Although black baseball players were not regularly found playing for the established "major league" teams in the 1800s, some colleges did have a few black players. Colleges in Ohio seemed to have some very interesting cases.
The Resolute Club of Oberlin College won a major regional championship in 1868 with a noted player named Simpson Younger, the only African-American on the team.
Oberlin College would later host two other notable players in 1881- Moses and Weldy Walker. Both brothers would get the chance to play in the white leagues. Moses would eventually become among the first African-Americans to play on a "major league" team in the late 1800s.
Ohio Wesleyan College featured a young black player in the early 1900s. Because he traveled with the team, they refused a hotel stay one evening. The team manager was able to make arrangements for the player to share a room with him. During the night, the young black player lamented the situation and cursed the color of his skin. This experienced deeply affected the team manager, whose name was Branch Rickey. Years later, Rickey would become the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers and would recruit and sign Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers.
