Baseball Color Line - Professional Baseball Firsts

Professional Baseball Firsts

• player, professional: Bud Fowler, 1878. Fowler never played in the major leagues.
• player, major leagues: Moses Fleetwood Walker, debut game May 1, 1884, catcher for Toledo at Louisville
• all-black team, openly professional: Cuban Giants, 1885
• first professional league in the U.S. to be integrated: California Winter League, 1910
• all-black team in a minor league:
• pitcher, major leagues: Dan Bankhead, debut game August 26, 1947, for Brooklyn at home
• All-Star selection: Roy Campanella, Larry Doby, Don Newcombe, Jackie Robinson, 1949
• Most Valuable Player, major leagues: Jackie Robinson, 1949
• field manager, level AAA: Héctor López, 1969
• nine-man lineup, major leagues: Pittsburgh Pirates, 1971
• field manager, major leagues: Frank Robinson, debut game April 8, 1975, for Cleveland at home *
• general manager, major leagues: Bill Lucas, 1976
• First World Series winning field manager: Cito Gaston 1992 with the Toronto Blue Jays. He repeated the next season.
• First National League field manager to manage a World Series: Dusty Baker 2002 with the San Francisco Giants.

* A case has been made for Ernie Banks as the de facto first black manager in the major leagues. On May 8, 1973, Chicago Cubs manager Whitey Lockman was ejected from the game. Coach Ernie Banks filled in as manager for two innings of the 12-inning 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres. The Sporting News Official Baseball Guide prior to the 1974 season stated flatly that on May 8, "Ernie Banks became the major leagues' first black manager, but only for a day" (page 129). The other two regular coaches on the team were absent that day, opening this door for Banks for the one occasion, but Banks never became a manager on a permanent basis.