Remembering Tom Alston, the Cardinals' historic barrier-breaker

Gibby, Ozzie, Willie, and Lou. The Cardinals have a long history of Black superstars, men who might as well have worn capes around St. Louis given their heroics.

That tradition has continued today, with stars like Jordan Walker and Masyn Winn serving as faces of the franchise.

But, of course, it wasn’t always that way.

Today, the country celebrates Juneteenth, a commemoration of June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce that they were enforcing the Emancipation Declaration, and freeing more than 250,000 enslaved African Americans.  

It’s an appropriate day to think of the rich history of Black superstars in St. Louis, and the perfect time to remember the man who, seven years after Jackie Robinson’s debut, first broke the color barrier for the Cardinals — Tom Alston. Little known and undercelebrated, Alston paved the way for Gibby on the mound, the Wizard at short, and Willie patrolling the outfield.

Thomas Edison Alston was born in Greensboro, North Carolina on January 31, 1926, first playing baseball with a broomstick and a tennis ball.  After a stint in the Navy, he began playing for a traveling team before eventually catching on with the Pacific Coast League’s San Diego Padres.

San Diego’s manager, Lefty O’Doul, raved about Alston, calling him the one of the greatest prospects he had ever seen.  He played well in two seasons with the Padres before his history-changing trade to the Cardinals in 1954. Although a chance at the majors was surely tempting, the move to St. Louis could not have been an easy one.

As David Halberstam notes in his seminal book October 1964, St. Louis was considered the most segregated city in the big leagues back in 1954, and the team considered striking against Jackie Robinson during his first season. Sportsman’s Park, which hosted the Cardinals and the Browns, was the last stadium to abolish segregated seating.

The Cardinals were also late to integration, with owner Fred Saigh allegedly refusing to sign any Black players. That changed when Gussie Busch bought the team. As Halberstam puts it, he was stunned to find that his team was all white. He demanded change, and the team traded for Alston for four players and $100,000. (For context, Alston was only paid $27,500 for his entire four-year career.)

On April 13, 1954, Alston debuted and made history, becoming the Cardinals’ first Black player. (Later that year, the team called up its second Black player, Brooks Lawrence.) Alston struggled on the field, hitting .246 that year with only four home runs in 271 at-bats.

But his impact was felt off the diamond. According to Halberstam, a Cardinal PR man warned Alston that he should be prepared to hear and face terrible things after he debuted. Alston’s response? He told the PR man that he knew people would hate him for nothing more than the color of his skin. “But that’s not my problem, that’s their problem.” Alston then visited a local teachers college, where he told the Black students that times were changing, and doors were going to start opening for the Black community.

Alston was right. Only ten years later, the Cardinals stormed to a World Series win over the Yankees behind World Series MVP Gibson, who threw two complete games. That championship team also featured Bill White at first, and Lou Brock and Curt Flood in the outfield. 

Alston would never taste that kind of success, and his story turned tragic after his first year in the big leagues. He struggled with mental illness, later telling people that he often heard voices. Alston hung on in St. Louis for three more seasons but only had 28 more plate appearances, tallying six hits and one walk. He was out of baseball by 1958 and spent the rest of his life dealing with his illness and spending time in mental health facilities.

Despite that, Alston’s final appearance for the Cardinals was one of joy. In 1990, the team asked if Alston would throw out the ceremonial first pitch in a summer game against the Cubs. Alston agreed, and, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the crowd went wild when he took the field. "I had more fun that visit than I ever had when I was playing," Alston told Post-Dispatch reporter Wendy Conlin.

According to the Rochester Business Journal, that same year, Alston appeared at an autograph show in St. Louis. The promoter of the event told the Journal that he didn’t anticipate having Alston back, as it seemed clear that not too many fans remembered who Alston was.

Perhaps it’s time we changed that.

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