[Negro Leagues 100-year Anniversary]
On the receiving end of those tributes are many of the Negro Leagues’ greatest alumni: Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, “Cool Papa” Bell and Jackie Robinson, who began with the Kansas City Monarchs.
Photo: YouTube
The Negro Leagues which, officially, started in 1920 served to showcase the skills of Black baseball players who were whiteballed out of professional baseball due to racism particularly after the Compromise of 1877.
Prior to this, professional baseball, including the Major Leagues, had seen early Black players like: Moses “Fleetwood” Walker, his brother Welday Walker, Bud Fowler, George Stovey, Frank Grant, Jack Frye, Frank Allen, and Sol White. Some of these players after the implementation of Jim Crow in baseball player in the emerging Negro Leagues.
The following is an excerpt from an ESPN article about this year’s 100 year anniversary of the Negro Leagues:
Barack Obama tipped his cap.
So did three other former presidents and a host of prominent civil rights leaders, entertainers and sports greats in a virtual salute to the 100-year anniversary of the founding of baseball’s Negro Leagues.
The campaign launched Monday with photos and videos from, among others, Hank Aaron, Rachel Robinson, Derek Jeter, Colin Powell, Michael Jordan, Obama and former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter at tippingyourcap.com.
On the receiving end of those tributes are many of the Negro Leagues’ greatest alumni: Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, “Cool Papa” Bell and Jackie Robinson, who began with the Kansas City Monarchs and went on to break the color barrier in the major leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Not long after, with many of its best players gradually following Robinson’s path, the Negro Leagues ceased operations.
As part of the tribute, singer Tony Bennett showed his heart by tipping a San Francisco Giants cap. Californian Billie Jean King opted for the Los Angeles Dodgers. President Clinton said he chose a Chicago Cubs cap in honor of Ernie Banks, the late Hall of Famer who got his start in the Negro Leagues.
For the rest of this ESPN story log on to: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29382314/baseball-black-pioneers-given-tip-cap-salute-100-year-anniversary-negro-leagues
