Racial Integration in Major League Baseball Professional American sports were segregated in the first part of the 20th century preventing black athletes from competing with white athletes. In baseball, there were “Negro” leagues for non-white players. Racial integration in Major League Baseball brought morals, ethics, and game performance to the league. Morals are relating to or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct. Everyone should have good morals and treat their fellow man with respect. This did not apply to the game of baseball. Although slavery had been abolished, the term “color line” was used as a reference to the racial segregation that still existed in the United States. Major league baseball used a color line to exclude players that were African American from both the majors and the minors. This racial segregation in professional baseball was sometimes known as a gentlemen’s agreement. An understanding of sorts, since there was nothing in writing, that an athlete of color be excluded from participating in major league baseball. The baseball commissioner from 1921-1944 was Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who was determined to allow segregation to continue in baseball. His death in 1944 …show more content…
African-American athletes could see a move closer to equality; they saw a possibility of being treated like white athletes. Teams realized that they needed to sign the best players, regardless of color, in order to be competitive. Within a decade of Robinson’s historic role, all but one major league team listed African-Americans on their rosters. African-American fans felt that race restrictions could be lifted. The inclusion of a black athlete in an all-white sport made equality seem attainable. (Suggs). At the end of World War II, black veterans demanded an end to segregated baseball. Black newspapers were publishing articles that challenged the owners and