I would like to comment on the first question which appeared in the February 19 edition of The Commercial Dispatch which reads as follows: “ In what year and what team did Jackie Robinson make history by being the first African- American to play major League baseball?”

Robinson was not the first. That honor belongs to Moses Fleetwood Walker. According to the Baseball Biographical Encyclopedia “ As most baseball history buffs know, Jackie Robinson was not the first black player to reach the major leagues. That honor belongs to Moses Fleetwood Walker, a catcher with the Toledo Blue Stockings team of the American Association.”  This happened in 1884.

“His brother Welday Walker, also played five games as an outfielder with the same club that year but it is Moses, known as “Fleet”, who is recognized as the first black to play in the majors”

He was born October 7, 1857 in Mt. Pleasant, Ohio at a way station on the underground railway for fugitive slaves on their way to Canada.  As a youngster his parents moved to Steubenville Ohio where he attended integrated schools and played on integrated baseball teams.  At age 20 he entered Oberlin College.  Leaving Oberlin College before he graduated, he enrolled at the University of Michigan where he played baseball for two years, 1882-83.

After leaving baseball, he became a businessman, inventor, newspaper editor, and author.  It is a great shame that it took so long for the great  Negro League players to be recognized  for their excellence and achievements.  Hall of Fame baseball player Monte Irvin summed it up very well when he stated, “It is always gratifying to see players from the Negro Leagues get their recognition as outstanding baseball players and also their contributions to the game of baseball.”

Glenn Lautzenhiser,

Member Negro Leagues subcommittee, the Society for American Baseball Research