William Edward White = 1st Black?

[Wolf Hopper]

Baseball historians are trying to determine whether William Edward White was the first black player in the Major Leagues.

White played one game for the Providence Greys of the National League on June 21, 1879, and the Society for American Baseball Research is researching his history.

Is this important?

[LeGrandOrange]

It's not important, but it's interesting. I'll still acknowledge Fleet Walker as the first one though...

[SmedIndy]

I think it is for history's sake.

[Wolf Hopper]

Originally Posted by SmedIndy

I think it is for history's sake.

Why and how?

[SmedIndy]

It just is...you always want the history of the game correct and accurate.

[nyy26wc]

Originally Posted by SmedIndy

It just is...you always want the history of the game correct and accurate.

Some people want the history of the game to be correct and accurate. But, others, like the Elias and The Sporting News, prefer the it's always been that way, it will always be that way approach.

The classic example of that is how many hits Ty Cobb had. The old school still wants to insist that the mathematical errors that led to the 4191 total still stay entenched in the records.

[LeGrandOrange]

Sometimes, the desire for accuracy is trumped by the romanticism of certain feats and accomplishments. Babe Ruth, for example, really has 715 home runs but historians still score one of his walk-off homers a double (based on rules of the time) because we're so used to 714.

[SmedIndy]

I just want the facts to come out, if it's the case.

I think one of the difficulties with ascertaining who was the first...or indeed the participation of black players in the 19th century is something that plagues historians and statisticians about almost everything in the 19th century and indeed part of the 20th. There were different associations and teams and a real fluidity as to who was playing in what league and who they played and what constituted a 'major' league and how that related to our conception of major leagues today.

The HR rules are one, Barnes' skill at landing bunts fair that would go foul - and any number of other considerations are areas that are pretty subject to interpretation...and varying interpretations. There aren't 'wrongs' and 'rights' per se - nor 'facts' that neatly categorize themselves.

Black players participation in professional baseball associations was a decidedly mixed deal. fraught with de facto bans, local Jim Crow Laws, the ban on 'new' contracts with black baseball players in the '80's. None of these things crossed various association borders with any consistency.

Blacks DID play in the 1800's. It's fairly likely that there were any number of black players in one association or another from the very first days of organized baseball. Whether player A) or B) is the 'first' seems more a question of definition as to what is 'professional' what is 'major' and so on.

But it's still important, because the more investigation on the 19th century roots of baseball and also the role of black players happens, the more it adds to our understanding not only of baseball, but of the social history of the time...and out time.

[sweaver]

One problem with identifying the first black to play in the major leagues, is the definition of "major leagues" was more fluid back then.

[Craig S.]

Originally Posted by SmedIndy

It just is...you always want the history of the game correct and accurate.

That's my feeling on it, too. Baseball history has plenty of inaccuracies, so any time they can get the truth is great.

For anyone who has read it, was the WSJ article more comprehensive than the ones I've read online from other newspapers? I'm curious about the background of this case.

[nyy26wc]

There is also the big question of what does "black" mean.

According to the laws of many states back then, a person would be classified as black even if just 1/16 black blood. In other words, between the person's parents, grandparents, great grandparents and great grandparents, just 1 black individual equals a classification of black.

Such a system resulted in people who you couldn't tell the difference, by sight between them and other white people being legally classified as colored.

The infamous Supreme Court decision of Plessy v. Ferguson involved a person who was actually white, but was declared black by the laws of Lousiana.

I've seen reports that said that William Edward White was able to pass for a white man. So, assuming that's accurate, there would be the good chance that he really was white, but arcane laws would be the reasons why records of the day would say otherwise.

[KCBOOMER]

I am not sure if this really matters or not. It will not change any thing that matters. The treatment of blacks throughout our history will not be any less shameful no matter who the first black player was.

[gyb13]

and racism won't end until people start thinking of people as just 'people' and not subcategorizing them into blacks, whites, etc etc

[SmedIndy]

But if he was allowed to play in that time, and if it was known that he was a person of color, it would be of great import....simply due to the sociological implications...