Welcome to a serial online anthology that celebrates the indispensable contributions of Black people to our game. There have been collections focused on the lives and special skills of African Americans ("Blues: An Anthology," by W.C. Handy, 1926; Nancy Cunard’s "Negro," 1934). There have been anthologies about baseball—the Fireside books,...

Although most Black people lived in the South, during the first two decades of the 20th century, the great Black teams and players congregated in the metropolises and industrial cities of the North. Chicago emerged as the primary center of Black baseball with teams like the Leland Giants and the...

In the United States, however, Black people often found themselves in more distasteful roles. To attract crowds throughout the nation and to keep fans interested in the frequently one-sided contests against amateur competition, some Black clubs injected elements of clowning and showmanship into their pregame and competitive performances. As early...

Raised in rural Ohio in a strict Methodist family, Branch Rickey, nicknamed by sportwriters “The Deacon” and “The Mahatma,” had financed his way through college and law school playing and coaching baseball. His skills as a catcher merited two years in the major leagues. In 1913, he abandoned a fledgling...

The desegregation of organized baseball opened the way not only to Black players in the United States but to those in other parts of the Americas as well. Throughout the 20th century, baseball had imposed a curious double standard on Latin players, accepting those with light complexions but rejecting their...