried to
get around this agreement by looking for talented players that could
pass for Spanish or Indian. This was determined by complexion and
straightnessof hair. In 1901 John McGraw, manager of the Baltimore
Orioles, attempted to pass a Negro player, Charlie Grant, off as
Charlie Tokahoma. This worked until one of the owners recognized
Grant as a former Negro baseball team player and protested. Grant
was released.
End of Part 1
Before 1910, only ten per cent of the Black population lived outside of
the South. It was during this period that one of the first major
migrations of Blacks from the South to the North began.
The Industrial Age was a big part of the migration. With industrialism came the decrease of jobs for field workers to pick cotton and
peaking job opportunities for assembly line workers in the mass
production of steel.
More job prospects, no tightly enforced Jim Crow laws, and higher
wages sent many from the fields of the South to the streets of the
North. Many crowded into the ghettos of the northern cities with the
hopes of a better future.
The world was in an uproar as the first war started in 1914. Orders
for military equipment increased demand for labor in the manufacturing
plants causing further migrations of Blacks to the North in hope of
jobs.
The United States watched with curiosity but didn't become actively involved until 1917.
There was a call for men between the ages of 21-30 to register for
the draft. Some advised Black men to join the war effort as a symbol of
their patriotism. Others merely registered to fill the void of job
opportunity they were experiencing. The call was met to the tune of
360 thousand men of color joining the fight. This gave these Black
men a new look at the world.
As the war ended, Black soldiers returned home with optimism.
They could now collect on promises of new jobs as a reward for their
valiant efforts.
Madame Joyner Interview: 'There we saw the Black man, our man, in
full uniform, and we were proud of them, and they just looked like a
million dollars to us, and we felt that way about them because we felt that
against all odds, they had gone and fought for their country."
With a chest full of medals and a mind filled with hope, they found no
jobs, no benefits, and no concern for their welfare. The justice they
fought for overseas couldn't be obtained at home for any price.
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Madame Joyner: "I'm ninety-five years old now. I saw them sell
apples on the street corner and I saw them give jobs to others that
wouldn't fight or do anything else patriotic."
Frustrations mounted...Riots took place in 26 cities and left
countless deaths-the worst in Chicago, where 28 Blacks and 15
whites were killed.
Several leaders emerged and preached replacing feelings of oppression
with determination. Determination to within themselves find
remedies to their problems. This mentality would spring Black
Americans into a renaissance, termed the Harlem Renaissance. Though it
was not limited to the East coast, this specific area was known to be a
gathering place for artists and musicians.
The Renaissance was much more than a development of the arts. It
was an insistence by Black Americans to have full rights as citizens of
the United States.
From this feeling of empowerment, Andrew Rube Foster, a former
player/manager and co-owner of the popular Chicago American
Giants, knew firsthand the problems that plague Negro League
baseball and decided to take control of the situation. In 1920, Foster
formed the Negro National League in Chicago with marginal success.
Chicago was not only home to Black baseball, but also a refuge for
Blacks migrating from the South.
The Eastern booking agents saw the benefits of the organized Negro
National League and in 1923 formed the Eastern Colored League. The
Eastern booking agent responsible for Midwest bookings was a
Jewish man that would make quite a splash barnstorming a team in
another sport. Can you name him?
End of Part 2
Abe Saperstein was the Midwest booking agent who realized that
the excitement and profit potential of baseball might transfer to
another sport. He formed a basketball team in Chicago in 1927, the
Harlem Globetrotters, that would eventually take barnstorming to
new heights worldwide.
An event happened in 1929 that impacted Americans of all races
and has been the measuring stick of difficult times.
The stock market crash on October 29 of 1929 was described as
Black Monday. It had a devastating effect on those having money in
the stock market or banks, totalling losses of over 40 billion dollars.
To Black Americans it was just going from the frying pan into the fire.
They were already barely surviving, and this crash caused slowcrawling opportunities to come to a screeching halt.
Keensaw Mountain Landis played a major role in keeping Blacks
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out of baseball for 25 of the total 50 years. He was given unlimited
powers when he was appointed commissioner of major league baseball
in 1920.
