[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 118 (Wednesday, September 18, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H6315-H6318]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING THE TEAMS AND PLAYERS OF THE NEGRO BASEBALL LEAGUES FOR 
             THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO BASEBALL AND THE NATION

  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to

[[Page H6316]]

the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 337) recognizing the teams and 
players of the Negro Baseball Leagues for their achievements, 
dedication, sacrifices, and contributions to baseball and the Nation.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 337

       Whereas even though African-Americans were excluded from 
     playing in the major leagues of baseball with their Caucasian 
     counterparts, the desire of some African-Americans to play 
     baseball could not be repressed;
       Whereas African-Americans began organizing their own 
     professional baseball teams in 1885;
       Whereas 6 separate baseball leagues, known collectively as 
     the Negro Baseball Leagues, were organized by African-
     Americans between 1920 and 1960;
       Whereas the Negro Baseball Leagues included exceptionally 
     talented players;
       Whereas Jackie Robinson, whose career began in the Negro 
     Baseball Leagues, was named Rookie of the Year in 1947 and 
     subsequently led the Brooklyn Dodgers to 6 National League 
     pennants and a World Series championship;
       Whereas by achieving success on the baseball field, 
     African-American baseball players helped break down color 
     barriers and integrate African-Americans into all aspects of 
     society in the United States;
       Whereas during World War II, more than 50 Negro Baseball 
     League players served in the Armed Forces of the United 
     States;
       Whereas during an era of sexism and gender barriers, 3 
     women played in the Negro Baseball Leagues;
       Whereas the Negro Baseball Leagues helped teach the people 
     of the United States that what matters most is not the color 
     of a person's skin, but the content of that person's 
     character and the measure of that person's skills and 
     abilities;
       Whereas only in recent years has the history of the Negro 
     Baseball Leagues begun receiving the recognition that it 
     deserves; and
       Whereas baseball is the national pastime and reflects the 
     history of the Nation: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That Congress recognizes the teams and players 
     of the Negro Baseball Leagues for their achievements, 
     dedication, sacrifices, and contributions to baseball and the 
     Nation.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette).


                             General Leave

  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
on House Concurrent Resolution 337.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  This resolution, Mr. Speaker, recognizes the teams and players of the 
Negro baseball leagues for their achievements, dedication, sacrifices 
and contributions to baseball and to the Nation. I want to commend the 
distinguished sponsors of this resolution, the gentleman from Oklahoma 
(Mr. Watts) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis), for 
introducing this important resolution.
  Until the mid-20th century when Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby, and 
parenthetically I would say Larry Doby of the Cleveland Indians, broke 
the color barrier, African Americans were excluded from playing major 
league baseball. Despite this, the desire that some African Americans 
had to play baseball professionally could not be repressed.
  African Americans began organizing their own professional baseball 
teams. In 1885, the Cuban Giants from New York became the first 
professional African American baseball team.

