Moses Fleetwood Walker - wikipedia Moses Fleetwood Walker Moses Fleetwood Walker Catcher Born : ( 1856 - 10 - 07 ) October 7, 1856 Mount Pleasant, Ohio, United States Died : May 11, 1924 ( 1924 - 05 - 11 ) ( aged 67 ) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. Batted : Right Threw : Right MLB debut May 1, 1884, for the Toledo Blue Stockings Last MLB appearance September 4, 1884, for the Toledo Blue Stockings MLB statistics Games played 42 Batting average. 263 Runs scored 23 Teams Toledo Blue Stockings ( 1884 ) Moses Fleetwood Walker ( October 7, 1856 -- May 11, 1924 ) was an American professional baseball catcher who is credited with being one of the first black men to play in Major League Baseball ( MLB ). A native of Mount Pleasant, Ohio, and a star athlete at Oberlin College as well as the University of Michigan, Walker played for semi-professional and minor league baseball clubs before joining the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association ( AA ) for the 1884 season. Though research suggests William Edward White was the first African - American baseball player in MLB, unlike White who passed as a white man, Walker was open about his black heritage, and often faced racial bigotry prevalent in the late 19th century United States. His brother, Weldy, became the second black athlete to do so later in the same year, also for the Toledo ball club. Walker played just one season, 42 games total, for Toledo before injuries entailed his release. Walker played in the minor leagues until 1889, and was the last African - American to participate on the major league level before Jackie Robinson broke baseball 's color line in 1947. After his baseball career, he became a successful businessman and inventor. As an advocate of Black nationalism, Walker also jointly edited a newspaper, The Equator, with his brother. He published a book, Our Home Colony ( 1908 ), to explore ideas about emigrating back to Africa. He died in 1924 at the age of 67. Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Baseball career 1.3 Later life 2 Legacy 3 References 3.1 Bibliography 4 External links Biography Early life Moses Fleetwood Walker was born in 1856 in Mount Pleasant, a working - class town in Eastern Ohio that had served as a sanctuary for runaway slaves since 1815. Its population included a large Quaker community and a unique collective of former Virginian slaves. Walker 's parents, Moses W. Walker and Caroline O ' Harra, were both mulattos. According to Walker 's biographer David W. Zang, his father came to Ohio from Pennsylvania, likely a beneficiary of Quaker patronage, and married O ' Harra, who was a native to the state, on June 11, 1843. When Walker was three years old, the family moved 20 miles northeast to Steubenville where Moses W. became one of the first black physicians of Ohio and later a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. There, Walker 's fifth or sixth sibling, his younger brother Weldy, was born the same year. Walker and Weldy attended Steubenville High School in the early 1870s, just as the community passed legislation for racial integration. As an adult, Walker enrolled at Oberlin College in 1878, where he majored in philosophy and the arts. At Oberlin, Walker proved himself to be an excellent student, especially in mechanics and rhetoric, but by his sophomore year he was rarely attending classes. How Walker first came to play baseball is uncertain : according to Zang, the game was popular among Steubenville children, and while in Oberlin 's preparatory program Walker became the prep team 's catcher and leadoff hitter. Oberlin men played baseball as early as 1865 -- including a `` jet black '' first baseman whose presence meant Walker was not the college 's first black baseball player -- with organized clubs that engaged in intense matchups. Walker gained stardom and mentions in the school newspaper, The Oberlin Review, for his ball handling and ability to hit long home runs. In 1881, Oberlin lifted their ban on off - campus competition. Walker, joined by Weldy who enrolled in the class of 1885, played on the baseball club 's first inter-collegiate team. By Oberlin pitcher Harlan Burket 's account, Walker 's performance in the season finale persuaded the University of Michigan to recruit him to their own program. Accompanying him was Walker 's pregnant girlfriend, Arbella Taylor, who he married a year later. Michigan 's baseball club had been weakest behind the plate ; the team had gone as far as to hire semi-professional catchers to fill the void. With Walker, the team performed well, finishing with a 10 -- 3 record in 1882. He mostly hit second in the lineup and is credited with a. 308 batting average ( BA ). 