The Colour of Sucess

Dredging the past and looking through the games origins you are bound to uncover nuggets of history, good and bad.


In terms of the bad, every time I read about the treatment of the players by the owners I cringe, and what was worse was how the game treated black players.

Black players eventually found a few benefactors and built their own league, and some did well enough financially, but many deemed it no better than organised slavery, in uniforms.

The white baseball players tried to form a union, or at least achive a semblance of basic players rights, but were dismissed and some who were identified were treated worse, and driven from the game, if possible.

Some black players tried to portray themselves as Cubans, or Spanish, or even native Indians, but black fans came out in droves to watch these players play, and so the disguised were found out, and were banished.

If you were an owner in the early years, before 1900, you controlled the fate of the peoples lives, it was as Marvin Miller coined , the "plantation" .

In coming days, I will chronicle the heroes of the Negro Leagues, the teams, the stars, and the way they were treated, by the white only major leagues, and the owners, and politicians.

Cool Papa Bell, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campenella, Satchel Paige, Curt Flood, and Ritchie Allen. Bog Gibson, Frank Robinson, Jim Rice, and many others. The separate quarters, the coloured part of town, the couloured hotels for blacks, and dressing rooms. 

Most people have no recollection of the integration process, and the hardships these players endured.  The first black manager, bench coach, stadiums filled with all black spectators , stadiums like Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium, and Ebbets Field.

Black players in the 1960's were routinely paid 40 % less than their white counterparts, owners thought that with all that money in their hands, God knows what would happen.