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Date
2025
Abstract
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Black athletes were barred from playing baseball in the major and minor leagues, as well as other teams of white players, with relatively few exceptions. Research on baseball’s color line has primarily focused on organized baseball (the major and minor leagues). The nine essays in this monograph are an introductory exploration of integrated baseball in California at various levels, from amateur to professional teams. The first six essays are biographies of seven Black ballplayers who played on predominantly white teams engaged in intercity competition for multiple years from 1886 to 1909. The seventh essay presents information about Black umpires in the state who officiated games involving one or two white teams. The eighth essay is the story of William Carroll and the Trilbys of Los Angeles, a prominent Black baseball club at the turn of the century. The final essay examines possible patterns associated with where and when the integrated teams played in California, supplemented by descriptions of the experiences of three Black soldiers of the 24th and 25th US Infantries who integrated teams west of the Rocky Mountains after their discharges from the army. This essay was originally published in 2023 and has undergone revisions and corrections for its release in 2025 as part of the five-volume anthology Peeking through the Knothole. The open-access, digital version of this essay is available through the “Download” button on this webpage. The print-on-demand version is available through the “Buy this Book” button for volume three of the anthology (Essays on Crossing Baseball’s Color Line, 1874–1946).
Keywords
baseball history, integrated baseball, segregated baseball, color line, town team, minor league, California baseball, Montana baseball, Utah baseball, Washington baseball, Horace Wilds, Eddie Smith, Charles Overton, Robert Booker, Philip Churchill, Albert Churchill, Happy Churchill, Eugene Hinds, Gene Hinds, William Carroll, Isaac Ward, Samuel Freeman, Los Angeles Trilbys, California League, Pacific Coast League.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
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© The Author(s)
Recommended Citation
Eberle, Mark E., "Black Pioneers of Integrated Baseball in California, Revised" (2025). Monographs. 34.
DOI: 10.58809/ZVRB3611
Available at:
https://scholars.fhsu.edu/all_monographs/34
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For questions contact ScholarsRepository@fhsu.edu
Originally Published 2023
Revised Edition 2025