During the late 1800s and early 1900s, when Blacks said “take me out to the ballgame” it meant seeing baseball greats such as Oscar Charleston, Andrew “Rube” Foster, James “Cool Papa” Bell, Josh Gibson, Leroy “Satchel” Paige and others swing their bats and make their way around the baseball diamond.
Only their game was strictly for Black baseball fans and players of the Negro League baseball.
Though Negro League Baseball reflected a time in American history overflowing with discrimination toward Blacks, this period gave opportunities to some of the best baseball players in the country and introduced all baseball lovers to talented Black players.
This legacy in sports, history and the progressive movement of all people toward equal rights, will be celebrated during the Third Annual Civil Rights Game at Victory Field, 501 W. Maryland St., Aug. 22 at 7 p.m.
“This is something we started. We got the idea from the Major League Baseball civil rights game. This is to our knowledge the only game done on the Minor League level,” said Brad Meadows, deputy director of external affairs at the Indiana Civil Rights Commission (ICRC). “We decided to do this because we have the Indianapolis Indians and beautiful Victory Field right here in our backyard but most importantly, we wanted to reach the Indians’ many fans with opportunities to remember the battle for civil rights struggles and honor Negro League Baseball.”
The Indianapolis Indians will pay tribute to the Indianapolis Negro League team, the Clowns, by wearing throwback jerseys.
People should also note that earlier in the day at 10 a.m., baseball historian and author Phil Dixon will highlight an event at Martin University’s Gathertorium, 2182 Avondale Place. Dixon will provide a look at Black Baseball in Indianapolis.
As vice president of curatorial services at the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo., Raymond Doswell believes opportunities to remember the Negro League is important.
“There were professional teams that were ‘Major League teams.’ Individual African-Americans were able to play on some of those teams, but racial attitudes prevented more Blacks from playing,” said Doswell.
Eventually existing Black baseball players were pushed out of the sport.
Due to the discrimination, business people, Blacks and Afro-Latinos interested in baseball decided to create their own teams. In 1920, the Negro National League was formed and initially consisted of mostly teams from Midwestern cities, including Indianapolis.
“In that league was the Indianapolis ABCs who were a great independent team before 1920 and included notable players such as Oscar Charleston,” said Doswell.
Jeffrey Bibbs recalls his father’s time on the field with the ABCs.
“His name was Junius Bibbs. I was young when he finished his career, but people said he was a switch hitter and was really fast,” said Bibbs.
Indianapolis had another well-known team called the Indianapolis Clowns who was known for their funny antics on the field. The Clowns also had future baseball hall of famer Hank Aaron on their team.
Doswell said sadly people have forgotten Negro League Baseball in general and Indianapolis’ teams, particularly the Clowns because that team was one of the last remnants of the Negro Leagues.
The great depression caused many teams to fold, but during the 1930s the league reformed and lasted until the 1960s. In between that time, Blacks saw the debut of people like Jackie Robinson who played with the Kansas City Monarchs and was recruited by the Brooklyn Dodgers becoming the “first African-American player in the modern era” to play professional baseball.
Wilma Moore, senior archivist of African American History at the Indiana Historical Society certainly recalls the importance of baseball to Blacks.
“I can remember growing up, my mother watched the World Series every year. I hated when baseball was on because I just wanted to watch ‘Popeye,’” laughed Moore.
More importantly, she said baseball was a national movement and was accessible to anyone.
“Recreation was very important during that time because people worked very hard. People saw leisure as a way of saying to some extent they had arrived, they could stop working for a moment and enjoy their lives,” said Moore.
Moore agrees that people are aware of the Negro Leagues but maintains that sports over the course of the years have reflected changes in Americans’ tastes. After the love affair of baseball, people turned much of their attention to basketball and today football appears to be America’s favorite pastime, and arguably soon, soccer.
