Bill Nelson: “last week I learned of the death of three men. They lived apart from each other--one in Florida, one in Virginia, and…”

“last week I learned of the death of three men. They lived apart from each other--one in Florida, one in Virginia, and one in Maryland--but they shared a special past. All three played in baseball's Negro Leagues. They did not receive million-dollar contracts. They did not get endorsement deals. They just played baseball. Sadly, these three men were part of a group of about 165 players who never received a pension for their time in the leagues. The Negro League was founded in 1920 by Andrew ``Rube'' Foster. With 72 teams and more than 4,000 players, the Negro Leagues lasted until 1960, when its last team folded. For half a century, most of the Negro League players were denied the opportunity to play in the Majors. Even though Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, it took another decade for Major League Baseball to really become integrated. All the while, baseball had its antitrust exemption to unfairly compete against the Negro Leagues, and systemically discriminated against most Negro League players for many years after 1947. That is the crux of the argument many of these old-timers have about not getting even a small pension.”