BASEBALL DIRECTORY
America’s all-time favorite pastime has been around since the 18th century and it depends on who you believe invented the game -Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright- the game became so popular, it sprouted several semi-pro national baseball clubs in the 1860s after the Civil War. The New York Knickerbockers were the first team to play baseball under the modern rules.
The New York Cuban Giants, organized in 1885 was the first professional black baseball club and competed with other clubs without an official league or organize rules until Rube Foster, a former ballplayer, founded the Negro National League in 1920. The Eastern Colored League was established in 1923 and they became known as the Negro Leagues.
The Negro National League had a span of prosperity until 1930, succumbing during the Great Depression.
The Negro League World Series was revived in 1942 and
entertained huge crowds up to 1948.
Moses Fleetwood Walker is considered the first African-American to play at the major league level in 1884, but when Jackie Robinson signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers In 1947, the color barrier was breached and the opportunity for talented African American players to play in the white-only major leagues started slowly.
(During this period, many black players had played in leagues in Latin-America, Canada, the Caribbean and Central America and South America. That was considered the “Hot Stove” leagues because they were played in the off-season winter months)
(Latin American players benefited greatly from integration, too. In 1951, the Chicago White Sox signed Venezuelan-born Chico Carrasquel and Cuban-born (and black) Minnie Miñoso, and both were the first Hispanic All-Stars).
DIRECTORY
Lou Brock
Joe Black
Agee, Tommy, Grambling State
Aiken,Willie Mays, South Carolina State
Alston, Tom, North Carolina A&T
Altman, George, Tennessee State
Anderson, Bernard, Tuskegee
Armstrong, Neil, North Carolina A&T
Barnes, Pete, Southern
Bell, Julian, Tennessee State
Bibby, Jim, Fayetteville State
Black, Joe, Morgan State
Bowens, Sam, Tennessee State
Boyd, Dennis, Jackson State
Brock, Lou, Southern
Bumbry, Al, Virginia State
Clendenon, Don, Morehouse
Coleman, Vince, Florida A&M
Cooper, Cecil, Prairie View A&M
Davis, Alexander, Florida A&M
Dawson, Andre, Florida A&M
Doby, Larry, Virginia Union
Freeze, Mackie, Grambling
Garnett, Frank, Grambling
Garr, Ralph, Grambling
Geter, Johnny, Grambling
Golatt, Moses, St. Augustine’s
Goodwin, Danny, Southern
Gordon, Cornell, North Carolina A&T
Grissom, Marques, Florida A&M
Hall, Kirkland, Maryland State
Henderson, Steve, Prairie View A&M
Hinton, Chuck, Shaw
Howell, Ken, Tuskegee Institute
Hudson, Edward, NC Central
Irvin, Monte, Lincoln, PA
Jackson, Al, Wiley
Jackson, Roy, Tuskegee
Jeter, Johnny, Grambling
Johnson, Gorman, UMES
Jones, Alfred, SIAC
Jones, Cleon, Alabama A&M
Livingstone, Larry, Wiley
Lucas, Bill, Florida A&M
Matthews, William, Tuskegee Institute
McRae, Hal, Florida A&M
Melendez, Mervyl, Beth-Cookman
Mills, Alan, Tuskegee Institute
Milner, John, Central State, O
Morgan, George, St. Augustine’s
Nabrit, James M., Atlanta Baptist
Patterson, Pat, Wiley
Poole, T.H., Florida A&M
Randall, James, Grambling
Richards, Gene, South Carolina State
Robinson, Allen, Tennessee State
Roseboro, John, Central State, O
Sample, Johnny, Maryland State
Simmons, Bert, North Carlina A&T
Smith, Ira, Maryland State
Snipes, Anthony, St. Augustine’s
Bernard Stranton, Stillman
Stukes, Charlie, Maryland State
Thompson, Milt, Howard
Valentine, Fred, Tennessee State
Wagner, Leon, Tuskegee
Ward, Harry, Wu Fang, Wilberforce
Williams, Robert, Grambling
Wood, Jake, Delaware State