Northern vs. Southern Communities: Minor League Baseball



old photograph of an African American man workong for a white man

Image obtained from IMSI's Master Photos
Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. East,
San Rafael, CA 94901-5506, USA

 

 

Back buttonNext button

Home buttonResources button

Historical Perspective button

 

 

 

Buck O'Neil describes coming to Kansas City for the first time
photo of Buck O'Neil
Click for Video
Click for Audio
8.3 MB
1 MB

"In 1956, the spread of integration in the southern minor-league baseball had not lessened racists' passions for preserving their separate-but-unequal traditions. 'When they told me I had to leave Louisiana,' Alou recalls, 'it took me three days on a Greyhound bus to travel from Lake Charles to Cocoa, Florida. The bus stopped every where. When we stopped, I had to find the lines that said Colored People. By the time I found that line and got on the line, the bus was ready to to depart. I never had a chance to eat. They gave me twelve dollars, meal money for three days. I arrived in Cocoa with ten-something dollars in my pocket. They used to have machines you could put ten cents or whatever in and you'd get some peanuts. That was my food for three days.'"
(Felipe Alou cited in Adelson, 1999, p.3, in reference to minor leagues)

 

"Indeed, the Brooklyn Dodgers were quite conscious of southern racial attitudes when they signed Robinson to his first organized baseball contract. In 1946, to further Robinson's baseball training, the Dodgers opted to send him to their Class AAA minor-league affiliate in Montreal rather than to the franchise's AA farm club in Mobile, Alabama. The Dodger's management believed that Canadians harbored more tolerant racial sensibilities compared to those of white southerners in the United States. The Dodgers simply did not wish to inflame whites in the South of 1946 with the sight of an African American ballplayer playing and living among them."
(Adelson, 1999, p. 5
, in reference to minor leagues)

photo of Georgia Dwight
Georgia Dwight decsribes her husband Eddie's experience in Louisville
Click for video
Click for Audio
13.6 MB
1.6 MB

While black players were making an impact all over the nation, nowhere was their presence felt more keenly than in the South. In the Florida International League, for example, some owners were concerned about the potential repercussions of a black pitcher hitting a white batter with a pitch during a game. But this did not stop the league's integration. Attempting to ease black player's transition into the league, team owners ensured that nonwhite athletes were paired on each integrating team so that these pioneers would not have to face Jim Crow alone."
(Adelson, 1999, p. 47
, in reference to minor leagues)

Buck O'Neil describes playing in the South versus the North
photo of Buck O"Neil
Click for Video
Click for Audio
10.3 MB
1.2 MB