Kirk Watson: “in 1872, Bud Fowler became the first African American to enter organized baseball. At the time, Sporting Life magazine…”

“in 1872, Bud Fowler became the first African American to enter organized baseball. At the time, Sporting Life magazine called him ``one of the best general players in the country. If he had had a white face,'' they said, ``he would be playing with the best of them.'' There were only a handful of black players during that time. By the end of the 1800s, the door to organized baseball was slammed shut to African Americans, and as a result, in 1920, Andrew ``Rube'' Foster managed a Negro baseball team and organized seven other team owners to join him to form the Negro National Baseball League. Mr. Foster is known by many people to be the father of the Negro Baseball League. For his efforts and contributions to baseball, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Since 1920, many teams were formed to expand the Negro Baseball Leagues. He produced many extraordinary players like Satchel Paige, ``Cool Papa'' Bell, ``Double-Duty'' Radcliffe, ``Groundhog'' Thompson and many others. Presently, there are 278 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, 18 whom had played in the Negro League. These greats include Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson, who first played in the Negro Leagues and then entered Major League Baseball. Indeed, the players in the Negro Leagues were of such high caliber that many of them later moved to other major leagues and enjoyed better statistics playing there than they did in the Negro Leagues.”