Jackie Robinson’s historic barrier-breaking feat celebrated its 70th anniversary last week, but a pair of forgotten Black baseball players might have some right to Number 42’s historic claim. William Edward White and Moses Fleetwood Walker are credited as players who integrated the MLB many years before Robinson. Very little is known about White but what […]
On Thursday, officials in Philadelphia passed a resolution that not only honors Major League Baseball legend Jackie Robinson's color barrier-breaking appearance in the city in 1947 but also serves as a formal apology. On April 15, the day that Robinson shattered the barrier, his widow will receive a formal apology for the mistreatment her husband faced, NBC Philadelphia reports.
Baseball has lost one of its most beloved ambassadors with the passing of Hall of Fame inductee and Negro League legend Monte Irvin. Irvin, who was named Major League Baseball’s first Black executive, was 96. Born February 25, 1919 in Haleburg, Ala., Irvin and his family relocated to Orange, N.J. when he was young. While […]
Jimmie Lee Solomon, vice president of baseball operations for the MLB says that if more Black people watched and attended baseball games, the percentage of Black players would increase. In 2011, Black people only represent 8.5 percent of Major League Baseball. “From an anecdotal standpoint and as a black man, I think it makes a […]
Hank Aaron is renowned for breaking color barriers long before President Obama. Just as the first black president has dealt with death threats and vicious attacks, Aaron encountered similar opposition when he entered Major League Baseball after its integration in 1954. Yet, this pioneer battled through the hatred hurled at him to become one of […]
By Mark F. Gray It could only happen to the Washington Nationals that they would make every “by the book” move in developing Steven Strasburg only for him to blowout his elbow in his rookie year. The pop he heard in his elbow in Philadelphia could be more damaging to the franchise than it is […]
