When pitching in the Negro Leagues, he filled ballparks with white and black fans, proving that baseball fans only cared about the quality of the player and not about the color of his skin.

The rise of organized baseball after the Civil War led to early attempts to segregate the sport. The National Association of Amateur Base Ball Players rejected African-American membership in 1867, and in 1876,

owners of the professional National League adopted a "gentleman's agreement" to keep blacks out. Subsequent African.