Comments on: To Celebrate the Anniversary of Doby, A Bit on Integration

By: Stephanie Liscio

Stephanie Liscio — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 06:57:32 +0000

Thank you TJ, and you’re right…I should’ve worded this better (or added more detail). He did bounce around between teams for several years, but the last “professional” team he played for was in 1889. His brother Weldy also played, and there were about 5 or 6 total African Americans in the 1880s. I must admit, I’m not as good with black baseball history in the 19th century, although I do know a few people who have done a lot of research on Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother Weldy; I may see if they’re interested in a guest post since their work is good and the brothers were from Ohio. (Moses Fleetwood Walker actually lived in Cleveland at the time of his death). A really good researcher of 19th century black baseball is James Brunson…he has an excellent book by the name of “The Early Image of Black Baseball: Race and Representation in the Popular Press, 1871-1890″ – I highly recommend his work. I’ll have to check out the Level Playing Field book.

If you’re interested in a book, send me an e-mail at stephanieliscio@yahoo.com. I have a few left on hand right now…if you were to send me a check for $20, I could send you a signed copy. (We could exchange address info via e-mail). I’ll be back in Cleveland on Sunday evening (finally) so I could have one prepped to send out in the very near future.

By: TJ

TJ — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 04:29:09 +0000

Stephanie: I too enjoyed your post on Doby. I saw him play many times, My strongest memory is of the many leaping catches he would make against the outfield fence. Today he’s be a star on ESPN. Not meaning to nitpick, but in googling Moses Fleetwood Walker in Wikipedia, it says that he only played one year in the majors, 1884, for Toledo of the American Association as a catcher (probably w/o protective gear or a glove). Toledo left the AA the next year. Walker then began a peripathetic career with various teams, none in the so-called majors.

Also there is mention of Fleetwood’s younger brother Welday who joined Toledo after Moses but in 1884 as well. If true, he becomes the second major league black player. But beyond that, there is a link to a William White from Georgia who played one game in the majors in 1879. Records seem to indicate he might have been half-black but passed himself off as white. Evidently there is lots of speculation on this. Does that mean Jackie Robinson is the second, third or fourth major league African American? And we know definitely that Doby is always one behind Jackie.

The NYT is currently running a book review of a new book on this subject titled “A Level Playing Field” by Gerald Early (Harvard University Press). I’d enjoy buying your book from you. How do we arrange that?

By: Stephanie Liscio

Stephanie Liscio — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 05:21:58 +0000

Thank you Robert! I am still in the Ph.D. program…I hope to take my exams in the spring.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 05:05:21 +0000

Fascinating post! Your author bio at Amazon says that you’re in the Ph.D. program at Case, and I hope that it’s going well (or that you’ve finished up; in which case, congrats!). Keep up the good work: I’m reading the blog regularly, and I’ll check out that book!

Robert (Ph.D., History, 1993)