A decade before the U.S. officially segregated in 1896, baseball banned black players. A decade before the US integrated, baseball broke the color barrier. Between, the Negro Leagues produced some of the finest players to ever take the field. Explore this important piece of American history with Josh and Chuck in this classic episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: What is the significance of the Negro Leagues in baseball history?
So he dressed out, and I'm not sure if he actually played in the game, but he was like part of the team. And Cap Anson – was not indulged. Toledo was like, we're not taking our guy out. He's one of our players. So Cap Anson can go suck an egg. And Cap Anson went and sucked an egg. He was really mad.
But the issue that day, that dispute at Comiskey Field brought to the fore the concept of integration and ultimately segregation among Major League Baseball teams. And it actually increased the pressure among owners and managers to to get rid of the black players, not just in the majors, but in the minors.
Yeah. There was another player too. I read another story about, and we'll get to Roy Campanella. He was a, He was better than Jackie Robinson at the time. A catcher who was just amazing, Hall of Famer. And he had a, there was a white pitcher. It was like, you know, he was a great catcher, but I didn't want to play with him.
So I would, when I pitched to him, I would just ignore his signs and threw whatever I want. Like to his own detriment and to the team's detriment. He just wouldn't take the signs. What a putz. I know. Career sabotage, essentially. I don't think he lasted long either. And Campanella's in the Hall of Fame, so he can say that.
The other guy, who knows?
I want to give these names all out, though. The four black men in the minors in 1866, besides Moses Walker, we had Bud Fowler, Frank Grant, and George Stovey. And as far as I'm concerned, all these dudes are American heroes. So, all of a sudden, they succumb to pressure in 1890 after hate mail and death threats to...
Coaches and managers and umpires and, you know, basically everybody, the players themselves. And they said, you know what? We're going to shut it down. Officially in 1890, we can no longer have any black men in our league.
So here's the thing. They never officially did that. They had the minor league ban black players.
Yeah.
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Chapter 2: How did segregation laws affect baseball?
Yeah.
And one guy in particular in Pittsburgh, Gus Greenlee. Great name. He was a bar owner in Pittsburgh. He bought the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1931. He said, well, I've got a team, but I don't have a league. So two years later, he formed the second Negro National League. And other numbers guys bought in, and all of a sudden they had another league going.
Yeah. And this basically kicked off what's known as the golden age of the Negro Leagues. Yeah. Starting about 1931, 32, 33, when these other teams came about. And Greenlee's team himself, was it his? No, I'm sorry. It would have been right across the river, the Homestead Grays. Yeah.
Yeah, they eventually migrated back to Pittsburgh. Did they? Over to Pittsburgh, yeah.
So they were the same team that went from one town to another? They weren't rivals?
No, I think there was still the other Pittsburgh team. But from what I understand, the Homestead Grays eventually became part of Pittsburgh.
Okay.
Or maybe there was another team. I'm not sure. But I do know they eventually went to Pittsburgh. Because you know Homestead. We've been there. We did a show there.
Yeah. Yeah, okay. And I was like, are we going to the right place when the car was taking me? So Homestead used to have not just a team. They used to have the best Negro League team possibly ever. Oh, yeah. Easy. For nine consecutive years, they won the pennant.
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