List of first black Major League Baseball players
Below is a list of the first black players in Major League Baseball by team and chronological order, since the abolition of the Baseball color line. During the 1880s, Moses Fleetwood Walker had played for Toledo of the American Association (his brother Welday Walker also played a few games with the club), and it was essentially against Fleetwood Walker that the line was originally drawn.
| Player | Team | Date [1] |
|---|---|---|
| Jackie Robinson | Brooklyn Dodgers, NL | April 15, 1947 |
| Larry Doby | Cleveland Indians, AL | July 5, 1947 |
| Hank Thompson | St. Louis Browns, AL | July 17, 1947 |
| Monte Irvin | New York Giants, NL | July 8, 1949 |
| Hank Thompson | ||
| Sam Jethroe | Boston Braves, NL | April 18, 1950 |
| Minnie Miñoso | Chicago White Sox, AL | May 1, 1951 |
| Bob Trice | Philadelphia Athletics, AL | Sept. 13, 1953 |
| Ernie Banks | Chicago Cubs, NL | Sept. 17, 1953 |
| Curt Roberts | Pittsburgh Pirates, NL | April 13, 1954 |
| Tom Alston | St. Louis Cardinals, NL | April 13, 1954 |
| Nino Escalera | Cincinnati Reds, NL | April 17, 1954 |
| Chuck Harmon | ||
| Carlos Paula | Washington Senators, AL | Sept. 6, 1954 |
| Elston Howard | New York Yankees, AL | April 14, 1955 |
| John Kennedy | Philadelphia Phillies, NL | April 22, 1957 |
| Ozzie Virgil, Sr. | Detroit Tigers, AL | June 6, 1958 |
| Pumpsie Green | Boston Red Sox, AL | July 21, 1959 |
Note: Teams are not listed again if they move to a new city. Also, since the beginning of expansion in 1961, all expansion teams have been integrated from their first game, so those teams are not listed.
See also
- History of baseball in the United States
- Negro league baseball
- List of Negro League baseball players
References
- ^ O'Connell, Jack (2007-04-13). "Robinson's many peers follow his lead". MLB.com. Retrieved 2007-10-11.