                              {time}  1100

  In 1920, Rube Foster, known as the ``Father of Negro Baseball,'' 
organized the Negro National League by adopting an organized league 
structure. Between 1920 and 1960, six separate baseball leagues known 
collectively as the Negro Baseball League were formed. The Negro 
Leagues maintained the high level of professional skill and, some 
believe, became centerpieces for economic development in many African 
American communities.
  Teams such as the Pittsburgh Crawfords, which played in Pittsburgh's 
Hill District, reflected this high level of skill. The Crawfords won 
the 1935 Negro National League with future Hall of Famers James ``Cool 
Papa'' Bell, Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson and the 
legendary Satchel Paige.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, parenthetically, there is a book I had the 
pleasure of reading last year called Crooked River Burning, which, 
sadly, is about some of the sadder days in Cleveland, Ohio, but it is 
the story of a young Polish fellow who grew up on the west side of 
Cleveland and follows his life. But it begins in 1948 when he sneaks 
out of his uncle's house to go down to Municipal Stadium and sees the 
debut of Satchel Paige and the Cleveland Indians uniform, and over 
70,000 people were in attendance on that evening.
  Starting in 1935, the black teams began all-star game competition. 
The game was known as the East-West Game and was played each summer in 
Chicago's Comiskey Park. The Negro Leagues also had their own world 
series, but according to the Negro League Baseball Players Association, 
the East-West Game was considered more important than the world series 
and annually attracted between 20,000 and 50,000 fans.
  In 1945, major league baseball started signing players from the Negro 
Baseball Leagues to its minor leagues for the first time since 1919. By 
1950, five major league teams had black players; by 1953, seven clubs 
had 20 players; and by 1957, 14 clubs had 36 players.
  As players in the Negro Baseball Leagues signed to play with the 
major leagues and attendance at Negro League games dropped, the Negro 
Baseball Leagues folded in 1960.
  Events such as the 1991 opening of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum 
in Kansas City, Missouri, reflect the recognition that the Negro 
Baseball Leagues and its players deserve. As this resolution notes, the 
Negro Baseball Leagues helped teach the country to judge others not by 
the color of their skin, but by the content of their character and the 
measure of their skills and abilities. In fact, Mr. Speaker, gender 
roles also fell in the Negro leagues, because three women played in 
them.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask all Members of the House to support this 
resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Committee on Government Reform, I am 
proud to be an original cosponsor of H. Con. Res. 337, recognizing the 
teams and players of the Negro Baseball Leagues. This is a measure that 
is long overdue.
  Mr. Speaker, I have been an avid baseball fan since I was a young 
person, and actually 50 years after the fact I can still recite the 
starting lineup of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. So when my colleague, the 
gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Watts), approached me several months ago 
to cosponsor a resolution with him honoring the Negro Baseball Leagues 
and players, it was not exactly a hard sell. Likewise, I am sure, it 
was not difficult for the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) and 
Senators Santorum and Mikulski to join us.
  I am reminded of Harlan Williams' observations in Jim Crow at Bat: 
Apartheid in Baseball, when he wrote that, ``Baseball is America's 
game. It was invented here, flourished here, and has been exported all 
around the world. As a national phenomenon, baseball has long served to 
mirror cultural currents and national attitudes. And from its 
inception, baseball's racial attitudes have mirrored those of 
society.''
  In 1872, John ``Bud'' Fowler became the first African American to 
enter organized baseball. At the time, Sporting Life magazine called 
him ``one of the best general players in the country. If he had had a 
white face,'' they said, ``he would be playing with the best of them.'' 
He was joined by a handful of other black players.
  However, by the end of the 1800s, the door to organized baseball was 
slammed shut to African Americans. We are here today to celebrate the 
response to this closed door.
  In 1920, Andrew ``Rube'' Foster, the indisputable father of Negro 
baseball, convinced seven other team owners to join with his team, the 
Chicago American Giants, to form the Negro National League. In fact, in 
1981, ``Rube''

[[Page H6317]]

