MBL stays segregated

birdboy2000

Banned
Unless this somehow butterflies the rest of the civil rights' movement, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would force integration, so that's the latest possible date. More likely it happens sometime during the 1950s, as the whole edifice of legal discrimination tumbles down -pro sports want big audiences, and even white northerners (and MLB is a northeastern/midwestern business at this time) are no longer nearly as tolerant as segregation as they had been.

Having major league baseball integrated in the late 1950s, around the time of OTL sit-ins, would have significant knock-on effects to the game's detriment, largely because the other pro sports were already integrated and it doesn't need this stigma. Consider the reputation the Red Sox under Yawkey developed OTL with regard to race relations and apply it to the whole league. (That said, if the PCL doesn't go along, or the Negro Leagues get real investors and start poaching white talent, you might see a significantly more crowded baseball landscape.)
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
Suppose, for whatever reason, Jackie Robinson is never drafted. Major League Baseball remains segregated. How long could that last? What does that do to the Negro Leagues? To integration of U.S. sport in general?

Does this mean another sport pioneers integration instead? Basketball, say? If so, who breaks the barrier?


About two months. Larry Doby came up with the Indians 5th of July of '47. After that the St. Louis Browns (today's Baltimore Orioles) brought Hank Thompson up on July 17th. The Dodgers had three black players by the end of 1948. Next year the Giants had two, making them the 4th team to integrate.

By 1958 there were 50% more blacks by percentage in the Majors than in the general population (17% to 11%).

Reality was that, once the barrier was broken, teams who wanted to compete had no choice but to integrate. If they didn't their opponents would simply get further and further ahead as they tapped both the African American talent pool and of the "darker" Latin American/Cuban players.
 
CalBear said:
once the barrier was broken
That's really the key point, tho, isn't it? It took Rickey & Robinson to break the barrier.

In fact, if it hadn't been Robinson, it might not have gone so smoothly. He took a lot of abuse, & didn't answer it. How many players would have put up with so much?

The other side of it, & not yet addressed, is, what happens in the Negro Leagues if the barrier holds a few years longer. Is their "sell by" date extended at all?

I should also say, I was fascinated by the prospect of a PCL integration first. Does this mean, if it happens, PCL could survive to be a "third major league"? Or is that foregone? If not, is there a prospect of the Giants/Dodgers moving to the West Coast & becoming PCL teams?:eek:
 
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