Pennant Man

FOREWORDAmerica is obsessed with the grand game of baseball, and with good reason. The sport is played by boys, girls, men, and women. All ages. All races. It is played at various levels; amateur and professional. ’Talent can take a player anywhere, if he chooses to work hard developing his athletic craft. The sky is the limit. In the land of the free, home of the brave, where all people are assumed equal under the constitution, it is hard to believe that well into the twentieth century black men were barred from entering the major leagues because of the color of their skin. The honorable and unofficial Gentlemen’s’ Agreement was the code that the white owners lived by. The majors would stay lily white. Because of this, the colored were forced to languish in their own leagues, where they had their own game, their own stars, and their own name. The n***o Leagues. Some called it Blackball, or Raceball. Jim Crow ball. Whatever the name, it existed for a purpose, an essential outlet for those players to flash their talents, although under less than ideal conditions, including poorer pay than the majors. The year 1945 saw a shot in the arm to the grand old game. The following is that untold story.