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WZZM 13 ONLINE
GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) -- Now that the superbowl is over many will be turning their attention to our national pastime, baseball. This year will mark 65 years since the sport became racially integrated and there are men in West Michigan who helped pave the way for that to happen.
The pre-civil rights, Jim Crow, era was a time filled with much turmoil. Former Grand Rapids, educator Johnny Walker, remembers it as a heartbreaking thing at the time, but says "that is what it was." However, it was also a time full of triumph..
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier on in baseball in 194, becoming the first african-american to play major league baseball. But before that, so many other men, who were shut out of the game started a league of their own.
"Black players had been excluded from major league baseball going back to the 1880's and so formed their own leagues and had considerable success throughout the early 20th century," says Alex Forist, a curator at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.
There were several Negro Baseball Leagues in West Michigan but perhaps the most popular, and successful, was the Grand Rapids Black Sox.
"These guys were ball players," said Walker.
The semi pro team was around in the in the late 40's to early 60's under a manager, a man name Ted Raspberry. The Black Sox attained considerable success and turned out good size crowds. 70-year old Walker not only got to witness it, but also played for the team in the late 50's.
"I started playing with the Black Sox when I was in high school," said Walker who later went on to play for the Detroit Stars and Kansas City Monarchs.
He says West Michigan was full of players who had talent even if they lacked opportunity.
We had players that could play in the Major League back in those days but knowing the situation, and what it was, we just accepted it. We wanted to play so we went on and played," said Walker.
"It was by no means a glamorous life. Riding the buses from town to town, playing 2 sometimes 3 games in a day and then sleeping on the bus on the way back home. So it was definitely a labor of love it wasn't something they did for the money," said Forist.
The Grand Rapids Museum has an archive collection from a 2003 exhibit called "Leagues of Their Own" that The Negro League and the All American Professional Girls Baseball League.
Forist says these pioneers made an indelible mark on the game despite getting little recognition.
"It has been a lot of work for people who study baseball history and people who vote on things like the hall of fame. They go back and they love to compare players. Compare Babe Ruth to Josh Gibson or something like that and try to see who would have been better had they ever played against each other," said Forist. "It is really interesting to think that for 50 years or more some of the best players in the country were not allowed to play in the major leagues."
But Walker, says the Negro League was less about winning fanfare, and more about creating pride. Pride that carries on to this day.
"It is pride and it is giving you some identity. I don't think kids look in to the history we have around them," said Walker. "It is something you can't pay for. It was something they just gave out of their hearts."
He says men he's honored to call his mentors, lived their lives making a contribution on the diamond... and off.
Two members of the Black Sox during the early years, the late 40's to early 50's, still live in the Grand Rapids area. Walker considers one of them, Smartt, his personal mentor. Smartt is a well known former educator and community leader. In 2011 he won the prestigious Giant Among Giants award.