A Divided Game
Before Jackie Robinson, no black player had been signed to a major league baseball team. Any black baseball player would be forced to play in either the minor leagues or the so called "Negro Leagues" or to make up their own leagues. Even black players playing with minor league teams, which was the closest any blacks could come to organized baseball until 1947, were generally shunned by the public. The game was divided into two factions: black and white. Black teams would play around the country, barnstorming against black or white teams from any city. The majority of the white teams that played against blacks were semipro teams that did not get as many professional games as major league teams. However, racism was still very much present within nearly every baseball league that existed in the the late 1880s, when the game was beginning. In 1883, Moses Fleetwood Walker became the closest black player to reaching the major leagues when he "ignored the local black teams and signed with the all-white Toledo team of the minor professional Northwestern League". In this league, he was one rung below the National League on the professional baseball ladder. However, Walker faced just as much racism as other black players who played on lower levels. These racist experiences came from other players just as often as they came from fans. Cap Anson, a player and manger for the Chicago White Stockings, said he "would not participate in a game against Toledo if Walker played". After receiving several death threats and breaking a rib, Walker left the team a year later. Many other instances of such prejudice also occured during this time. Some black players even faced racism from their own teammates. Two players on a minor-league team in New York would not appear in a team picture with a black team member. Cap Anson once again refused to play unless a black pitcher on his own team, George Stovey, was benched. Nearly every white player seemed determined to do their part to keep any blacks out of professional baseball. Until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, no black player ever played a game in a major league.