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From: das@ucla-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball,net.games.trivia
Subject: Re: First Black Baseball Player
Message-ID: <7493@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Fri, 8-Nov-85 00:54:30 EST
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.7493
Posted: Fri Nov  8 00:54:30 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 11-Nov-85 05:51:30 EST
References: <544@petfe.UUCP>
Reply-To: das@ucla-cs.UUCP (David Smallberg)
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Lines: 18
Xref: watmath net.sport.baseball:2272 net.games.trivia:2232

In article <544@petfe.UUCP> evan@petfe.UUCP (Evan Marcus) writes:
>Who was the first black ballplayer?  My history books and my instinct
>tells me the obvious answer: Jackie Robinson.  
>
>Why then does Trivial Pursuit say that it was some other guy?

Because it WAS some other guy.  As I posted last year, Moses Fleetwood Walker
was the first black major leaguer (for Toledo, I think), in the American
Association.  This was in the early 1880's.  His brother was the second, and
there were about a half dozen more.  Surprisingly, they played in quite a few
games where there was little racial antagonism.  Not so surprisingly, they
played in many games where there was quite a bit.  Cap Anson of Chicago, the
premier ballplayer of his day, was a virulent racist, and through such actions
as refusing to take the field against black players, forced the league to
stop signing them; the last black major leaguer before Jackie Robinson left
the league in the late 1880's.

-- David Smallberg, das@locus.ucla.edu, {ihnp4,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!das