Foster was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New 
York, where he is considered to be one of baseball's greatest 
renaissance men.
  In the years following the establishment of the Negro National 
League, other Negro Baseball Leagues were formed. The skill of the play 
and the players was extraordinary, as was the colorful array of their 
nicknames: Satchel Paige, ``Cool Papa'' Bell, ``Double-Duty'' 
Radcliffe, ``GroundHog'' Thompson, and the list goes on and on.
  Of the 254 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, 18 were 
players who had only played in the Negro leagues. Still others, 
including Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson, had first played in the 
Negro Leagues, then went on to play in the major leagues, and were 
later inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In fact, the caliber in 
the Negro Leagues was so high that many of the players who later moved 
on to the major leagues actually had better statistics playing there 
than they did in the Negro Leagues.
  The electrifying decision by Branch Rickey to sign Jackie Robinson to 
play for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 pushed open the closed door. As 
the best African American baseball players joined the major leagues, 
the Negro Baseball Leagues declined. The last teams folded in the early 
1960s.
  Some people shake their heads and say that the Negro League players 
came along too early. I think ``Cool Papa'' Bell had it right when he 
said ``they opened the door too late.''
  But then it is never too late to right what has been wrong, to create 
equal opportunity and to open the doors for the Luke Easters, Minnie 
Minosos, Kirby Pucketts, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosas, Frank Thomases and 
countless others who have thrilled and delighted us with their skill.
  It is never too late to make America what it has never been, but must 
be. Opening the doors and recognizing the contributions that African 
Americans have made to baseball is a step in the right direction.
  Thomas Wolf is reported to have said, ``To every man his chance, his 
golden opportunity, to become whatever his talents, manhood and 
ambitions combine to make him. That is the promise of America.''
  This bill is a step in the right direction, I commend the gentleman 
from Oklahoma (Mr. Watts) for introducing it, and I urge its swift 
passage.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Watts), the author of the concurrent 
resolution.
  Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma. I thank the chairman for yielding me time, and 
I also want to commend and thank my friend from Illinois (Mr. Davis) 
for his assistance in this effort.
  Mr. Speaker, when the National Association of Baseball Players on 
December 11, 1868, voted unanimously to bar ``any club which may be 
comprised of one or more colored persons,'' a racial barrier was built, 
but an opportunity was born.
  A few years later, the Cuban Giants in New York became the first 
black professional baseball team. The men in this fledgling 
organization played independently of any structured league, but started 
what would become a model for the first half of the 20th century.
  There actually were some black players on integrated teams in the 
late 1800s. Brothers Moses Fleetwood Walker and Welday Walker played in 
the major leagues in 1884. But as a new century dawned, the systematic 
exclusion kept a lot of good talent off a lot of diamond-shaped fields.
  In 1920, a man by the name of ``Rube'' Foster founded the eight-team 
Negro National League at a YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri. To this day, 
he is referred to as the Father of Black Baseball. Three years later, a 
pioneer named Ed Bolden formed the Eastern Colored League.
  In 1933, echoing the major league structure, the Negro National 
League and the Negro American League were born. That same year, an all-
star game was formed. Playing in Chicago's Comiskey Park, Negro League 
players garnered between 20,000 and 50,000 fans, who would come and 
watch the greatest black athletes of the day. Camden Yards, mind you, 
in Baltimore, holds less than 49,000 people.
  Up until 1948, the Negro League World Series was played 11 times in 
all, surviving even the ruins of the Great Depression.
  As we work to educate the public on the rich and awesome history of 
the Negro Leagues, we also must reflect on the progress that has been 
made in such a relatively short amount of time. Today we think nothing 
of seeing a black man at the plate hit home run after home run on teams 
like the Dodgers and the Yankees and the Giants and the Braves. It is 
difficult to realize that we would not see that same player a half 
century ago.
  Jacques Barzun, a French American historian and former dean of 
Columbia University's graduate school, astutely observed in his book 
God's Country and Mine in 1994, ``Whoever wants to know the heart and 
mind of America had better learn baseball.''
  Mr. Speaker, baseball is America. Along with apple pie and jazz and 
automobiles, it symbolizes who we are as a Nation. But let us not 
forget about who played in the shadow of the big leagues when our 
country subscribed to the ideology of separation.
  I urge my colleagues to vote for this resolution to honor the players 
and the teams of the Negro Baseball Leagues.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, so I will simply 
close by indicating that it is a thrill and delight. There are still a 
number of ex-members of the Negro League who live around and in my 
congressional district, and three or four of them often convene at a 
McDonald's restaurant and sort of hold court. Individuals kind of move 
around and come by to chat with them and to see them. ``Double-Duty'' 
Radcliffe recently passed away.
  But one of the teaching instruments that takes place as people 
realize who these men are and what their contributions have been, they 
stand there at ``McDonald's University'' and soak in all of the 
knowledge and information.
  So, again, I want to commend my colleague, the gentleman from 
Oklahoma (Mr. Watts), for introducing H. Con. Res. 337, recognizing the 
teams and players of the Negro Leagues.
  And as we recognize these teams and these players, I also want to 
acknowledge and recognize all of the parents and coaches who are 
involved in Little League baseball play. There is nothing better than 
watching a group of young people in organized Little League activity 
learning, growing, developing, reaching a level of understanding about 
teamwork, positive attitudes, and not on the corner hauling crack and 
blow, but listening to the sound of the crack of the bat.
  So I commend the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Watts) for this 
resolution, and I urge its passage.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Davis) and the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Watts) for sponsoring this 
important resolution and working so hard to bring it to the floor.
  This resolution pays tribute to the contributions of many fine 
athletes who did not get the recognition they deserved during their 
playing careers or, in many cases, during their lifetimes, because 
segregation required them to play out of the limelight.
  Nevertheless, the players in the Negro Leagues were among some of the 
most accomplished who ever played our national pastime. Some went on to 
make their marks in the newly integrated major leagues. But all of them 
contributed to baseball history and helped pave the way for today's 
stars.

