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As it first flowed from its origin, the river of baseball history diverged at one point and formed a separate branch that paralleled the mainstream for a half-century, until finally the waters were rejoined, making the river whole again.
During this separation, baseball was not complete. The majority of Americans rode with the flow of the mainstream, following its course intently, with only an occasional excursion to see the flow of the parallel stream.
Thus, for a half-century, white Americans sat watching major league baseball, only vaguely aware of the shadowy world of black baseball that existed beyond the scope of their vision. To most white baseball observors, black ballplayers were as unreal as the shadows on Plato's wall. In this world of reflected images there existed exceptionally talented players whose ability was unsurpassed anywhere.
Best known to today's baseball world are Hall of Famers Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. But as Satchel himself said, "There were many Satchels, many Joshs." And indeed their were. There in the shadows of black baseball were the players who were yesteryear's equivalent of Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Lou Brock, Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds, David Justice, Cecil Fielder, Reggie Sanders, Ken Griffey, Jr., Frank Thomas, Ron Gant, Deion Sanders, Albert Bell, Ricky Henderson and so many others. The list is endless.
Try to imagine post World War II baseball without the black baseball stars. Visualize if you will baseball today without the black stars to complement the white stars. Obviously all great black baseball players were not born after 1946 when Jackie Robinson re-integrated baseball. They were always there, required by custom and circumstance to play in their own separate leagues.
This period of separation is remote from the memory of the majority of the current populace. Today's younger generation, as well as most of the older generation now, do not fully understand the sociological factors which prohibited black and white baseball players from engaging in competition together. Consequently, they know and understand even less about the men who were destined to demonstrate their abilities to a comparatively small segment of American society. And who were these men who displayed their talent in virtual obscurity?
During the half-century of dual baseball development, over 4,000 men displayed their talents in the arenas of black baseball, of which almost half were of major league caliber. Half again of these possessed sufficient skills to have been first-line players in the major leagues, and only slightly less than half would have won stardom. And finally, approximately one-tenth of these stars shone with such magnificence as to have merited selection to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Extrapolating the past from the present, if the black leagues and the white leagues had been merged into the current 28-team configuration, an average black team during this period of separation would have had 14 players on their roster who possessed major league talent. Seven of the first nine could have won starting positions in the major leagues, with the top three players being "stars." For any given year, two out of every three teams would have a player in their line-up with Hall of Fame qualifications. By inherent necessity, the better teams would have exceeded these constraints, while lesser teams would have failed to meet these parameters.
Still, the greats and the near-greats and the not-so-greats were there, unnoticed by the vast majority of America, until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the 1940's and opened the game of Major League Baseball to all men, regardless of the color of their skin.
Adapted from The All-Time All Stars of Black Baseball by James A. Riley, copyright 1983 by TK Publishers. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from the publisher.
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