Moses Fleetwood Walker

Walker was one of the first African American baseball players, 64 years before Jackie Robinson.

Walker was born on October 7th, 1857 in Mount Pleasant, Ohio. Walker was a one of a kind man especially for his time considering that the civil war was about to begin. 

What makes him an Unsung Hero was that, outside of baseball, he went to law school, he created four patents, managed an Opera & movie theater, coedited a black newspaper which inspired him to write a book, and was an early civil rights activists, all while suffering the untenable experience of early racism in America. 

He also endured the very beginnings of segregation in baseball when Cap Anson used him and his image to influence this segregation just before the season in 1884. A lot like Jackie Robinson, he was viscously threatened, and embarrassed aside from the fact he was considered the best defensive catcher in the major league at that time.

Despite Walker’s love for the game, he could not endure playing the sport. Instead, he suffered being the one that carried the beginnings of segregated baseball, and even so, look at what he went on to do. 

Outside of baseball, Moses went to law school, he created four patents, managed an Opera and a movie theater, coedited a black newspaper which inspired him to write a book, and was an early civil rights activists, all while suffering the untenable experience of early racism in America

Some may not think he is worthy of being considered a hero, but I do because of the untold story he carries for us all. This story is about the unfair and hateful treatment of black men in baseball in the 19th century that led to a segregated sport. This mirrored the split then in the United States, and the split in us now, that we all need to better carry. I agree with Moses’s brother who wrote, “there should be some broader cause such as lack of ability, behavior, or intelligence for barring a player rather than his color.”