1882 University of Michigan baseball team ( Walker front row, third from right ). During his time at Michigan, Walker was paid by the White Sewing Machine Company of Cleveland to play for their semi-professional ball club in August 1881. Walker 's presence was controversial when the team arrived for a game in Louisville, Kentucky, the first place to have a major issue with his race. As the team arrived in the early morning of the game, Walker was turned away from the Saint Cloud Hotel. More issues arose during game time : members of the Louisville Eclipse protested Walker 's participation ; Cleveland relented and held him out of the lineup. After one inning, his substitute claimed his hands were too badly bruised to continue, and Walker hesitantly walked on to the field for warm - ups. Louisville again protested and refused to resume play until Cleveland 's third baseman volunteered to go behind the plate. Baseball career In mid-1883, Walker left his studies at Michigan and was signed to his first professional baseball contract by William Voltz, manager of the minor league Toledo Blue Stockings, a Northwestern League team. As a former sportswriter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Voltz watched Walker play for Oberlin ; his signing reunited Walker with his former battery - mate Burket. Though Walker hit in decent numbers, recording a. 251 BA, he became revered for his play behind the plate and his durability during an era where catchers wore little to no protective equipment. The Blue Stockings ' ball boy recalled Walker `` occasionally wore ordinary lambskin gloves with the fingers slit and slightly padded in the palm ; more often he caught barehanded ''. Nonetheless, he played in 60 of Toledo 's 84 games during their championship season. At the core of the team 's success, one sportswriter at Sporting Life pointed out, were Walker and pitcher Hank O'Day, which he considered `` one of the most remarkable batteries in the country ''. Walker 's entrance into professional baseball caused immediate friction in the league. Before he had the opportunity to appear in a game, the executive committee of the Northwestern League debated a motion proposed by the representative of the Peoria, Illinois club that would prohibit all colored ball players from entering the league. After intense arguments, the motion was dropped, allowing Walker to play. On August 10, 1883, in an exhibition against the Chicago White Stockings, Chicago 's manager Cap Anson refused to play if Walker was in the lineup. In response, Charlie Morton, who replaced Voltz as Toledo 's manager at mid-season, challenged Anson 's ultimatum by not only warning him of the risk of forfeiting gate receipts, but also by starting Walker at right field. Anson is alleged to have said `` We 'll play this here game, but wo n't play never no more with the nigger in ''. The White Stockings won in extra innings 7 -- 6. The Blue Stockings ' successful season in the Northwestern League prompted the team to transfer to the American Association, a major league organization, in 1884. Walker 's first appearance as a major league ball player was an away game against the Louisville Eclipse on May 1, 1884 ; he went hitless in three at - bats and committed four errors in a 5 -- 1 loss. Throughout the 1884 season, Walker regularly caught for ace pitcher Tony Mullane. Mullane, who described the rookie ball player as `` the best catcher I ever worked with '', purposefully threw pitches that were not signaled just to cross up the catcher. Walker 's year was plagued with injuries, limiting him to just 42 games in a 104 - game season. For the season, he had a. 263 BA, which was top three in the league, but Toledo finished eighth in the pennant race. The team was also troubled by numerous injuries : circumstances led to Walker 's brother, Weldy, joining the Blue Stockings for six games in the outfield. Toledo 's team, under financial pressure at season 's end, worked to relieve themselves of their expensive contracts. Not yet fully recovered from a rib injury sustained in July, Walker was released by the Blue Stockings on September 22, 1884. During the offseason, Walker took a position as a mail clerk, but returned to baseball in 1885, playing in the Western League for 18 games. For the second half of 1885, he joined the baseball club in Waterbury for 10 games. When the season ended, Walker reunited with Weldy in Cleveland to assume the proprietorship of the LeGrande House, an opera theater and hotel. According to Zang, Walker could afford the business venture after commanding a $2,000 contract as a major leaguer. Though he could no longer negotiate such a salary, his skills were still highly attractive to teams : Walker returned to Waterbury in 1886 when the team joined the more competitive Eastern League. Despite a lackluster season for Waterbury, Walker was offered a position with the defending champion Newark Little Giants, an International League team. Together, with pitcher George Stovey, Walker formed half of