Black History Month: How the Cardinals were on the wrong side of history

With this being Black History Month, it is time for everyone to look at something a little more important than who is going to be the center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals this year. 

MLB takes one day, April 15th, every year to recognize Jackie Robinson. Everyone on the field wears the number 42. There are special ceremonies, and MLB pats themselves on the back for a job well done. 

The merger of the National League and the American Association formed MLB in 1903. Just prior to the merger, in 1884, the American Association comprised teams in thirteen cities. One of those early AA teams was the Toledo Blue Stockings. Moses Fleetwood Walker, a 26-year-old African American catcher from Mount Pleasant, Ohio, debuted with the team on May 1, 1884.

William Edward White played his first and only game with the Providence Grays on June 21, 1879. The Grays were a part of the National League. According to SABR, he was the first Black player in the history of major league baseball. 

So what happened between the late 1800s and the time of Robinson’s signing?

In a big way, St. Louis happened. 

In 1887, the St. Louis Browns had won their third pennant. Their schedule included an exhibition game against the Cuban Giants, an all-black team, in New York. The night before their departure, eight Browns players signed this letter. 

“We, the undersigned, members of the St. Louis Baseball Club, do not agree to play against negroes to-morrow. We will cheerfully play against white people at any time, and think, by refusing to play, we are only doing what is right, taking everything into consideration and the shape the team is in at present. “

The Browns weren’t the only team. The Chicago White Stockings that same year refused to play against any team with Black players. 

This was during the time of Jim Crow. Racial segregation became legally entrenched in the 1870s, with the enactment of a series of Jim Crow laws affecting every aspect of daily life. A secret pact among team owners systematically barred Black players from leagues during this period. 

There were a few owners who tried to subvert that agreement from time to time. In 1901, John J. McGraw, manager of the Baltimore Orioles in the American League, tried to sign a Black second baseman named Charlie Grant by saying that he was a Native American named Tokohama, a member of the Cherokee tribe.

Shortly after the merger in 1905, Branch Rickey made his major league debut as a player with the St. Louis Browns. Rickey made Bob Uecker look like a superstar. He had 343 at-bats and hit .239 and had three home runs. As a catcher, he was so bad that after being sold to the New York Highlanders, an opposing team stole 13 bases in one game with him behind the plate. He also managed the Browns and then the St. Louis Cardinals. He became the general manager for both teams in St. Louis before becoming the GM for the Dodgers and later the Pirates. 

According to the Library of Congress, Rickey's interest in integrating baseball began early in his career during his time in St. Louis. The St. Louis Cardinals’ discriminatory policy that prevented African Americans from sitting in the grandstands during his time there deeply troubled him. 

That was only a small part, however, of what guided Rickey to sign Robinson. He was more complicated than that. Rickey had made anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic comments but avoided swearing and drinking alcohol. He also believed that segregation violated his religious principles. 

This was not only about thinking this was the moral thing to do. Branch Rickey was a very astute businessperson. He felt if he could mix black and white, he wouldn’t get gray, but green. 

With Blacks effectively being banned from baseball, there were several all-Black teams that would barnstorm from town to town playing anyone who would challenge them. A few of the National and American League teams could play exhibition games against them. 

How good were those teams? In 1915, eastern Black teams played exhibitions against MLB teams during the offseason and spring training, winning four of eight games. Perhaps not wanting his white teams to look bad, in 1920 commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis stopped all teams from playing exhibition games against Black teams. 

In 1920, Andrew “Rube” Foster would organize those teams and form the Negro National League. The popularity of this league grew in the '30s and '40s. The league put on its own all-star game called the East-West Game. It proved to be so popular that by its fourth year, 1936, it outdrew the MLB Midsummer Classic, drawing 26,400 fans to Comiskey Park, while 25,556 attended the AL/NL contest at Boston’s Braves Field. Attendance at the Negro Leagues’ version would be higher eight times, including every year from 1942 to 1948.

It was no wonder that with the quality of players and the popularity of the league, Rickey saw an economic opportunity he could sell to the owners that meshed well with his own moral struggles. By adding Black players that were better than some of his white players, he saw a way to improve the quality of his team on the field. He also contemplated the likely effect a signing like that would have at the gate. More fans that would normally go to Negro League games would now attend more Dodger games.  

The mood of the country was changing. World War II had ended and the horrors of discrimination were being understood. The State of New York had created the Commission Against Discrimination, with the power to fine and imprison violators. In New York City, Mayor La Guardia had established the Committee for Unity and named Branch Rickey a member. As a member of that committee, Rickey must have been aware that the state would investigate baseball, which certainly made it easier for the commissioner to sign off on the contract he was about to offer Robinson. 

During this Black History Month, It is important to remember how the racial attitudes of both St. Louis teams contributed to Branch Rickey feeling the need to make one of the most important signings in sports history.