Bud Fowler Deserves His Own Thread

[kcmets]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/06/sports/baseball/bud-fowler-hall-of-fame.htmlHe Was a Black Star 60 Years Before Jackie. Now He's a Hall of Famer.



Elected by the Hall's Early Days committee, Bud Fowler was a pioneer who played organized professional baseball against white players as early as 1878.



-- New York Times 12/06/2021

[kcmets]

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bud-fowler/SABR Baseball Biography Project

- Bud Fowler

- By Brian McKenna

[G-Fafif]

Thank you for this thread and posting the SABR link. Fowler's is a story I appreciate learning.

[Edgy MD]

I've only read part of it. Salute to McKenna who always provides SABR with deeply researched stories.

[MFS62]

"Only the Ball Was White", Robert W. Peterson's history of the Negro Leagues devotes a few pages to Fowler.



Here's an excerpt he quotes from The Sporting Life in 1885 when Fowler was 31 years old:

December 30: Fowler, the crack colored second baseman, is still in Denver, Colo., disengaged. The poor fellow's skin is against him. With his splendid abilities he would long ago have been on some good club had his skin color been white instead of black. Those who know say there is no better second baseman in the country; he is besides a good batter and fine base-runner.

Later