the first African - American battery in organized baseball. Billed as the `` Spanish battery '' by fans, Stovey recorded 35 wins in the season, while Walker posted career highs in games played, fielding percentage, and BA. Walker followed Newark 's manager Charlie Hackett to the Syracuse Stars in 1888. Although he slumped at the plate during his two years playing for the Stars, he was popular among Syracuse fans, so much so that Walker was their unofficial spokesman and established business ties in the city. On August 23, 1889, Walker was released from the team ; he was the last African - American to play in the International League until Jackie Robinson. Later life Walker stayed in Syracuse after the Stars released him, returning to a position in the postal service. Around this time, a former Syracuse University professor, Dr. Joel Gibert Justin, had been experimenting with firing artillery shells with gunpowder rather than compressed air, culminating in his failed invention the `` Justin Gun ''. Fascinated, Walker designed and patented an outer casing in 1891 that remedied Justin 's failure. The first of his four patented inventions, Walker invested in the design with hopes it would be in great demand, but the shell never garnered enough interest. On April 9, 1891, Walker was involved in an altercation outside a saloon with a group of four white men exchanging racial insults. Members of the group, including bricklayer Patrick `` Curly '' Murray, approached Walker and reportedly threw a stone at his head, dazing him. Walker responded by fatally stabbing Murray with a pocket knife. A compliant Walker surrendered to police, claiming self - defense, but was charged with second - degree murder ( lowered from first - degree murder ). On June 3, 1891, Walker was found not guilty by an all - white jury, much to the delight of spectators in the courthouse. He returned to Steubenville to, again, work for the postal service, handling letters for the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. On June 12, 1895, Walker 's wife Arabella died of cancer at 32 years old ; he remarried three years later to Ednah Mason, another former Oberlin student. The same year, Walker was found guilty of mail robbery and was sentenced to one year in prison which he served in Miami County and Jefferson County Jail. After his release during the turn of the century, Walker jointly owned the Union Hotel in Steubenville with Weldy, and managed the Opera House, a movie theater in nearby Cadiz. As host to opera, live drama, vaudeville, and minstrel shows at the Opera House, Walker became a respected businessman and patented inventions that improved film reels when nickelodeons were popularized. In 1902, the brothers explored ideas of Black nationalism as editors for The Equator, though no copies exist today as evidence. Walker expanded upon his works about race theory in The Equator by publishing the book Our Home Colony ( 1908 ). Regarded as `` the most learned book a professional athlete ever wrote '', Our Home Colony shared Walker 's thesis on the victimization of the black race and a proposal for African - Americans to emigrate back to Africa. Ednah died on May 26, 1920. Widowed again, Walker sold the Opera House and managed the Temple Theater in Cleveland with Weldy. On May 11, 1924, Walker died of lobar pneumonia at 67 years of age. His body was buried at Union Cemetery - Beatty Park next to his first wife. Legacy Although Jackie Robinson is commonly miscredited with being the first African - American to play major league baseball, Walker held the honor among baseball aficionados for decades. In 2007, researcher Pete Morris discovered that another ball player, former slave William Edward White, actually played a single game for the Providence Grays five years before Walker debuted for the Blue Stockings. Despite these findings, baseball historians still credit Walker with being the first in the major leagues to play openly as a black man. On the subject of White, John R. Husman wrote : `` He played baseball and lived his life as a white man. If White, who was also of white blood, said he was white and he was not challenged, he was white in his time and circumstances ''. Like Robinson, however, Walker endured trials with racism in the major leagues and was thus the first black man to do so. References Jump up ^ Gurrieri, Vince ( 2016 ). `` First professional black baseball player : ' Fleet ' Walker honed skills at Oberlin College in 1881 ''. The Chronicle. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, pp. 2 -- 3. Jump up ^ `` Baseball 's First African - American ''. Jock Bio. 2004. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, pp. 3 -- 5. ^ Jump up to : Husman, John R. ( 2016 ). `` Moses Fleetwood Walker ''. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved March 15, 2017. ^ Jump up to : Husman, John R. ( 2016 ). `` Weldy Walker ''. