African American Umpires in the Negro Leagues

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Nowadays people have different kinds of talents that they can exploit so that they can earn a living and be useful members of society. The sports industry is one of the sectors in the economy that can be used to help young people utilize their talents. There are various types’ games that can be played in the sporting industry for example the baseball game. A baseball game is played with a bat and a ball. The two teams with nine players are involved in the game, each teams take turns to hit the bat so as to make a score. It was in the past regarded as a recreational activity, but later on became a commercial activity whereby the participants would be rewarded after they won their games.

Main body

Umpires refers to the people who are charged with the responsibility of taking up calls and interpreting the rules of any organized baseball game.In each major league that is played not less than four umpires should be involved. The four umpires are stationed at each base that is; home plate, first, second and third bases while minor leagues have fewer umpires.

The major league team is composed of smaller leagues that are known as minor leagues. The roles of the minor leaguers are to develop and to prepare the young players to participant in big leagues and to ensure that they carry out local businesses successful. The major league is composed of three minor leagues that are referred to as Rookie team, Class A, Class AA (Double A), Class AAA (Triple A).

The Rookie level is mostly composed of young players that have been out of high school or college and have an average of nineteen years. Class A is a level that is above Rookie level and its major league teams are: Devil Rays that have both class A and advanced class A clubs that are more experienced and have players who are twenty three years old and may move from that position to the major level directly.

It’s composed of the former major leaguers who may be temporarily recovering from an injury or who could be working out a problem that is related to performance before going back to the club to participate in any event. Class AAA (Triple A) is the major league that has its quality of baseball players who have been very close to what is seen as the major league game. There are instances where some baseball stars that have signed contracts go through directly to become majors instead of going through the major steps of becoming a major from a minor level.

History of umpires in Negro leagues

The Negro leagues were American professional baseball league that consisted of the African-American teams. It was formed in the year 1885, later on it renamed as the Cuban Giants since they were in a position to win several events.It was among the most successful black businesses in the United States of America during the twentieth century.Its players had the following characteristics: great athletic skill, shrewd marketing skill, and professional spirit that were similar to those of the white major league counterpart. These characteristics enabled its players to be successful in all the events that they participated in.

Robert Motley one of the first African –American umpires attended the Alsomers umpire school in Daytona Beach Florida where after his training he was honored as the one of the best and outstanding outstanding umpires. During his second year of training he was considered to be best student that he was given an award. Due to his outstanding performance he became the umpire of Pacific Coast league and Chief umpire of the college World Series in Omaha Nebraska. He worked as an umpire for over 50 years in legends such as satchel Paige, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Willie Mays and he is the only Negro baseball umpire who is alive today.

National Colored Base ball league was another active league, but in two weeks time it had collapsed due to lack of spectators who would motivate the players to continue playing the game and also its management did not have the finances to run the operations of the company. By 1951 the African- American team was considered to be successful as people became more interested in the baseball game than anything else.

The African –American players played with the white athletes on the major and minor leagues that were held at the end of the civil war. The National Association of the Baseball was another baseball association that had players who had been denied the chance of been members of the African –American club, but later on the management of the club changed their mind and allowed them to become part of members of the company. African-American players became active participants of the white and the minor league teams hence led to the success of the companies.

During the periods 1941-1946 there was massive industrial expansion that came as a result of Second World War. It was noted that the white labor force began to decrease this is because; the African –American club seemed to offer better job opportunities and economic gains for its players. The players were been given higher salaries as compared to their counterparts that were in the top level minor leagues that were in the organized baseball teams.

Even though the black players appreciated the fact that they were successful they faced some challenges such as difficulty in obtaining gasoline as they tried to run the buses but in vain. A communist party was formed so that it would address the problems that were affecting the performance of the company such as racialism as it denied most of the players the chance of participating in most events in the club. Other factors that affected the activities of the baseball game team to halt were; disunity, indecisiciveness, false optiminism of the black owners, together with apathy of the white club owners and officials.

