Bill Nelson: “on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, I am happy to announce to the Senate I…”

“on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, I am happy to announce to the Senate I have come from Tampa, FL, where I made an announcement of some significance today. Seated with two Negro League ballplayers--a pitcher from the Kansas City Monarchs, Bob Mitchell, and a pitcher from the Indianapolis Clowns, Mr. Maddox--we were happy to announce, with a representative of Commissioner Bud Selig present, the first compensation for the Negro League players who were kept out of the Major Leagues, because segregation did not end with Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in 1947. Indeed, Major League Baseball was not integrated until the late 1950s. When Commissioner Selig, in 1997, decided to do something about the inequity of the Negro League players never having been compensated--but the criteria was based on the principle they would be compensated if they had played in the Negro Leagues before 1947 and in the Majors after--today the principle was established by Major League Baseball that, in fact, the Majors were not integrated until the late 1950s. The compensation plan we announced will be for the Negro Leaguers who still played the same amount of time--4 years--but played 4 years in the Majors before the end of the 1958 season. Therefore, they, too, will be compensated. Why is this important? It is important because of the sad fact of our Nation's history of segregation. There was tremendous talent in the Negro Leagues.…”