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Date
4-24-2025
Abstract
In addition to Moses Fleetwood Walker, Welday (Weldy) Walker, John “Bud” Fowler, and Grant “Home Run” Johnson, other Black baseball players were members of integrated teams involved in intercity competition in Ohio during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when racial segregation was widespread. The experiences of four of these players are described. James Chavous was a native of Marysville who pitched for Marysville and several other teams, including the Page Fence Giants. In 1904, an injury to his hand limited his role on the diamond to serving as an umpire, primarily in games between white teams. Edward Webster “Webb” Harrison also played for Marysville and other teams before moving to Lima, where he eventually became a police officer. William Fountain (Fountaine) and his younger brothers, Fred and Andrew, also played for teams in their hometown of Lima. Charles Follis was a native of Wooster and is primarily remembered as the first Black professional football player. He also played for baseball teams in Wooster and several other cities, as well as Wooster University, before moving to Cleveland and later joining the Cuban Giants of New York. Their stories contribute to the growing knowledge of the early history of integrated baseball. 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
James Chavous, Webb Harrison, William Fountain, Fred Fountain, William Fountaine, Fred Fountaine, Charles Follis, Branch Rickey, baseball history, integrated baseball, segregated baseball, Ohio baseball, Marysville baseball, Marion baseball, Lima baseball, Wooster baseball, Loudonville baseball, Cleveland baseball, Page Fence Giants, Cuban Giants, Walk-Overs
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., "Integrated Baseball in Ohio, 1891–1907: Chavous, Harrison, Fountain, and Follis, Revised" (2025). Monographs. 37.
DOI: 10.58809/NLBE2842
Available at:
https://scholars.fhsu.edu/all_monographs/37
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For questions contact ScholarsRepository@fhsu.edu
Originally Published 2023
Revised Edition 2025