African American Heritage House Black History Month |
History 1862 Blacks were first introduced to baseball during the Civil War. During the Civil War over 180,000 freed slaves fought for the north. The two forms of recreation in army camps during this period were boxing and baseball. Blacks and whites played the game together on the battle field. 1872 Bud Fowler was the very first black athlete to join a white team. He was born in Cooperstown, New York Fowler played through the northeast. He bounced from team to team, playing professional ball for white and black teams for nearly twenty years. 1920 Negro Leagues baseball (NLB) Established 1920-1931 Negro National League 1923-1928 Eastern Colored League 1937-1960 Negro American League 1924 first NLB World Series 1933 first NLB All-Star Games
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Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame Players Year Inducted Satchel Page (1971) P Josh Gibson (1972) C Buck Leonard (1972) Monte Irvin (1973) Cool Papa Bell (1974) Judy Johnson (1975) William Julius Johnson (1989) Oscar Charleston 1976) John Henry Lloyd (1977 Martin Dihigo (1977) Rube Foster (1981) Ray Dandridge (1987) Leon Day (1995) Willie Foster (1996) Willie Wells (1997) Bullet Rogan (1998) Smokey Joe Williams (1999) Turkey Stearnes (2000) Hilton Smith (2001) Biz Mackey (2006) |