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Ohio House Resolution To Honor First Black Pro Baseball Player

mlb.com

The Ohio House has passed a bill that honors the legacy of the first professional African American baseball player. 

In 1883 Ohio native Moses Fleetwood Walker, who played baseball for Oberlin college and was recruited by the University of Michigan, signed  a contract with the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association.  He later played in Chicago and Syracuse, New York, but his pro career was cut short in 1889, when the American Association and the National League unofficially banned African American players, a ban that stood until Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers' minor league team in Montreal in 1946. Robinson broke the major league color barrier with Brooklyn a year later. The Ohio House resolution, sponsored by Canton Democrat Stephen Slesnick, would designate October 7th as "Moses Fleetwood Walker Day" in Ohio.  The bill now goes to the Ohio Senate for consideration.
 

A native of Chicago, naturalized citizen of Cincinnati and resident of Columbus, Alison attended Earlham College and the Ohio State University. She has equal passion for Midwest history, hockey and Slavic poetry.
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