                              {time}  1115

  I urge passage of the resolution.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the players of the 
Negro Baseball Leagues. These brave Americans--barred from playing 
major league baseball--organized their own professional baseball 
leagues that were, by all accounts, the caliber and quality of the all-
white league from which they were excluded.
  What began in the early 1800's as informal contests became actual 
professional teams by 1885, and the official Negro Baseball Leagues by 
1920. The leagues, which lasted until 1960 when African-American 
ballplayers were accepted into major league baseball, were the

[[Page H6318]]

venue for some of the game's greatest players. Jackie Robinson, Satchel 
Paige, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron were giants of the game of 
baseball--all got their start in the Negro Baseball Leagues.
  More important than their impact on the game of baseball, however, 
was the symbolic value of the Negro Baseball Leagues. In an era where 
being black meant second-class status in America, the players of the 
Negro Baseball Leagues gave African-American children role models and 
helped to integrate the all-white American pastime.
  Mr. Speaker, the struggle from segregation to full racial 
integration--a struggle that continues to this day--is the story of 
brave men and women who broke racial barriers by challenging the 
social, political, and economic norms of their time. The players of the 
Negro Baseball Leagues were such people.
  Today, we commemorate the Negro Baseball Leagues and the indelible 
mark they made not only on baseball, but also on American society.
  Mr. PUTNAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.C.R. 337 and 
particularly wish to recognize the Negro League teams that played in 
Florida and the players who now reside in our great State.
  While there were other minor or semi-professional teams in our State, 
Florida's most recognized Negro League team was the Jacksonville Red 
Caps, who played in the Negro American League.
  Their numbers are dwindling, there are now only 150 or so former 
Negro League players left in the entire country, so it is important 
that, as we consider H.C.R. 337, I also recognize former players of the 
Negro Leagues who now live in Florida.
  While I'm sure my list of Florida's remaining Negro League players is 
not complete, each year the Jacksonville Suns honor former Negro League 
players, and on June 9 of this year they met at Wolfson Park and 
honored the following former Negro League players:
  Herb Barnhill, who began his baseball career in 1936 and played for 
the Jacksonville Red Caps in 1938 and 1941-42;
  Henry ``Bird'' Clark, who began his baseball career in 1955 at the 
age of 16 with the Kansas City Monarchs;
  Art Hamilton, a catcher who started with the Indianapolis Clowns in 
1953, played with the Detroit Stars and closed his career with the 
Philadelphia Phillies in 1961; and
  Harold ``Buster'' Hair Jr., who played for the Birmingham Black 
Barons in 1953, was drafted and played in Canada and then in 1958 
played with the Kansas City Monarchs.
  Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure to join my colleagues today 
in recognizing the contributions of these African-American baseball 
players who now reside in Florida, and their surviving Negro League 
teammates. I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dan Miller of Florida). The question is 
on the motion offered by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) that 
the House suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. 
Con. Res. 337.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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