A "Gentlemanly" Game.

By 1900 major league baseball, like most American institutions, was racially segregated. The roots of this separatism may be traced to the 1867 decision of the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP), the ruling organization of amateur baseball, to bar African American players and teams. Maintaining that only whites could uphold the "gentlemanly character" of amateur baseball, the NABBP argued that excluding blacks would prevent racial resentment and avoid a "rupture on political grounds." Professional baseball teams, however, valued winning games more than underscoring racial differences and signed contracts with skilled African American players. In 1872 a professional team in New Castle, Pennsylvania, signed John "Bud" Fowler to play second base. Although Fowler is recognized as the first black to play professional baseball, Moses Fleetwood Walker was the first to play in the major leagues. Toledo...