Negro American League players faced many difficulties such as inadequate income for the members club members, poor umpiring , quarreled amongst them, there were erratic scheduling and the team members did not cooperate with their officials so as to ensure that the goal and objectives of the company would be carried out effectively. The black players were later on harassed, discriminated against due to their color and place of origin as they played their games.Some of the players did not mind about the harassment, but they continued with their activities so as to accomplish the objectives and goals they had set for themselves.

Jackie Robinson was later recognized as the first African-American player in the major baseball league and this raised interest amongst other people in the baseball game such as: John. Bud Fowler who was nominated as the member of the Stillwater Minnesota club that was in the Northern western league. He was the second player to join in the Africa-American league club. He was hard working player such that the white officials became interested in what he was doing as a player of the baseball team. He continued with his activities of participating in the leagues until the 19^th century when he became the member of the minor leagues club of the organized baseballs.

Another prominent player was Moses “Fleet Wood “Walker who began his career in the Toledo Club in the North western league. In the year 1884 Toledo club joined the American Association where Walker was recognized as the first black to play in the major league. Later in 1886 Walker and Fowler participated in the white minor leagues together black players George Storey and Frank Grant who were black players and had participated in the outlawed leagues and in the independent barnstorming clubs.

The black players that were in the North and Midwest league tolerated the harsh conditions that were eminent at that time that of racial discrimination and been separated from the rest of the players. After 1890 the black were banned from participating in the International leagues for a period of fifty-five years.This problem did not affect some of the players as they continued to participate in leagues that were not recognized, but after a few years no team accepted any black player into their organized baseball teams, this was as a result of racial discrimination that was taking place in that country.

It was reported that Fowler, Walter, Grant and other players were working out some strategies that were meant to ensure that the activities of baseball continued as was required of them. On the other hand the black umpires expanded their operations such that they had over 200 all-black independent teams that played their games in that country as from 1880s(Lanctot, 2004).

In the early 1900s the black baseball started to flourish in the American Heartland and the Southern part of America. The black clubs started to thrive in the early 20^th century and their members were Chicago Giants, Indianapolis, Cuban x, Giants and Kansas City Monarchs.

The Black baseball teams became attractive entertainment sports at the end of the World War II.Andrew “Rube “Foster” of Chicago American Giants and other influential black baseball players decided to form an organized and stable Negro league, it was established in the year 1920 in Kansas City. Chicago American Giants, Chicago Giants, St Louis Giants clubs were the team members. The Eastern Colored League was later formed and was comprised of teams such as Hillsdale Club, Cuban Stars (East) Brooklyn Royal Giants, Bacharach Giants and Baltimore Black sox.

The Negro National League continued with its operations until 1920 when it experienced problems such as the Great depression and dissolution that occurred in 1931.The second Negro national League to be established after was headed by Greenlee who was a bar owner, it started its operations in 1933 to 1949.The new Negro American League was first launched in 1937 and it comprised of members who were very active as they came from clubs that were in the South and Midwest of America. It began to compete with the players of the Greenlee Negro national league until it was disbanded in the year 1949.

Even though the country faced many challenges such as depression, racial discrimination and social disadvantages it remained stable despite its shortcomings. Gus Gleenee formed another Negro National league in the year 1933; his mission was to form a powerful baseball team in America. In the year 1935 Crawford was formed but it was outperformed by Cumberland Posey’s Homestead that scored 9 consecutive Negro National League titles against Crawford during the mid-1940s leagues. Baseball game continued to be the most popular, attractive and money making sport in that country (Lanctot, 2004).

During the World War II political unrest arose as its citizens demanded to have social justice implemented within the country. Racial discrimination became eminent for both the African-American players. It was observed that the African-American wanted to have equal rights as the Americans and this led to conflicts of interests. The blacks had performed equally well in most of the events such as the East-West Classic and countless games and other major league therefore they demanded to treated equally as the Americans.

The first time when racial discrimination was observed was when Jackie Robinson signed a contract with the Dodgers Association manager Mr. Branch Rickey. He later on joined parent club that was used to advice the dodgers on how one would be successful in the events that they participated in, after which he was awarded the National League’s Rookie of the year honours.After Robinson succeeded in his activities he attracted other players into his club and by 1952 there were 150 black players in the organized baseball and the best performers were invited to become members of other teams such as the minors and the majors team.

