Tom "Circus" Mooney & the Yakima Giants (1922-26)

[btcarfagno]

Originally Posted by pariah1107

Great point Tom, I am not familiar with the Bismarck team. Nevada, Montana, and Wyoming also had some integrated teams. I probably should have said "west of the Mississippi" to include the Great Plains/Rockies states.

Quincy Trouppe
Double Duty Radcliffe
Hilton Smith (for a little while)

And a pitcher who went by the name of Satchel.

Tom C

Originally Posted by btcarfagno

Quincy Trouppe
Double Duty Radcliffe
Hilton Smith (for a little while)

And a pitcher who went by the name of Satchel.

Tom C

WOW! Nice lineup! I love this site, that helped me out on a couple fronts. I had previously assumed the only catcher to be a battery mate of Satchel Paige and Jimmy Claxton was Smiley Clayton, but I'll add Double Duty Radcliffe to the list as well (Claxton/Radcliffe were teammates on the 1931 Chicago Union Giants). Thank you Tom.

While not nearly as impressive as the Bismarck nine, another example in the Western United States was the 1938 Reno Brewery Sudsmakers of the Western Nevada League; seven black ballplayers on the 18 man roster; Jimmy Claxton, Smiley Clayton, Foy Scott, Douglas Thompson, John Dewberry, Eddie Claxton, and Jack Tanner. More examples?

Jackie Robinson has been put on a pedestal. It's too simplistic to say he integrated baseball alone. There are tens of examples of players who integrated the game, even professional baseball, well before his time on both coasts. Unfortunately they are ignored, and one man has monopolized the accolades. To say Jackie Robinson was the first to integrate professional baseball is moronic, might as well say Christopher Columbus "discovered" America.

[obcbobd]

Originally Posted by pariah1107

Jackie Robinson has been put on a pedestal. It's too simplistic to say he integrated baseball alone. There are tens of examples of players who integrated the game, even professional baseball, well before his time on both coasts. Unfortunately they are ignored, and one man has monopolized the accolades. To say Jackie Robinson was the first to integrate professional baseball is moronic, might as well say Christopher Columbus "discovered" America.

Not to take away from anything else, any one else did, but:

What Jackie did on the NATIONAL stage

The crap he had to put up with

He deserves every accolade he ever received

[Wite3]

Originally Posted by obcbobd

Not to take away from anything else, any one else did, but:

What Jackie did on the NATIONAL stage

The crap he had to put up with

He deserves every accolade he ever received

And more!! His life was an amazing one.

Well said Leon....

[Leon]

Originally Posted by obcbobd

Not to take away from anything else, any one else did, but:

What Jackie did on the NATIONAL stage

The crap he had to put up with

He deserves every accolade he ever received

I feel the point being made above was more about those that came before Jackie, who didn't get recognition for their contributions too. Jackie deserves his accolades...

[obcbobd]

Originally Posted by Leon

I feel the point being made above was more about those that came before Jackie, who didn't get recognition for their contributions too. Jackie deserves his accolades...

Perhaps, and I'd be very interested to hear about the struggles they endured. However, I see no reason to downgrade Jackie Robinson's accomplishments. There are very few MLB Baseball players who can be considered heroes. I think he leads that list.

Perhaps I should add some context to my comments before..... I was watching the Oakland A's v. Seattle Mariners game last night and one of the Mariners announcers, Dave Sims (who I usually enjoy), was falling all over himself heaping praise on Robinson (which is deserved). He mentioned Jackie three times, always claiming, "He was the first to...."

The teams are in Oakland, and while Robinson's contributions to the game are probably immeasurable, what in the world did he have to do with either Seattle or Oakland? Historically, it would have been more accurate to talk about Bill Pettus (1904) or Jimmy Claxton (1916), who actually integrated white ball clubs IN OAKLAND before Robinson was born. My choice of words were poor, perhaps the beers, but my point was/is why is Robinson mentioned almost at the expense of others whose contributions are also noteworthy?

That is all. Ty