First black person in the MLB
I just watched this movie on TBS or something and who did they say was the first black pro baseball player?
shareFleet Walker.
In those days (Late 1800s) there were several black players brought in and out of the big leagues, but mainly as "work horses". It was after some of the bigot players started complaining about blacks in the bigs that the ban was imposed. So technically Jackie Robinson didn't "open" the doors for blacks in Major League Baseball, he "Re-Opened" them.
Yeah, but that era in the late 19th and early 20th century was a different era of baseball. Robinson was the guy who opened the doors in modern baseball.
shareAnd what exactly is modern baseball? When EXACTLY did it start? Just because it was a different era in the history of MLB shouldn't take away it's significance.
You can divide baseball into a thousand era's. If that's the case then, Sammy Sosa is the first black player in Major League Baseball's new era of the long ball. Maybe Albert Belle or Ken Griffey Jr.?
The point is, Jackie Robinson wasn't the first. No way, no how. Professional baseball had been around for nearly 100 years befor Robinson came along. Heck, Fleet walker may not have been the first, just the first to be recorded.
IMO, Calling Jackie robinson the first black player in MLB is like truly believing that Christopher Columbus was actually the first man to set foot in North America.....except.....THERE WERE ALREADY PEOPLE HERE!!!!
Don't get me wrong, J Robinson was a great man and a great ball player, but so was Fleet Walker. Look him up, he put up with everything that Robinson did. The ONLY difference was that Fleet didn't have a Branch Rickey backing him up.
Modern baseball began in 1900, with the American League's first recognized major league season being in 1901. This is what was determined over 40 years ago when Major League Baseball sought to better organize their records. They also determined that the National Association years of 1871-1875 would not count as major leagues because of the great differences in club organizations and schedules. So Major League baseball officially began in 1876, the first year of the National League.
Some people want to argue that they should do things differently, but this is the way these things are marked according to the officials of Major League Baseball.
Essentially, Jackie Robinson opened the door after de facto Jim Crow had taken over baseball for half a century.
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