April 15, 2007 will mark the 60th Anniversary of one of the most seminal moments in the history of American sports: Jackie Robinson officially breaking the color line in modern major league baseball...
Now many people will confuse Jackie Robinson as being the first Black man to play organized professional baseball with white folks...Well this isn't the case...Bud Fowler and Moses Fleetwood Walker were the first African Americans to accomplish that feat in the post Civil War 19th Century America...Jackie was the first to cross the line in the modern era...Now many Americans as well as folks around the world praise Jackie Robinson as a trailblazer, humanitarian and hero and rightfully so...
However, in spite of Jackie's personal motives he was still used as a pawn by the White Power Economic Structure...Many people don't realize today that at the time when Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson that the Negro Leagues were generating more revenue and sold out games than the so-called Major Leagues...They were selling out Yankee Stadium when the damn Yankees couldn't!!! Both Whites and Blacks were in attendance during those games...Another overlooked fact is the fact that all the Negro League baseball teams were owned by Black people except for the Kansas City Monarchs which was owned by an innovative and forward looking business man from Iowa named J.L. Wilkinson (he was the first person to popularize baseball games at night with the help of lights)...This was the same team that Jackie Robinson played for when he was "discovered" by the Brooklyn Dodgers...Is this just a coincidence that a player on the only white owned team in the Negro Leagues would be used to integrate the predominantly White major leagues...However, there were exceptions to White segregation...American Indians were allowed to play, the great pitcher Chief Bender and versatile Jim Thorpe come to mind...
After Jackie Robinson, thus began the mass exodus of talented Black ball players as well as lost monies out of the hands of Black controlled interests...One thing many owners of these Negro League teams did was give back to their respective Black communities...Every dollar earned and paid was recycled back into the communities many times over before it left...Many hospitals, schools, scholarships and other necessities were created and financed in Black communities due to Negro League baseball...For example Gus Greenlee (philanthropist , businessman, bootlegger, racketeer and owner of the mightily successful Pittsburgh Crawfords) built the first Black owned stadium in the country, Greenlee Field, when his baseball team was denied access and usage of Forbes Field, the home base of the Major League's Pittsburgh Pirates...
Many of Major League Baseball's first big Black stars were products of Negro League Baseball...Besides Jackie Robinson who won the first ever Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award there were his teammates Roy Campanella, a three time MVP and the first major league catcher to hit 40 homeruns in a season (Baltimore Elite Giants) and pitcher Don Newcombe, the first player in Major League Baseball history to win the Rookie of the Year, Cy Young Award (was the first awarded one as well) and a MVP award in a baseball career (Newark Eagles); Larry Doby, (Newark Eagles) the first American League Black ball player (Jackie Robinson was the first Black National League ball player); Monte Irvin(Newark Eagles); Ernie Banks a.k.a. Mr. Cub (Kansas City Monarchs); Willie Mays (Birmingham Black Barons); Hank Aaron, baseball's all-time Homerun and RBI (Runs Batted In) King and the last Negro Leagues player to play in Major League Baseball (Indianapolis Clowns); and Jackie's ex-team mate, Satchel Paige, even at 40 plus years of age had enough gas left in the tank to help pitch the Cleveland Indians in the last three months of the season to a World Series title...Satchel had an incredible 6-1 win/loss record with a 2.48 ERA, 2 shutouts, 43 strikeouts, 22 walks and 61 base hits allowed in 72 2/3 innings no Roger Clemens...
Because of Major League's baseball seemingly endless resources as well as the fact that many of the best players of color were opting to the more visible Major Leagues, the Negro Leagues went into a rapid decline ceasing to exist as a force to be reckoned with by the 1960s...
So fast forwarded 60 years and how do we fare as far as progress goes??? Scarily not well, at all in the big picture...Although just about every baseball team except for one were owned by Black folks in the Negro Leagues, currently there are no Black owners in Major League baseball...There is only one Black general manager, Ken Williams, whose team the Chicago White Sox, won the 2005 World Series title against a ball club with no African American (Black) players, the Houston Astros...This was the first time since the fifties that a ball club with no African American (Black) players participated in a World Series...Despite the fact that Cito Gaston became the first Black baseball manager to win a World Series title as well as a second consecutive one with the Toronto Blue Jays (1992-1993) there are hardly any African American or Black managers in baseball...Another troubling statistic is that 60 years later less than 10% of the baseball players in the Major Leagues are Black...Can you think of any other starting Black pitchers besides Dontrelle Willis and C.C. Sabathia off the top of your head??? No because they are the only two...That's how serious it is...Although many would say that there are Black multi-millionaires in baseball, individual success doesn't always equate to group success...Just because a person has stellar individual numbers doesn't mean they can win a world series by themselves...Baseball is a team sport...Just ask Barry Bonds or A-Rod...
So in reality little has changed if not worse when Jackie took a step into history 60 years ago...Baseball and more importantly America has not lived up to its audacity of hope no Barack Obama...It's time to cash that check and play hardball because it's "Jes Us For Jackie"!!!
Please check out the following related articles on W.E. A.L.L. B.E.:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2006/12/lamar-hunts-legacy-proves-why-buck_23.html
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2006/12/howard-vs-pujols-debate-stirs-up.html
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2006/06/babe-ruth-and-white-lies_02.html
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2006/06/outraged-negro-says-mlb-wrong-for-not.html
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/01/mark-mcgwire-plutoed-tony-gwynn-was_16.html
Check out Jackie Robinson's official website:
http://www.jackierobinson.com
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