MLB Awards Negro League Players with Major League Status
Thanks, but where’s the check? Meet Negro League baseball legend, W. James Cobbin, for his reaction.
1969 — MLB’s First Attempt at Fairness
At this point, we have been down this road a few times. Fifty-two years ago, in 1969, an opportunity came up to retroactively award Negro League players Major League status. However, at that time, Major League Baseball (MLB) rejected the idea.
2004 — MLB’s Second Attempt to Right a Wrong
Seventeen years ago, in 2004, the MLB commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig announced the creation of a charitable program that would provide more than $1 million in contributions to Negro League players who played all or a portion of one season in the Negro Leagues before 1958. Senator Bill Nelson (FL) and Negro League player Robert L. Mitchell helped to form the program. Of the approximately 130 players living today, not one has confirmed that they have received any compensation — including my dad, W. James Cobbin, who played for the New York Black Yankees and the Indianapolis Clowns from 1956 to 1958.
2020 — MLB Recognizes Negro League Players
Then, last month, the MLB announced that the records of Negro League players from 1920 to 1948 would be included in the game’s official statistics. This is admirable as many white players’ records will be shattered with the inclusion of Negro League players.
Why the Negro League Began
Before Jackie Robinson broke the color line with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, Black players were barred from Major League Baseball due to racism and Jim Crow segregation, depriving many baseball fans from seeing the exceptional talent of Black athletes. There has never been any written rule that precluded Blacks from playing. However, in 1887, all of the white owners met and decided to completely exclude Negroes from professional baseball. This decision was known as the “gentleman’s agreement.” White owners held tightly to this unwritten agreement for nearly 60 years. With no options left to play pro-ball with white players, Blacks had no choice but to start their own professional league.
Enter Andrew “Rube” Foster, an old-time trick pitcher who had a lot of success managing and playing for the Chicago American Giants. On February 20, 1920, Rube called together all of the Black owners in the Midwest and established an all-Negro baseball league. At that meeting, the owners set the rules for the newly created Negro National League and launched with eight teams.
The Players’ Reaction and Reality
In light of the fact that Blacks have been at the bottom of America’s racially stratified society, the recognition is nice, but also, the just thing to do. But my reaction to MLB’s recognition of Negro League players is aligned with Rev. Bill Greason, one of only four living players who played from 1920 to 1948. Rev. Bill Greason said boldly, “That’s good, but where’s the check?” That is also precisely how the approximately 130 living Negro League players feel who played up to 1960 and are now well into their 80s and 90s. That’s how my dad feels.
Negro League Player, W. James Cobbin
My father, W. James Cobbin (85), was offered a contract with two major league teams in 1955 — the Cincinnati Reds (then Redlegs) and the Pittsburgh Pirates. He remembers how horribly he was treated. Playing baseball with white players in segregated America was toxic, cruel, and inhumane. While the white players stayed at the hotel, he and another Black player had to stay with a Black family who would open their home. His contract did not explain this double standard. Players could not eat together, lodge together, enter public restrooms together, etc. It goes without saying that they were not paid the same salary.
Additionally, the emotional toll and toxic stress of being singled-out, taunted, and threatened every day was unfathomable. Because of his love for the game and his refusal to be mistreated especially when his skills were superior, Cobbin left Pittsburgh to play in the Negro Leagues from 1956 to 1958. Then, in 1958, Cobbin was drafted to the Army and played military baseball internationally with the Scorpions until he was released in 1960.
W. James Cobbin is featured in Negro League Baseball museums located in Kansas City, Dallas, and Birmingham, Alabama. He also appears in several books about the Negro League, is a sought-after speaker, and is often a celebrated guest at major league baseball games, throwing out the first ball. Moreover, Cobbin started a charity, Yesterday’s Negro League, to help struggling players cover medical expenses and other necessities. Below is a personal video of my dad throwing out the first ball at a Boston Red Sox baseball game — the last franchise to integrate in 1959.
Ultimately, Negro League Baseball is the story of unsung heroic athletes, like my dad, who overcame slave states, Jim Crow segregation, hatred, and meager salaries to do the one thing they loved to do more than anything else in the world — play baseball.
Meet W. James Cobbin on MLK Day
If you would like to meet living history, join us for an up close and personal conversation with W. James Cobbin, Negro League living legend on Monday, January 18, 2021, at 12:00 PM PT / 3:00 PM ET.
Click the link below to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/5016103033419/WN_ugSYDB_4QUuZNYywnmbaew