A History of Negro Leaguers in the Baseball Hall of Fame
October 15, 2024
The path to baseball immortality runs through the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, which opened in 1939 to revive the struggling town and honor the home of the sport's accepted inventor, Abner Doubleday. For a former player, manager, or executive, election to the Hall of Fame rests on the shoulders of the Baseball Writers Association of America. The initial class of inductees included titans such as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Honus Wagner. While the Brooklyn Dodgers' signing of Jackie Robinson in 1957 signaled a turning point towards integration for Major League Baseball, the Hall of Fame walked a much slower path to acknowledging African American ballplayers. Baseball may be America's pastime, but its history is often as enigmatic as the country itself, as poignantly highlighted by Society of American Baseball Research member and writer White. He deftly portrays how key owners and commissioners colluded with intolerant writers in delaying the integration of baseball and the Hall of Fame, and in marginalizing the accomplishments of the talented players of the Negro Leagues.
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