On this Day
More Sports News
Featured Sports Web Guides
Former Negro League players, from left, Neale "Bobo" Henderson, Ulysses Hollimon, Bill
Blair and Enrique Maroto share stories before the Major League Baseball Draft in Lake
Buena Vista, Fla. (AP).
Blair and Enrique Maroto share stories before the Major League Baseball Draft in Lake
Buena Vista, Fla. (AP).
Retired Negro Leaguers Drafted into the Majors
by
Josh Katz
On Thursday, Major League Baseball staged a special draft as a tribute to Negro League players who were kept out of the Big Leagues because of their race.
30-Second Summary
Hall of Fame baseball player Dave Winfield hatched the idea to have a draft for the Negro Leagues players, and Commissioner Bud Selig and Jimmie Solomon, baseball’s executive vice president, also spearheaded the event.
The tribute was held just before the 2008 First-Year Player Draft at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
Major League teams each drafted a former Negro League player, including legends like Bobo Henderson, Joe B. Scott, “Mule” Miles, “Lefty” Bell and Mack “The Knife” Pride. The Yankees chose Emilio “Millito” Navarro, who, at 102, is the “oldest living professional ballplayer,” according to MLB.com.
“It brought us exactly full circle, because it was something we had always hoped for,” Henderson said.
In 1890, a “gentleman’s agreement” unofficially barred blacks from organized baseball; the unwritten rule stood for decades. The Negro Leagues began play in 1920 to fill that void.
Jackie Robinson would break down the barriers when he became the first black player in the Major Leagues on April 10, 1947. Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey had recruited Robinson for the task in his self-described “Great Experiment.” As more teams followed the Dodgers in recruiting the best black players, the Negro Leagues lost its top talent and its fans, and eventually folded.
Major League Baseball has made a point of addressing its controversial past. The 12th annual Jackie Robinson Day was held this April, for which all the players on nine teams donned jerseys bearing Robinson’s famed number 42. One day earlier, the league promised $1.2 million to the Jackie Robinson Foundation for college scholarships.
The tribute was held just before the 2008 First-Year Player Draft at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
Major League teams each drafted a former Negro League player, including legends like Bobo Henderson, Joe B. Scott, “Mule” Miles, “Lefty” Bell and Mack “The Knife” Pride. The Yankees chose Emilio “Millito” Navarro, who, at 102, is the “oldest living professional ballplayer,” according to MLB.com.
“It brought us exactly full circle, because it was something we had always hoped for,” Henderson said.
In 1890, a “gentleman’s agreement” unofficially barred blacks from organized baseball; the unwritten rule stood for decades. The Negro Leagues began play in 1920 to fill that void.
Jackie Robinson would break down the barriers when he became the first black player in the Major Leagues on April 10, 1947. Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey had recruited Robinson for the task in his self-described “Great Experiment.” As more teams followed the Dodgers in recruiting the best black players, the Negro Leagues lost its top talent and its fans, and eventually folded.
Major League Baseball has made a point of addressing its controversial past. The 12th annual Jackie Robinson Day was held this April, for which all the players on nine teams donned jerseys bearing Robinson’s famed number 42. One day earlier, the league promised $1.2 million to the Jackie Robinson Foundation for college scholarships.
Headline Link: ‘MLB honors Negro Leaguers in Draft’
Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig commented on the event: “I’ve often said Jackie Robinson coming to the big leagues was baseball’s proudest moment,” he said. “Therefore, the recognition of all these people who played a role in that day, should have been recognized and, in many cases, should have been playing in Major League Baseball, I’m proud of that.”
Source: MLB.com
Background: A history of African-American baseball
In the 1880s, several black players competed in prominent leagues throughout the country. But by 1890, an informal “gentleman’s agreement” among team owners and managers had forced black players out of white professional leagues, and into “outlaw” and segregated Negro leagues.
Source: Negro League Baseball
The Negro League Baseball Players Association (NLBPA) Web site provides information on the teams, athletes, and ballparks. The NLBPA is a nonprofit corporation that seeks to preserve the memory of the Negro League.
Source: Negro League Baseball Players Association
Major League Baseball’s Web site presents the history of the Negro Leagues, including player profiles, photographs, and video and audio features.
Source: Major League Baseball
The Organization of American Historians reprinted a 1992 feature from the OAH Magazine of History by Jules Tygiel, highlighting the legacy of the game and the way it was played. “Black baseball offered a more freewheeling and, in many respects, more exciting brand of baseball than the major leagues,” Tygiel writes. “Black teams emphasized the bunt, the stolen base, and the hit-and-run.”
Source: Organization of American Historians
Jackie Robinson became a Brooklyn Dodger on April 10, 1947, breaking the color barrier as the first black player in the modern Major Leagues.
Source: findingDulcinea
Every player on the Mets and Nationals wore the number 42 for this year’s Jackie Robinson Day, which has been celebrated every year on April 10 since 1997. The gesture was repeated by many of the other teams that had games that day.
Source: MLB.com
Related Topics: Declining numbers of black players and racial issues in baseball today
The number of African-American players in Major League Baseball is at a 25-year low. Sports analysts cite both cultural and economic factors as reasons for the decline in numbers, including the games’ perceived lack of cultural appeal and the scarcity of playing fields in inner cities. Some black players also feel that there is lingering racial prejudice in the minor and major leagues.
Source: Black Athlete Sports Network
CNN Money’s Chris Isidore examines the economic factors closely and concludes that MLB’s draft and minor league systems favor white and Caribbean players.
Source: CNN Money
Dave Winfield, who conceived Thursday’s honorary draft, is the author of a 2007 book in which he laments the declining numbers of black baseball players. The percentage of blacks in baseball has dropped from about one-quarter in 1975 to less than 10 percent today. Winfield points to an overlapping increase in Hispanic players and says the changes are the “result of M.L.B.’s pouring resources into Latin American countries,” while ignoring America’s inner cities, according to The New York Times.
Source: The New York Times (free registration may be required)
Most Recent Beyond The Headlines
© 2012 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
