The Forgotten Generation

An adaptation from The Black Stars Who Made Baseball Whole,
updated for the 2006 Hall of Fame Negro League selections

The forgotten generation of black players are those who immediately followed in Jackie Robinson's footsteps. The group includes Minnie Minoso, Sam Jones, Luke Easter, Sam Jethroe, Gene Baker, Vic Power, George Crowe, Brooks Lawrence, and Elston Howard, among others. These outstanding talents never received the recognition they deserved because much of their prime was spent in Negro ball and/or the minor leagues waiting for their chance. Yet despite getting late starts in the majors due to the color of their skin, they compiled impressive records when finally given an opportunity and helped pave the way for future generations of black major leaguers. These men helped to widen the breach in the color barrier and break down the remaining obstacles to make sure it would never be rebuilt. Their accomplishments in the big leagues only provided a glimpse of how good they were in their prime and merely hint at the heights they might have attained under more equitable circumstances.

Now, more than a half century after that momentous event, the perception exists that the walls came tumbling down when Robinson broke baseball's color barrier - that all at once the obstacle was gone. But the reality is that long after Robinson's historic debut, much of organized baseball continued to resist the intrusion of "coloreds." Jackie breached the racial barrier, but portions of it remained in place for years afterward, impeding the climb of hundreds of talented black players to the pinnacle of baseball success in the major leagues. Six years after Robinson broke in, only six of the sixteen teams that comprised the major leagues at that time had allowed a black player to don their uniform. By the time Jackie's spectacular 10-year big league career came to a close after the 1956 season, black players had won the Most Valuable Player Award six times and the Rookie of the Year Award seven times. In 1956, the Cy Young Award for pitching excellence was introduced and the first winner was a black pitcher. Black hitters had led the league in batting, home runs, runs batted in, and stolen bases, Black pitchers had led in wins and strikeouts, and a black man had hurled a no-hitter. Yet, there were still three major league teams who just hadn't been able to find a black player who was good enough to grace their lineup card. In fact, it would be more than twelve years after Robinson's debut before the last holdout, the Boston Red Sox, would promote a black player to their major league roster.

So far 24 black players have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, based solely or at least primarily on their accomplishments in the major leagues.

In 1971, the Hall of Fame opened its doors to former Negro Leaguers and enshrined nine former blackball stars in seven years. This first group consisted of Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Monte Irvin, "Cool Papa" Bell, Judy Johnson, Oscar Charleston, Martin DiHigo, and Pop Loyd. From 1978 through 1994 the only additions to the roll were Rube Foster (1981) and Ray Dandridge (1987).

Subsequently, a wave of Negro League nostalgia resulted in many other old stars receiving belated recognition for their accomplishments. Scores of books, articles, and documentaries have been written about the Negro Leagues, a Negro League museum has been established in Kansas City, and Negro League memorabilia have become hot selling items. Between 1995 and 2001, Leon Day, Bill Foster, Willie Wells, Bullet Joe Rogan, Joe Williams, Turkey Stearnes, and Hilton Smith were admitted to the Hall before the Negro League Committee was disbanded and it's responsibilities absorbed by the Veterans Committee.

No additional Negro league players were inducted until February 2006 when a committee of Negro League historians tapped 18 more legends of black baseball (13 players and 5 administrators) through a special selection process.

However, the generation of players whose careers were split between Negro baseball and the majors has been largely ignored. Six of the black Hall of Famers who were selected for their major league service began their careers in the Negro Leagues, Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, Roy Campanella, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, and Hank Aaron. But five of them, Robinson, Doby, Mays, Banks, and Aaron, spent a combined total of fewer than 10 years in the Negro Leagues. Of the 18 Negro leaguers honored before 2006, only Satchel Paige and Monte Irvin played in the major leagues. Of the 13 new nominees, Willard Brown is the only one who made an appearance in the majors. Paige entered organized baseball as a 42-year-old Negro League legend while Brown received a brief big league trial as a 36-year-old rookie. Campanella (10 years with the Dodgers and nine in the Negro leagues) and Irvin (eight years with the Giants and Cubs and 10 years in the Negro leagues) are the only Hall of Famers whose spent significant portions of their careers in both the major leagues and the Negro leagues.

This oversight is starkly evidenced by the following table which shows that Campanella and Doby are the only two of the 55 black players (both Negro and major leaguers) now in the Hall of Fame who were born in the 1920s. In comparison 11 black Hall of Famers were born in the 1930s, seven from 1910-1919, and 10 from 1900-1909.

It's time for the accomplishments of this under-appreciated generation of black major leaguers to be brought to the attention of modern baseball fans and remembered by longtime fans. A good start would be the selection of Minnie Minoso to the Hall of Fame - while he's still alive to appreciate the honor.

Birth Dates of Black Hall of Famers

Selected by general election of Veterans Committee

Selected by special Negro League Committee

Links to other related articles:
Minnie Minoso for the Hall of Fame
Minoso's Age