The Roots of Baseball in Philadelphia's African-American Community



Those who have seen Ken Burns' documentary, Baseball, are familiar with the Philadelphia Pythians. Led by prominent educators Octavius Catto and Jacobs White,  the Pythians were a team of African-American players who pushed for greater racial equality. They frequently spoke about civil rights with the other African-American teams they played when socializing after the game. In 1867, the Pythians first applied for entrance in the Pennsylvania Association of Base Ball Players, but were asked to withdraw their request because of race. They went on to apply for membership in the National Association of Base Ball Players.  They were denied entrance based on the shameful view that by keeping the races separate, there could be no hard feelings. The Pythians faded after their star shortstop, Catto, was murdered on election day by an Irish Democrat who wanted to prevent Catto from encouraging more African-Americans to go to the polls and vote for the more progressive Republican Party. 

But the Pythians were not Philadelphia's first African-American baseball team. One of the earliest African-American teams was the Philadelphia Excelsiors. On October 3, 1867, the Excelsiors played a game against the Brooklyn Uniques which was billed as the "First Colored Base Ball Championship."  After seven innings of play, the Excelsiors were up 42-37. With it growing too dark to see the ball, the Excelsiors demanded that play stop. 
 
When the Pythians were denied membership in the National Association of Base Ball Players, records show that another team from Philadelphia, called the Excelsiors, was also denied. However, Excelsiors was a popular name for baseball teams in the early days. Whether this was the African-American team has been lost to history. 

William J. Kovatch, Jr. 

References

Casway, Jerold, “September 3, 1869: Inter-racial baseball in Philadelphia,” Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century, edited by Bill Felber (2013).

Goldfarb, Irv, "October 3, 1967: 'The First Colored Baseball Championship,'" SABR.org, http://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/october-3-1867-first-colored-baseball-championship.  

“Jacob C. White, Jr. (1837-1902) Historical Marker,” ExplorePAHistory.com, http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-F.


Kirsch, George, “Blacks, Baseball and the Civil War,” New York Times (September 23, 2014).


“Octavius V. Catto (Baseball) Historical Marker,” ExplorePAHistory, http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-14.


“Octavius V. Catto: Forgotten Black Hero of Philadelphia,” 150 Pennsylvania Civil War, http://pacivilwar150.com/Understand/HistoricalFigures/ImportPennsylvanians/OctaviusCatto.

Shudders, John, Base Ball in Philadelphia: The Early Years 1831-1900 (McFarland & Co. 2006).

Silcox, Harry C., “Philadelphia Negro Educator: Jacob C. White, Jr., 1837-1902,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 97:1 (1973).




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