Untitled

In May of 2005,1 will graduate from the University of Kentucky Magna Cum Laude, with a Bachelor's of Arts with honors in History. Since I arrived at UK three years ago, I have remained on the Dean's List. I am a member of Phi Alpha Theta and the National Society of Collegiate Schol¬ars. In January of 2005, the History department awarded me the Holman Hamilton fellowship.

My thesis, More Than a Game: The Legacy of Black Baseball, stems from my life-long interest in sports and civil rights. As a former athlete at Webster University, I understand the time and work ethic it requires to be a successful athlete. I also understand what it means to athletes when society recognizes and rewards them for their struggles and triumphs. I did not learn about the Negro Leagues until my sophomore year at the University of Kentucky, and my dis¬dain at my own lack of awareness and knowledge is what inspired me to write my senior thesis on the Negro Leagues.

In doing my research, I had ample assistance from William Marshall, the Curator of Manuscripts at Margaret I. King Library. He graciously granted me access to his own interviews with former Negro League owners and players. His guidance and assistance throughout my research made this project the most beneficial and important educational experience of my college career.

Mentor:

William Marshall

Curator of Manuscripts at the Margaret I. King Library

In her essay on "The Legacy of Black Baseball," Tara Moriarty took a fresh approach to the integration of baseball by Jackie Robinson in 1946 when she explored and paid homage to the presence of the Negro Leagues at a critical time in American history. The presence of the Negro Leagues she argued not only served the African-American community well as an entertainment business, it was "a rallying point for the Civil Rights Movement," and it provided a corps of skilled black players who could not only compete in organized professional baseball, but who could also excel.

Ms. Moriarty's essay is one of the finest I have seen an undergraduate produce. Her work is well-crafted, organized, and tightly written. Her themes are logically-argued and her conclusions are particularly strong. Moreover, she skillfully intertwined secondary and primary sources throughout the essay. As can be ascertained by examining her sources, it is obvious that she depended heavily on primary source materials (oral history interviews, personal papers, and African-American newspapers). Finally, reading this essay one cannot help but notice the enthusiasm Tara possesses for history.

Abstract

Out of a segregated and persecuted black society, the Negro Leagues arose to provide a form of busii| ness, entertainment, and charity. The leagues servecP as a form of uplift within the race and as a tool to bring blacks together within their communities. In 1945, with the signing of Jackie Robinson to Montreal, baseball became a vehicle for integration J While Robinson broke the color line in professional baseball, he simultaneously broke the Negro Leagues. Black fans abandoned black baseball and turned to the Major Leagues to watch Robinson. Although the integration of baseball was the first major victory for integration in the United States, it was also the end of an era for the Negro Leagues, an institution that provided unity and pride within America's black communities. From both primary and secondary sources, it is obvious that the Negro Leagues played a vital role in black communities throughout the first half of the twentieth century. It is also apparent that there are conflicting opinions with regard to the integration of baseball, and whether it was a positive or negative event in black history. This essay examines the great paradox of the integration of baseball.

Introduction

In 1938, when asked who the best player in base¬ball history was, a white St. Louis sportswriter answered, "If you mean in organized baseball my answer would be Babe Ruth; but if you mean in all baseball, organized or unorganized, the answer would have to be a colored man named John Henry Lloyd." (Peterson, 1992, p. 79) Lloyd, along with many other black baseball players, was a victim of the so-called 'gentleman's agreement' that forbade the hiring of blacks to major league baseball teams. Many times over these players heard comments to the tune of, "If only you were white. Mrs. Grace Comiskey, who owned the White Sox, would watch 'Sug' Cornelius pitch for the Chicago American Gi¬ants and lament, 'Oh, if you were a white boy, what you'd be worth to my club." (Tygiel, 1997, p. 32) From the time of Jim Crow to the shattering of the color barrier by Jackie Robinson, black athletes had