Moses Walker Broke Baseball's Barrier

The first openly Black man to play in baseball's major leagues was Moses Fleetwood Walker, who debuted as a catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings on May 1, 1884, 63 years before Jackie Robinson broke the modern color barrier. Walker endured widespread racism and played 42 games that season before injuries led to his release, although he continued playing in the minor leagues until 1889. After baseball, he became an inventor, postal worker, hotel owner, opera house manager, newspaper editor, and author of the 1908 race-theory book Our Home Colony. William Edward White had appeared in one major-league game in 1879, but because he passed and identified as white, historians generally recognize Walker as the first openly Black major leaguer.

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