JACKIE ROBINSON OFFICIALLY SIGNS MLB CONTRACT

On April 10th, 1947, Dan Burley of the New York Amsterdam News officially reported, “Jackie Robinson became the first Negro to crash major league baseball when he was signed by Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers at 3:30 P.M.”

Jackie Robinson barely had enough time to lace up his cleats for his first Major League appearance before he was propelled into the public eye, instantly entering the arena of American racial politics of the 1940’s. The twenty-eight year-old infielder, upon signing his initial contract, would indeed become the first black athlete in the 20th century to participate in a Major League Baseball game; his professional debut effectively marking an essential turning point in altering the entire racial landscape of the United States for decades to come.

During the 1940’s, a large portion of the country at-large was still operating as a segregated society, but Baseball seemed especially impenetrable to people of color. As Robinson arrived on the scene, there was surely a sentiment around the sport that aimed to maintain its traditional “lily-white” status. Despite the league’s continued unwillingness to adapt its attitude toward non-white athletes, in addition to the perpetual harassment he’d have to endure for the entirety of his career, Jackie Robinson and the progressive Dodgers’ owner/general manager, Branch Rickey, were up to the challenge. Of course, Robinson meant a great deal to the Black community—his nationwide acclaim/notoriety served as an unprecedented cultural representation for all of them, emphasizing the desire and need for diversity and a fundamental change in the values reflected in American mass media and throughout society at the time.

Jackie Robinson represents the fundamental concept of equal opportunity across the entire world of sports—more broadly acting as the standard-bearer for the ever-important causes of social reform and racial equity in this country. But just as we celebrate Jackie Robinson for paving the way for this generation of diverse athletes, we must also remember those pioneers before Jackie Robinson that too often are lost in the annals of history.

Indeed, over 60 years prior to Jackie Robinson’s official debut in the MLB, it was Moses Fleetwood Walker who first broke professional baseball’s color barrier. While his major league career only spanned 42 games, the Ohio native acted as the starting catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings, recognized for his extraordinary defensive ability behind the plate.

Walker’s debut occurred on May 1st, 1884, in Louisville, surrounded by fierce racial abuse from local fans, opposing players, and even his own teammates. Not surprisingly, tensions persisted wherever Walker and his club traveled. At its most severe, during a stay in Richmond, 75 men sent a letter stating their intent to “mob” the black athlete if he were to play the next day. In further illustrating the irrationality of the prejudice expressed towards him, one of the Toledo pitchers admitted, “[Walker] was the best catcher I ever worked with, but I disliked a Negro and whenever I had to pitch to him, I used to pitch anything I wanted without looking at his signals.”

In spite of this barrage of vitriol and irrational disdain, he continued to excel in his position, finishing his stint in Toledo with a .263 BA (23 points above the league average) and with wide acclaim as the “greatest catcher of the time”. Unfortunately, as was common with catchers of this era, with their lack of padding and protection (he’d wear a mask, but often went without even a glove), injuries would soon plague the remainder of his career, as Fleetwood Walker would play his final professional game with Toledo in September 1884 – just months after his professional debut.

Walker would continue to play semi-professionally until 1889, in which he once again broke another color barrier as being the first black athlete to play in the International League with the Newark Little Giants. In direct response to his presence and relative success, teams—more specifically the Chicago White Stockings— refused to play any club that aimed to start black players, unofficially drawing “The Color Line”. As potential financial repercussions of future cancelled contests began to resonate with other associated clubs, the International League informally agreed to exclude any black athletes from further contract signings.

It would take another 57 years for Jackie Robinson to become the next black player to participate in the International League, and ultimately ascend onto the Major League stage soon thereafter. A few months later, Larry Doby signed a contract with Bill Veeck’s Cleveland Indians of the American League, finally establishing an affirming trend for the era of true diversity in sports that we enjoy today.

Moses Fleetwood Walker’s relative absence from baseball history can ostensibly be attributed to his fleeting presence in the Major Leagues, in addition to the over half-century disconnect between himself and the next black athlete to achieve professional status. Nevertheless, there are truly significant cultural parallels between Walker and Robinson’s respective experiences; the former represents an essential piece of baseball history, providing a clear context for the latter’s inevitable ascent to American iconography.