After a duration of four years it was noted that members of Negro National team began to disappear as the dodgers learnt new techniques of performing activities within an organization thus the best performing players went away to search for better job opportunities that were paying better. After the departure of the most talented players, the club experienced financial difficulties and the performance of the club started to decline that later on led to the closure of the business.

During the World War II, many Negro League stars spent more seasons fighting in the overseas. White majors could easily be recognized and Negro Leagues reached their highest plateau. During this period Black Americans were earning enough more from the war industries and they could therefore afford to attend the league matches in every city. Their businesses thrived such that Abe Super stain started a new circuit, Negro Midwest league a minor league that was similar to the Negro Southern league.

In 1942 the Negro League World Series was received and pitted winners of Eastern Negro National league and Mid Western Negro American National league and their activities continued up to later in the year 1948 with Negro National League winning four championships against three of the Negro American league (NAL). Once again they proved that the African –American could perform well in the game and became champions.They also demanded for an undisputable moral chain that would help them have equal opportunities in that country as their fellow Americans. The stars of Black Baseball proved to their opponents they were experienced in performing the game as was required of them (Korr, 2002).

It was noted that the black professionals clubs had established an all-organized baseball in the year 1879, although it did not allow its players to participant in the game in form of contracts. Therefore the black professionals moved from one club to another so that they could search for clubs that offered them the best services that they needed. Some of the players from the North American Leagues went to other foreign countries such as Mexico and Caribbean countries as they were been promised better terms of payment as compared to the Negro American Leagues that did not meet the needs of their members fully (Lanctot, 2004).

The Negro Leagues ended when some proposals were enacted so as to have the league be an organized baseball or departmental league for the black players but it was not recognized due to its goal of full intergration.Many of the players signed for the major league Baseball team and later signed the minor league contracts but due to frustrations they moved from one bush league to another although they were successful at that level.

The Negro National League ended in 1948 when the Gray ceased the barnstorming activity that was taking place in that country. It was the only major league that was operating at the time. After four years, the team started to record declined performances and therefore they could not attract new players in the game since they had grown to be too old to attract the attention of the major league players and scouts and this led to their departure.

The talented black team officials and players left the teams and the attendance of the spectators declined and the revenue that they collected eventually went down. The Negro National League was later disbanded in the 1949 period as it no longer became a viable commercial enterprise; it was not generating revenue as expected.Even though the Negro American League was in operation throughout 1950s most of its players had left the team. Within a period of two years, they had been reduced to a minor league calibers and it played the last game in 1958. Its appeal declined and the year 1962 it operations had closed down.

Negro National league was officially closed down in the year 1960 season and it no longer became a commercial entity as it was before. Even though there were some players in the team as at 1950s its fame had already disappeared and the fans sought other places where they could view the baseball game.

Conclusion

It is important for the management of organizations to consistently pay and train its players to carry out the activities of the organization. This is because the trained personnel are the ones who can be in a position to lead the organization in the future. For instance the Negro National League collapsed due to having inadequate and under trained staff who could perform in the future. The members of the club who were there were too old to perform in the premier leagues therefore the club did not have people who could in the future play for the team leading to spectators losing interest in their games. Sporting industries should make sure that they have qualified personnel who can perform in the field so that they can make the organization achieve its goals and objective and enhance its continuity in the future.

References

Lanctot, Neil.Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution. By Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, xi + 496 pp. Index, notes.

Photographs, tables. Cloth, $34.95. ISBN: 0-812-23807-9..2004 By Charles C. Alexande. Web.

Korr, Charles, P. The End of Baseball as We Knew It: the Players Union, 1960-81. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2002.

McKinley, Richard, G. For its One, Two, Three, Four Strikes You’re Out at the Owners’ Ball Game: Players versus Management in Baseball. McFarland & Co. , 2001 Robert C. Motley Nickname: Bob Career: 1947-1958.

Position: chief umpire in Negro Leagues Teams: East-West All Star Game Umpire Born: 1923, Dayton, Ohio. Web.

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