The guardian., 1954-08-21
BOSTON
BAKED
BY MABE KoUNTZE


BASEBALL'S Twenty first
East-WeSt colored professional
leagues rivalry will be staged
at the White Sox Chicago Co.
miskey Park this Sunday Ac-
tually such inter-league con-
tests date back to the early
19O0's. perhaps fifty years At
one time there was a Sepia Ma
tional League. American League,
Southern League, Berkeley
(CaD League, Texas League,
and several other Tan Yank
baseball loops developing tai
ent.
BRANCH RICKEY (whO help
ed smash the Big League color
barr was either miSinfOrmed or
misquOted when he aIIegedly
claimed his "U. S. COlOred Lea
que" was the first and only
cOlOred PRO circuit worth ere
cOgnitiOn." Men like Rube FOS-
ter, WilkersOn, Bob Cole, Gus
Greenlee, Cum POSey, Martin,
Al POmpez and Abe Manley had
pioneered in sepia circuits for
many years, and many of their
teams had defeated Major out
fits annually.
KC MONARCIS, Homestead
Grays, Chicago American Giants,
Birmingham Barons, N. Y. Gu
ban Stars, Pittsburgh Craw-
fords, Newark Eagles, were
among the top flight Tan Lea,
que clubs which could (ano
did tip, over Major League
clubs, fact known to McGrarA
Babe Ruth, Dizzy Dean, Joe
DiMaggio, and others. And this
was all long before Jackie Ro-
b.nson and Hickey came into
the picture. And long long be-
fore Rickey'S Short-lived "U. S.
League"
SEPIA STARS like Satchel
Paige, Rube Foster, Josh Glib
son, CannOn-baII Dick Redding,
Joe Mendez, Bill Jackman, Bur
lin White, Cool Papa Bell,
Oscar Charleston, MarcelIe,
Budspeth, PadrOne, and Iegions !
of other super sensations came |
up in Tan Leagues long before
Robinson entered UCLA and
most were starring long before
he was born. COIOred promoters.
club owners, and managers were
schooling Tan talent before
hickey came along.
TOO OFTEN some of us "par- !
rot the propaganda" that color
ed people never organize and
are incapable of organization. |
The answer to this is that the
paleface League of Nations and
I'm also show organizationaI
failures. Few are perfect. Ad-
mittedly the colored leagues had !
drawbacks, but so did the early
Major leagues, as Ban Johnson,
Connie Mack and Clark Griffith |
freely admitted. And these men
had more finance and freedom
to work with.
JACKIE ROBINSON, Larry !
Dolby, Monte Irwin, Campanella,
Minoso, and practically all of
the current colored Major Lea
que stars first got their start
in the Tan Leagues, which,
while born in lin crow neces-
sity", have served their purpose
and deserve the credit due. The
new day of integration is slow
ly erasing the colored league
system, along with colored
schools. But no man should
discredit the good that has been
achieved over the years.
BIG LEAGUE baseball might
not have found qualified
cOlOred player had not cOlOred
clubs and leagues encouraged
sepia sons to stick to the game.
The discOuraging jim crow bar
rier could easily have turned
cOlOred youth away from the
sport. The league pay and con-
ditiOns might not have always
pleased the players. And few
managers and owners got rich
for their investment. Not all
were pioneers, working for the
day of equality. Nufsed.
A ROPAL SALUTE is there
for in order this Sunday for
those sometimes little known
and unsung colored baseball
promoters, club owners, man
ayers and league organizers from
coast to coast who kept the
faith and trained colored youth
for the Big Day" so that when
MIR. Rickey and other Major