His primary responsibility was to restore the public's faith in
professional baseball after the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal. Eight
Chicago White Sox players were accused of taking money to lose the
1919 World Series. When Landis became commissioner the following
year, he expelled all of the players involved. He cleaned up the image
of baseball but also insisted that the major leagues had noplace for
Black players and no one had the power to dispute him.
In 1933, Gus Greenlee reformed the Negro League after Rube
Foster's illness and death. Greenlee created the Pittsburgh Crawfords
and put together one of the best teams in baseball history. Greenlee
stocked the Crawfords with the best Negro talent money could buy.
Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and Oscar Charleston, all
presently in the major league Hall of Fame, were part of Greenlee's
dynasty.
Greenlee also developed the Negro League All Star Game in 1933.
The East-West game, held at Comisky Park in Chicago, developed
into the biggest Black entertainment event of the year almost immediately.
Dempsey Travis Interview: "That was an event, that was like
preparing for Christmas, or preparing for the fourth of July. You put on
your best clothes because you knew you were going to see the best
people... of course you're talking about the thirties, this was prior to
television, so the only places you could really see the Joe Louis', the
BoJangles Robinsons', and the Hattie MacDaniels would be at a
sporting event"
Another war was brewing in Europe. Adolph Hitler, the leader of
Germany, created a notion of a physically and mentally superior race of
people, Aryans. Germans were supposedly these Aryans and, not too
coincidentally, Hitler was their leader.
The 1936 Olympics held in Germany was Hitler's opportunity to
show the world his Aryan supremacy theory was not a farce.
There was someone that had a different agenda.
End of Part 3
Jessie Owens, a Black man from humble beginnings in Decatur,
Alabama, took his cleat and dashed Hitler's Aryan showcase in Berlin
by winning three gold medals. Owens phenomenal display was an
embarrassment for Hitler. It did not, however, delay Hitler's plans.
The year 1937 rolled in with promise. The New Deal programs of
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had revived the country's
economy from the Depression.
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Another Black man fought for and won the heavyweight championship. Joe Louis won the heavyweight title by knocking out James
Braddock. It was a long road for Louis to even get the fight. He
couldn't afford to show the same brashness that Jack Johnson had
exhibited earlier. Joe, or the "Brown Bomber" as he was called, was
soft spoken, reserved, and patriotic.
World War II began in 1939 and the United States had committed to
assist the allied forces with material but wouldn't commit any
troops.
The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941
helped the United States in making a choice.
It was World War I on a larger and more volatile scale. Patriotism
would again be required of men that were Jim Crowed in every area of
existence. Off they were again, overseas to keep democracy safe. The
draft was instituted to fill the needs of the war to end all wars.
Negro League baseball would achieve the peak of its success during
this period. The economy was on the upswing, people were working,
large numbers of fans were attending regular season games, and the
East-West All Star games were attracting between 40 - 50 thousand
people.
Major league baseball had much of its able-bodied talent taken
away to join the war effort. Instead of offering capable Black players
the opportunity to play, major league teams filled their rosters with 4-f's
or men that were physically unable to be drafted.
Many of the Negro Leagues top players, like Satchel Paige and Josh
Gibson, were still around, and the public wanted to see the best
baseball available.
Revenues for Black baseball grew to over two million dollars a year
making it one of the largest Black-dominated industries of its time.
Segregation still existed while men of all races were fighting together
and dying all over the world.
Keensaw Mountain Landis died in 1944, and A.B. "Happy" Chandler
was named commissioner of baseball. Happy's view towards Blacks
in major league baseball wasn't hostile, thereby inviting more
possibility of a Black player in the major leagues soon.
When World War II ended, soldiers returned home to massive
welcoming for the defeat of the menace abroad. All the excuses of
Blacks and Whites not being able to work together were exposed as
myths. The walls of segregation had begun to crack. Those that
resisted the notion of Blacks playing in the majors were armed with a
wide artillery of excuses: Blacks didn't really want to play in the
majors and, most ludicrous, there were no Blacks qualified to play.
