On the road with the superstars of Negro League baseball, 100 years on

“Baseball history needs to be looked at again. The statistics don’t make sense unless you understand the story that went behind those numbers.” – Phil S. Dixon

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Phil talk about the racial integration of Major League baseball in 1947, and the decades of high-level black baseball that came before it (4:00); how baseball was segregated in the 19th century, and why the Negro Leagues were formed in the early 20th (9:30); “barnstorming” baseball in local communities in places like Kansas, and what life on the road was like for these black teams (17:00); how Phil researched the history of the Negro Leagues, and the challenge of finding century-old game statistics (29:30); and how the Negro Leagues stars compare to other baseball players from history (39:00).

Phil S. Dixon (@NegroLeagueMan) is the author of seven books about baseball, and cofounder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.

Notable Links:

• J. L. Wilkinson (owner of the Kansas City Monarchs)
• All Nations (barnstorming professional baseball team)
• Barnstorming (traveling sports matches)
• Bud Fowler (pre-segregation professional player)
• Pythian Baseball Club (19th century black baseball team)
• Moses Fleetwood Walker (baseball player)
• Rube Foster (founder of the Negro Leagues)
• Topeka Jack Johnson (baseball player)
• House of David (baseball team from a Michigan commune)
• Grover Cleveland Alexander (baseball player)
• George Giles (baseball player)
• Only the Ball Was White, by Robert Peterson (book)
• Negro Baseball Leagues: A Photographic History, by Phil S. Dixon (book)
• The 1931 Homestead Grays, by Phil S. Dixon (book)
• Buck O’Neil (baseball player, manager, and scout)
• Satchel Paige (baseball player)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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