On July 20, 1883 the Toledo Mudhens had an exhibition game scheduled against the Chicago White Stockings. The 'hens were an upper-echelon minor league squad and the game was little more than a money maker for two teams in an industry always scraping for a few extra dollars. The Mudhens ended up winning the Northwestern League that year, and the White Stockings were led by their star and manager Cap Anson, but there was little reason to believe that history was in the making.

The Mudhens' catcher, a young black man named Fleetwood Walker, was injured and had been told by his manager to take a day off. Unaware of the injury Anson had arrived with a plan of his own, and informed Toledo manager Charlie Morton "If you want me to play, you'll have to get that nigger off the field."

Morton responded by inserting Fleet into the lineup. The game was delayed for an hour during which time Morton assured Anson that he wouldn't receive payment for refusing to play, and the game eventually went off without further incident.

The racist forces of separatist baseball had been beaten back, and when Toledo joined the American Association (the forerunner of the American League) as the Blue Stockings the following year Fleetwood Walker was one of the few players they retained.

On May 1, 1884 Fleet became the first black to play major league ball when he caught for Toledo against the Louisville Eclipse. The major league color barrier had been broken.

Unfortunately at the end of the season Toledo dropped from the league, and no other major league club sought Fleetwood's services. He continued in the highest ranks of the minor leagues, but the white supremacist perspective that would eventually lead to the "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson was on the land and even progressive whites were afraid of the inevitable backlash of hiring black players.

Cap Anson went on to be known as "Father of Apartheid Baseball," and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1939.

In baseball, of all games and industries, things should have been different. A game of the parks of New York until the Civil War, soldiers from the city spread it across the country in an outburst as far-flung as the war itself.

Moses Fleetwood Walker was born, the son of one of Ohio's first black doctors, on October 7, 1856. Many happy hours of his childhood were spent watching the Union soldiers play baseball in the fields. In his astute young mind baseball was surely intertwined with the promises of equality and opportunity that he grew to understand as his birthright.

In 1877 Fleet enrolled in Oberlin College, one of the first and most widely integrated colleges in the country. Oberlin had an outstanding tradition and the proud history of having served as a major stop on the Underground Railroad. Fleetwood and his brother Welday helped establish baseball as a varsity sport.

Amidst circumstances that are difficult to ascertain with particularity, Fleetwood left his beloved Oberlin and enrolled in law school at the University of Michigan in 1882. It is at least true that his girlfriend, Arabella Taylor, had become pregnant, that Oberlin had strict rules regulating student relationships, and that his relationship with Oberlin remained one of mutual respect.

At Michigan Fleetwood attended classes irregularly, but starred in baseball where he was wildly popular with the fans who came to call him "the wonder."

Leaving Michigan, as he had Oberlin, without a degree Fleetwood signed with the Toledo Mudhens to follow his heart's work. As in other industries, blacks had to be substantially more capable than their white counterparts to be considered for employment. Fleetwood Walker fit the bill, stared down Cap Anson (the most famous baseball figure of the 19th century), and followed Toledo into the majors.

Like other catchers of the day, Fleetwood played without a glove or protective gear. Fleet's spirit was tough, but he suffered injuries throughout the 1884 season that limited him to 152 at-bats in 42 games. When he played he excelled behind the plate, ran the bases aggressively, and hit a respectable .263 with some power. A foul tip broke one of his ribs in mid-July, effectively ending his season. Still, it was a dream come true and a vindication of his faith in the promise of equality in America.

While Fleet's positive attitude and smiling countenance led to his general acceptance, adverse reactions to his presence were frequent and growing with the tide of racism. Fleetwood was courageous and intelligent, but also contemplative and sensitive. Taunts from the fans in Louisville later in the season no doubt contributed to his commission of five errors.

Teammates were not all supportive. Star pitcher Tony Mullane later said that Fleet "...was the best catcher I ever worked with, but I disliked a Negro and whenever I had to pitch to him I used to pitch anything I wanted without looking at his signals."

The league included players who openly acknowledged playing halfheartedly behind black pitchers, and umpires that bragged of making calls against black ballplayers, and against the teams that employed them.

In September Fleet had already left the club, due to injuries, when a group of Richmond fans sent the Toledo manager a note promising to "mob Walker" and "much bloodshed" if Fleet were to take the field in uniform.

At the end of the season Toledo folded, and no other major league team was willing to take the social and business risks involved in signing Fleetwood Walker.

Fleetwood continued on as best as circumstances allowed, playing for various minor league teams over the years. In 1887 Fleetwood and the great George Washington Stovey established professional baseball's first all-black battery, for Newark of the International League.

Fleetwood's old nemesis Cap Anson came to town on July 14, 1887, riding a wave of success in his profession and the bigotry within it that he championed. Anson marched his men onto the field in military formation as was his custom, and demanded that the blacks not play. Newark complied, and later the same day league owners voted to refuse future contracts to black ballplayers, citing the "hazards" imposed by such athletes. The American Association and National League quickly followed suit, and the color curtain was in place for the next sixty years.

Like any revolutionary when the battle is lost, Fleet became moody and disillusioned. In 1888 in Toronto (where the previous year the crowd had chanted "Kill the Nigger" at Frank Grant) he greeted jeering fans with a loaded revolver and offered to "put a hole in someone." The following year injuries and politics took their final toll and Fleetwood Walker's baseball career was over.

Fleetwood, again accompanied by Welday, undertook a successful foray into the world of commerce, opening a hotel and then owning and managing several movie theaters, and finally an opera house. Fleet's creative approach resulted in his patenting several inventions having to do with motion picture cameras and industry.

But the bigotry that had greeted Fleetwood at every turn refused to be shaken. A handsome, proud, intelligent black man looked like a target to too many, and in April, 1891 Fleetwood was accosted by an angry group of whites as he walked home from a bar. True to form Fleetwood refused to back down and in the ensuing struggle one of the mob was fatally stabbed in the groin.

After pleading self-defense to second degree murder charges, Fleetwood was acquitted at trial, leading Sporting Life to report that "immediately a shout of approval, accompanied by clapping of hands and stamping of feet, rose from the spectators"

After standing trial for defending himself Fleetwood's perception of integration had come full circle. He launched a newspaper, The Equator, in which he expounded on his feelings of alienation.

In 1908 he published "Our Home Colony," a volume setting forth his conclusions. "The only practical and permanent solution of the present and future race troubles in the United States is entire separation by Emigration of the Negro from America," he wrote, "Even forced Emigration would be better for all than the continued present relations of the races."

Moses Fleetwood Walker died disillusioned and uncertain of his accomplishments, in 1924 at the age of 67.

Comparisons with Jackie Robinson are inevitable. Jackie eventually won the revolution that Fleetwood temporarily lost, but Robinson enjoyed a strong patron in Branch Rickey while Fleetwood fought his battles alone.

Fleetwood Walker was not as great a catcher as Roy Campanella or Johnny Bench. He was not Rookie of the Year or Most Valuable Player, and he has never received a single vote for the Hall of Fame. He did not accomplish the impossible goals that he set for himself.

But he was a courageous man that stayed true on a hazardous course, a creative thinker, an excellent athlete, and a gentleman who didn't back down. The recognition of Fleetwood's accomplishments by baseball historians has been nearly as limited as the acceptance he gained during his own time.

Fleetwood Walker deserves better.

a condensed version of this story originally appeared in American Legacy

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