Branch Rickey, president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, set out on his
own mission to find the right Black player to integrate the major
leagues. This player needed to be more than a great athlete. He had to
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have the determination and will to stand up against the pressure and
verbal abuse that a pioneer to America's sport would be subjected.
After much scouting, Jackie Robinson, a former football and track
star at UCLA, was chosen by Branch Rickey to be that player. Jackie
speaks here about his playing in the Negro Leagues.
Jackie Robinson Interview: "I tried to get a job as a high school
coach but there were few openings I could fill. I was 26 years old, I had
no job, only a mantle full of trophies."
When Robinson played his first major league game on April 15,
1947, the problems Robinson faced in the Dodger minor league
organization only intensified. Throughout the season he received
racial taunts from fans and players and even death threats at home.
Jackie Robinson did as much for erasing the color line of Jim Crow as
any lawyer, lobbyist, or politician. He became a hero for Blacks as well
as Whites. For the general population, baseball was the thing they could
all relate to. Be it a doctor or factory worker, a day at the park could
bring them all together.
Brown versus the Board of Education, the case that officially ended
Jim Crow laws, was fought in courtrooms with lawyers and legalese;
something removed from the common man's understanding.
Every game Jackie Robinson played that year of 1947 was a battle,
and Jackie came out on top.
Dempsey Travis Interview: "Mr. Rickey and a number of other
owners felt that there was a market that they had not tapped, and they
had watched the success of the Negro Leagues and the large crowds
they had been able to draw across the country. As a matter of fact, the
Negro Leagues on some Sundays and holidays would outdraw the
Majors."
Buck O'Neil Interview: "This is capitalistic America. Money.
Branch Rickey was an astute businessman. He saw us put 55 thousand
people there. Over at his park at Ebbett's field, he saw us put 35
thousand people in there all these 99 and 9 tenths percent Black people in
Yankee Stadium we put 40 thousand people in Yankee Stadium we
would do this all over the league."
Jackie's success meant other Black ball players would be allowed
into the league. There was no longer any reason for the major league
owners to keep talented and cheaply available players off the rosters.
Although segregation was inherently bad, the ending of it meant the
crumbling of the empire that Negro League baseball had worked so
many years to become. It was good, but not so good. A Blackdominated industry gone.
Black owners fought, sometimes with their own resources, to keep
the league afloat and, having raised it to a prosperous level, were being
pushed out of business with no options. Sportswriter Sam Lacey
covered the Negro Leagues during this period.
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Sam Lacy Interview: "The Black Leagues were an institution and
you never like to attack an institution, but they were also a symbol. A
symbol of segregation and that was something I felt needed to be
erased."
Dick Powell Interview: "None of the owners voiced any serious
protest, and we could have gone to court, but then we would have been
advocating segregation."
It was the best of both worlds for Black baseball fans, and they
responded by turning out to the major league ball parks to see their
native sons play with the best in the Majors.
Ted Radcliff Interview: "Negro Baseball was dead that killed it. I
don't care where you go on a Sunday-that was a big Negro day—
everybody would get into the radio and TV for Jackie."
Buck O'Neil Interview: "Do you know who we are? We are the
forefathers of the Bo Jacksons. We are the forefathers of the Michael
Jordans. Yeah, that's who we are."
Gerald Malloy Interview: 'These were not games that were put on as
exhibitions for white crowds or in rural communities for white
audiences. These were the best Black players getting together, and
they were performing for Black fans, for a Black press. It was a very
high expression of an African-American experience."
The Negro Leagues accomplished a lot of positive goals. Not only
allowing talented players a showcase and a place to develop, but also
paving the way for Black sportscasters, newscasters, sportswriters,
managers, vendors, and owners to move into broader arenas of
American communications and business. It's story of achievement
has its richest sources in the determination to find within themselves
the resources required to meet their needs in difficult circumstances,
and to put themselves, in spite of all obstacles, on THE PLAYING
FIELD of life.
THE END
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