Most Influential African American Baseball Figure Besides Jackie Robinson

[vthobby]

Willie Mays

[Econteachert205]

Satchel Paige

[deucetwins]

Curt Flood. Free agency.

[Sean]

Curt Flood lost his case over free agency. It was Dave McNally and Andy Messersmith who won their appeal to an arbiter (Peter Seitz) and became free agents.

[MVSNYC]

Originally Posted by deucetwins

Curt Flood. Free agency.

+1

When you watch Ken Burns' Baseball documentary, you really understand how Flood changed the game.

PS- I'm embarrassed to admit, I did not know that Shirley Povich was Maury's dad. You learn something every day.

[BearBailey]

Barry Bonds, by far the best player of his Era and one of the greatest players of all time only to ruin his legacy in the end with the whole PED debacle, his influence will last for decades if not centuries from now.

[71buc]

Originally Posted by Econteachert205

Satchel Paige

Absolutely agree with you on this one.

[Runscott]

Surprised at the responses. To me it's Rube Foster - no-brainer. Based on his involvement with bringing semi-pro baseball to the Midwest, and then building on that, popularizing black baseball through his tours and Chicago city league involvement, and then using all of that to create the Negro National League, which gave black players the exposure and experience to push for being allowed in the Major Leagues. No Rube Foster - no Jackie Robinson.

[scooter729]

Wouldn't be my first choice, but another option could be Frank Robinson, as first black manager and his positions in the front office.

[sbfinley]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Surprised at the responses. To me it's Rube Foster - no-brainer. Based on his involvement with bringing semi-pro baseball to the Midwest, and then building on that, popularizing black baseball through his tours and Chicago city league involvement, and then using all of that to create the Negro National League, which gave black players the exposure and experience to push for being allowed in the Major Leagues. No Rube Foster - no Jackie Robinson.

This.

Every name listed is historically important for one reason it another, but without someone (Foster) creating a viable and competitive league for African-Americans, many of the names listed would be lost to history. You can sweeten up Branch Rickey's intentions all you want, but the fact of the matter is that first and foremost he turned to African American ball players to make his team better. No Foster and no Negro Leagues means no Paige, Aaron, Mays, Gibson, etc.

[irishdenny]

Originally Posted by Runscott
Surprised at the responses. To me it's Rube Foster - no-brainer. Based on his involvement with bringing semi-pro baseball to the Midwest, and then building on that, popularizing black baseball through his tours and Chicago city league involvement, and then using all of that to create the Negro National League, which gave black players the exposure and experience to push for being allowed in the Major Leagues. No Rube Foster - no Jackie Robinson.

Originally Posted by sbfinley

This.

Every name listed is historically important for one reason it another, but without someone (Foster) creating a viable and competitive league for African-Americans, many of the names listed would be lost to history. You can sweeten up Branch Rickey's intentions all you want, but the fact of the matter is that first and foremost he turned to African American ball players to make his team better. No Foster and no Negro Leagues means no Paige, Aaron, Mays, Gibson, etc.

Totally Agree with Scott & Steve!
Everything that I have read & learned about Mr. Foster has Always lead me to believe that "He iS the Man!!!"

There's Even a Story about Mr. Rube Foster BeiN' "The Man" Who Taught Christy Mathewson His Fade~Away Pitch... Mr. Mathewson never disputed the Story, So I Believe iT's True!
That's how Influential Mr. Foster was Back iN the Day!

I Salute Mr. Foster... I Believe No One Worked Harder Than He Did oR Even Fir aS Long aS He DiD!!! I Even Think He would give Mr. Jackson a run fir his money aS BeiN' the Most Influential African American... Mr. Jackson was Hand Picked and even Coach'd at times oN how to Act, Re~Act & Carry Himself to the Public's Eye, Not So with ole' Rube! Mr. Foster was a Natural Born Leader. Don't Get me wrong here... They both had their place iN History... I Just think that Mr. Rube Foster was a Remarkable Human Being & the more I learn of Him... the More I Believe!

Derek... Your Typo was Just Classic!
TalkiN form da Grave RiGHT B4 ALL Hallow's Eve... Freeeaky Dude

[TimCarrollArt]

Originally Posted by sbfinley

This.

Every name listed is historically important for one reason it another, but without someone (Foster) creating a viable and competitive league for African-Americans, many of the names listed would be lost to history. You can sweeten up Branch Rickey's intentions all you want, but the fact of the matter is that first and foremost he turned to African American ball players to make his team better. No Foster and no Negro Leagues means no Paige, Aaron, Mays, Gibson, etc.

And this.

Where would the legends get their start/platform if there were no Negro Leagues? Rube Foster had a monster impact on the game.


Tim

[packs]

Curt Flood gets my vote.

The question is hard to answer. I think to be truly influential you need to have changed the game of baseball forever. I think that Foster falls into the category of influential to African Americans, but he did not have a lot impact on Major League baseball. The players who would play in the Negro League certainly did, but Foster was far removed by that time. Though I of course understand there is no Negro League without him.

I choose Curt Flood because he influenced baseball at large, just like Jackie Robinson did when he broke the color barrier. After Curt Flood the game would never be the same, which is the same influence Robinson had on it.

[Exhibitman]