“Makes you mad to hear players squawk about jet lag. Try sleeping in a car with your knees to your chest, crammed with eight other guys, only to play a game the next day. Players today don’t know how bad it could be. We look and wonder.” How did we do all of that? It’s simple. “We loved the game so much we just looked past everything else. We were ballplayers. There was nothing we would have rather spent our time doing.”

Baseball invented by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York in the mid 1800’s

Baseball blossomed at this time in New York and Chicago

People of all types loved to play and watch the game

Mid 1860’s professional teams & organized leagues established and consisted of mostly White ballplayers

“We made baseball out of rags on balled up tin cans and we played with broomsticks for

bats and hit bottle tops for

practice”

Negros that played were verbally abused by fans

Other teams refused to play a game if a Negro was on the home team

Bud Fowler was the first Negro to play professional baseball

White players were ordered to slide feet first in order to do serious damage to the Negro players

Pitchers deliberately hit Negro batters in the head

Managers often gave Negro players the wrong direction to the ball fields so they would get lost and miss the game

White owners got together in secret and let go of all Negro ballplayers

1887 - Negros were prohibited from playing professional baseball This law lasted nearly 60 years

“We loved to play baseball and a lot of guys had genuine talent. We could play semi pro teams which paid little or not at all. We could swallow our pride and work in a factory. Who wanted to do that? Especially after tasting the fruits of what professional baseball had to offer. We had no choice but to start our own professional teams, our own leagues.” - Josh Gibson

Father of Black Baseball Pastor’s son who was an old

time trick pitcher who came up from the Texas leagues

Landed in Chicago with the Leland Giants (who later became Chicago American Giants)

Brilliant man who was very knowledgeable of baseball and knew “how to win” games

Demanding manager If a player did not follow his

directions, he did not last long

February 20, 1920 - Rube along with owners of the Black baseball teams founded the Negro National League

Rube’s team known for its speed and famous bunt and run plays where the fastest runner would wind up at third base before the batter hit the ball

Ran the club like a major league team Supplied the team with clean uniforms and

balls, bats, helmets Organized an entire Negro Baseball League that

would exhibit a professional level of play equal or better than the majors so when the time for integration, Negros would be

ready Gave Negro Baseball newfound dignity and set

high standards for the future

Negro Baseball Fast - People would come early to see

players practice Flashy-They would whip the ball around

the field with such precision the crowd would applaud

Funny- Some guys would clown around on the field (throw the ball behind their backs & still get the guy out at first base)

Daring- Players would use Rube Foster’s bunt & run rule which turned singles into doubles & doubles into triples

“We played tricky baseball” – Cool Papa Bell

To a lot of players baseball was a serious business & put food on the table

Everything was legal very few rules whatever it took to win the game

Pitchers threw anything & everything Spitters, shineballs, emery balls, cut balls Pitchers would hit batters on the head and not

be penalized

Spring training was non existent Teams played 80-120 games during the

regular season Players would barnstorm which meant they

would play additional games against any professional or semipro team all over the North, South, West and Midwest

Games would last two hours Players were expected to participate in up to

4 games a day Players would earn $15 per player/ per game Teams consisted of 15-19 Negro league guys

and 6 pitchers – (25 players in the major league)

If hurt during a game a player was still expected to play Rule: If paid for 9 innings, you must play 9 innings

“It’s a hurtful thing when you’re starving and have a pocket full of money but can’t find a place to eat because they don’t serve Negros” Buck Leonard -

Infielder

Hotels and restaurants were segregated in North and South towns 1920’s – 1930’s

Restaurant owners would give players food through the back door because they were prohibited from eating inside

Money would have to be placed on a napkin so the owner did not touch the player’s hands

Teams slept at the local jail, funeral home, or YMCA

Players would stay at hotels that had bedbugs They had to put newspapers

between the mattress and the sheets so they would not get bit

If the Ku Klux Klan was having a rally close to a game the team would have to leave immediately for their own safety

“Baseball really is an expensive thing to operate.” Effa Manley

(Owner)

Great Depression - October 1929 the U.S. Stock Market crashed, businesses collapsed, banks closed, and people lost their jobs

People barely had money for food and heat Depression hit White baseball hard Rube Foster’s Negro National League fell

apart after twelve seasons Rube was committed to a mental institution

and saw all his hard work go down the drain He died within a short time of the end of his

beloved Negro National League

During this time intelligent Black men became “numbers men” racketeers As a result of segregation they were unable to

become stock brokers and general managers Illegal numbers men would take peoples’

penny bets on the games and use it to finance team expenses

Most owners did not make much money from their teams but betting was a vehicle to make their illegal money look legitimate

King of the numbers game in Pittsburg Owned the bar where the big Negro stars

performed including Lena Horne, Bill Bo Jangles Robinson and Heavy Weight Champ John Henry

1930 - Reorganized the whole Negro National League Many of the owners made their money in the

numbers business and used it to support their teams

During this time Black doctors, celebrities, and entrepreneurs took over the ownership of Negro ball clubs (i.e. Louis Armstrong, Joe Louis, Cab Calloway)

“The greatest untapped reservoir of raw material in the history of our game is the black race.” Branch Richey

(owner)

Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Oscar Charleston, and Cool Papa Bell were great athletes who played everyday with other Black athletes who threw just as hard, pitched just as fast and hit just as well as White players

These men could have written the record books if given a chance to play in the majors

They played hard and would do anything to win- even sustain racial prejudice and inequality

The world never had the luxury to view their talents and these events were not covered by the media

Negro players changed the country’s stereotypes of Blacks

The world gradually realized that these players were just as intelligent, gifted, and equal in every way to the White players

“We were worked. Worked like the mule that plows the field during the week and pulls the carriage to church on Sunday morning.”

Pitcher threw so hard that catchers tried to use steaks to cushion their gloves

Had such control that he could knock a lit cigarette out of the mouths of teammates

Took the mound every night from January through December, tossed three games in a day and 2,500 games over 41 years

Relied on his skills, salaries were in the thousands not millions

Kept his own records The league could not afford

to keep the records so the players had to keep their own statistics

Symbol of athleticism and fun

Quietly subversive against Jim Crow Laws He refused to play in a town unless it supplied

lodging and food to him and his teammates His equality shown through on the field Pitched so spectacularly at beating White

major league teams that White sports writers turned out to watch Black baseball

Proved that Black fans would fill ballparks and White fans would turn out to see Black superstars

It was the courage and tenacity of Satchel Paige that cleared the path for new racial equality, allowing a new generation of Black players to enter the Majors

Satchel Paige drew spotlight first to himself, then to his all Black KC Monarchs team members, particularly to the rookie Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson opened the door to the new reality of racial equality when he signed with Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945

Dilemmas Discrimination Segregation Deplorable

conditions Low pay Humiliation

Opportunities Gifted athletes Determined owners Overcame segregation Deep love for the

game Changed minds and

hearts of a nation Led the way to racial

equality both on and off the baseball field

http://www.viddler.com/explore/expandedbooks/videos/90/Hall of Fame Induction of Satchel Paige – 1971: