For indeed, baseball is America's game. It was invented here, flourished here, and has been exported all around the world. It is America's oldest and most important professional sport. It is supposed to reflect American values such as fairness, honesty, and democracy. As a national phenomenon, baseball has long served to mirror cultural currents and national attitudes. And from its inception, baseball's racial attitudes have mirrored those of society. To understand the history of race relations in "America's game" is to better understand the history of race in America. Baseball was not America's only game.

Following the rules and principles created by Alexander Joy Cartwright, the first official game of baseball was played on June 19, 1846; the upstart New York Nine soundly defeated the established Knicke

sharp increase in immigrants from Asian and Slavic and Mediterranean countries, and a resurgence of the philosophy and pseudo-science of white supremacy.

Integration in the minors reached its peak in the middle to late 1880s; by 1887 there had been more than a dozen different African-Americans on white teams. Most saw little playing time. Besides Bud Fowler (8 seasons) and Fleet Walker (7 seasons), only five other players enjoyed careers spanning four or more seasons in the nineteenth century: pitcher George Stovey (6), 2b Frank Grant (6), 3b Sol White (5), 1b Jack Frye (5) and outfielder Richard Johnson (4).

This hope was quickly dashed, however, when in 1867 the NABBP rejected the membership application of the Philadelphia Pythions, an all-black baseball club which in every respect--including rules of social position, gentility, and even the sumptuous post-game banquet!--was the equal of the Knickerbockers.

This was, perhaps, the first major disappointment which African-Americans were to suffer at the hands of baseball. Following that, no other African-American club or player tested the NABBP's color line, though there were matches between white and black clubs, the first of which was played in 1869 by the Pythions. The Pythians defeated the Philadelphia City Items, 27-17. Of those who dared

But the coming of Jim Crow was by no means inevitable. There is much historical evidence suggesting that the American system of apartheid--Afrikaner for "apartness"--need not ever have come into existence; but it did, and by the 1890s, America was two nations: one white, one black, separate but unequal. What the Civil War had ultimately failed to do, segregation had accomplished admirably. The Line is drawn

This process of integration goes on. Much, much slower, but marginal gains continue to be made. And again, baseball reflects where society is as a whole. Though roughly a quarter of all players in the league are African American, there has been only one black manager (Frank Robinson), and only one African American league president (Bill White). There has never been an African American club president, general manager, commissioner, or most importantly, owner. This, again, is a microcosm of the larger landscape. Although African Americans have broken ground in every major field of endeavor, and seem to be readily accepted in technical, professional, and middle-management positions, blacks in the upper echelons of business, government, and other national organizations are few and far between. So although baseball continues to be the "nation's pasttime", so does segregation. One can only hope that, one day, both game and country will each come to fully embrace the ideals for which!

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2357
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)