Who was the first professional black baseball player?

Answer 1

Charles Follis, a.k.a "The Black Cyclone," (ca. 1879-1910) signed a contract to play football for money on September 16, 1904, becoming the sport's first black professional. In 1899, Follis helped organize the varsity football team at his high school in Wooster, Ohio. He was elected captain by his white schoolmates, and he led them to an undefeated season. After graduation, Follis played with an amateur Wooster team before being lured to the Shelby Blues of the American Professional Football Association. Injury ended Follis' football career a couple of years later. He played professional Baseball for a while. In 1910, Follis died of pneumonia. He was 31. Reference: Akron Beacon Journal,"Wooster man was first black in pro football" - Sept. 16, 2003

Answer 2

If you mean Major League Baseball, that would be Jackie Robinson with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

Prior to that, there were the Negro Leagues which had teams for amateurs (going back through the 1800's) and professionals (from the 1880's).

Answer 3

Moses Fleetwood Walker played on an integrated major league team, the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association, in 1884. Over the next few years, about a dozen blacks played minor league ball. A ban on racially integrated teams -- sometimes explicit, sometimes unofficial -- began about 1890.

The first black player in the MLB after that was Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers(now the Los Angeles Dodgers).

Answer 4

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Charles Follis Led Early Black Pioneers in Pro Football

Although he is recognized today as the first professional football player,

William (Pudge) Heffelfinger's pro debut in 1892 wasn't exactly headline

news. In fact, his acceptance of $500 to play a single game for the

Allegheny Athletic Association wasn't reported - no doubt they didn't

know about it - by the local press. Evidence of Heffelfinger's "first"

came some 80 years later when Pro Football Hall of Fame officials

discovered the AAA's accounting ledger with its notation of payment

to the yale All-America. The now historic document can be seen

at the pro football museum in Canton, Ohio, in a display

commemorating the birth of professional football.

Answer 5

The first black man to play in the NBA is Charles Henry Cooper who was known as Chuck Cooper. He played for the Boston Celtics.

Answer 6

In the US it was Moses Walker, a catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association in 1884.

Answer 7

The first black pro athlete was Bill Richmond. He was a boxer and began in 1777.

Answer 8

The first African American to play in the MLB was Jackie Robinson.

Answer 9

Michael Jordan