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, p. 15. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, p. 18. ^ Jump up to : Zang 1995, pp. 20 -- 22. Jump up ^ Jordan 2013, p. 199. Jump up ^ `` Moses Fleetwood Walker ''. Oberlin College. Archived from the original on August 30, 2004. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, p. 24. Jump up ^ Grisby 2010, p. 193. Jump up ^ `` African Americans in Toledo Sports '' ( PDF ). Toledo 's Attic Essays. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, p. 27. Jump up ^ Robertson 2016, p. 16. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, pp. 35 -- 36. ^ Jump up to : Zang 1995, p. 37. ^ Jump up to : Husman, John R. ( 2016 ). `` August 10, 1883 : Fleet Walker vs. Cap Anson ''. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Rosenberg, Howard. `` Cap 's Great Shame ''. Cap Chronicled. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Rosenberg, Howard. `` Cap Anson ''. Cap Chronicled. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Husman, John R. ( 2016 ). `` May 1, 1884 : Fleet Walker 's major - league debut ''. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Britcher, Craig ( 2014 ). `` The Next Page / Before Jackie Robinson, baseball had Moses ' Fleet ' Walker ''. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved March 15, 2017. ^ Jump up to : Zang 1995, pp. 44 -- 45. Jump up ^ `` Moses `` Fleet '' Walker ``. Kansas State University. 2006. Archived from the original on April 14, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Macuso, Peter ( 2016 ). `` May 2, 1887 : First African American battery ''. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, p. 53. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, p. 60. Jump up ^ Slaby 2004, p. 61. ^ Jump up to : Zang 1995, p. 68. Jump up ^ Kirst, Sean ( 1994 ). `` Struggles of a baseball pioneer : In Syracuse, the trials of Fleet Walker ''. Syracuse.com. Retrieved May 24, 2018. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, pp. 65 -- 66. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, pp. 78 -- 81. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, p. 82. Jump up ^ Hill, Benjamin ( 2008 ). `` Walker 's interests were far and wide ''. Milb.com. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, pp. 108 -- 110. ^ Jump up to : Zang 1995, pp. 96 -- 97. Jump up ^ Zang 1995, pp. 122 -- 125. ^ Jump up to : Husman, John R. `` June 21, 1879 : The cameo of William Edward White ''. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved March 15, 2017. Bibliography Grisby, Daryl ( 2010 ). Celebrating Ourselves : African - Americans and the Promise of Baseball. Dog Ear Publishing. ISBN 978 - 160844 - 798 - 5. Jordan, John ( 2013 ). Black Americans 17th Century to 21st Century : Black Struggles and Successes. Trafford Publishing. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4907 - 1732 - 6. Robertson, John R. ( 2016 ). The Games That Changed Baseball : Milestones in Major League History. McFarland Publishing. ISBN 978 - 1 - 4766 - 6226 - 8. Slaby, Patricia ( 2004 ). The Inventive Spirit of African Americans : Patented Ingenuity. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0 - 275 - 96674 - 7. Zang, David W. ( 1995 ). Fleet Walker 's Divided Heart. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0 - 8032 - 4913 - 6. External links Baseball portal Career statistics and player information from Baseball - Reference, or Baseball - Reference ( Minors ) Negro League Baseball Players Association Baseball Hall of Fame Fleetwood Walker Honor Bill LCCN : n94081959 SNAC : w6s76bcq VIAF : 60778718 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moses_Fleetwood_Walker&oldid=842964031 '' Categories : 1856 births 1924 deaths Major League Baseball catchers 19th - century baseball players Toledo Blue Stockings players Toledo Blue Stockings ( minor league ) players Waterbury ( minor league baseball ) players Cleveland Forest Cities players Waterbury Brassmen players Newark Little Giants players Syracuse Stars ( minor league baseball ) players Oconto ( minor league baseball ) players Oberlin College alumni University of Michigan alumni African - American baseball players Baseball players from Ohio People from Mount Pleasant, Ohio Sportspeople from Steubenville, Ohio People acquitted of murder Burials at Union Cemetery, ( Steubenville, Ohio ) Baseball in Syracuse, New York African - American inventors American inventors Hidden categories : Good articles Use mdy dates from August 2013 Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español 日本 語 Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Edit links This page was last edited on 25 May 2018, at 21 : 58. 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Question: was the first african american man in decades to play in major league baseball
Answer: Jackie Robinson