Philadelphia Helped Develop Professional African-American Baseball
In 1869, two years after Octavius Catto and the Philadelphia Pythians were denied entry into the National Association Base Ball Players because of the color of their skin, fully professional teams emerged. Disappointingly, in the age of professionalism, segregation continued to plague the sport. As professional baseball grew, Philadelphia played a key role in the development of African-American teams. The Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia captured the first pennant of a fully professional league in 1871, and then played the first game of the National League in 1876. But the professional major leagues were an exclusive club of all-white teams. In 1884, brothers Moses Fleetwood Walker and Weldy Walker discovered just how exclusive that club was. The Walker brothers were African-Americans who played for the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association, a major league that rivaled the National League in the 19th Century. Teams from the American Associ...