Baseball color line

Background

Segregation took hold in the 1880s. Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother Weldy played for the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association in 1884, but on July 14, 1887 the high-minor International League voted to stop signing new contracts with black players, and black players were gone from the high minors after 1889. From the 1920s to the 1940s, several Negro leagues operated outside organized baseball.

In 1945, Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey was preparing for integration; with Gus Greenlee he created the United States League as a way to scout black players. With the support of commissioner Happy Chandler, Rickey signed Robinson, who spent a year with the Dodgers' top affiliate, the Montreal Royals of the International League, before joining Brooklyn. Robinson endured epithets and death threats and started slowly, but went on to win the first Rookie of the Year award, which now bears his name. The Dodgers also led the integration of the minor leagues, sending Don Newcombe and Roy Campanella to the Nashua Dodgers of the New England League. In 1947 Larry Doby became the American League's first black player, with the Cleveland Indians. The Boston Red Sox were the last major league team to integrate, in 1959.

Did You Know?

• The first black pitcher in the major leagues was Dan Bankhead, who debuted for Brooklyn at home on August 26, 1947.
• Jackie Robinson and Dan Bankhead, both of Brooklyn, were the first black players in a World Series, in 1947.
• Roy Campanella, Larry Doby, Don Newcombe and Jackie Robinson were the first black All-Star selections, in 1949.