Introduction-Dear+Reader

Dear reader,

Along the path that I have learned about the Black Baseball Leagues many subjects and specific scenes have changed my understanding and thought process about this topic. Choosing a topic was the best part about the project because I got to choose something that I was genuinely interested in for a very long time. This project was the exact way that I could get over the hurdle in front of my curiosity and learn about the topic. Another reason that I wanted to do this topic was the fact that I love baseball, baseball is my number one sport and I love learning more and more about it's history. Some inspiration for this topic also came from my special hobby, I collect baseball cards that are new and old and keep them forever. This project really changed my perspective on black baseball and the way it formed, lived, and died. My passion for what I love to do really did drive me to where I have decided to make a wiki about Black Baseball to share my now new knowledge with others. Before doing the work and learning about the subject I had always thought that the players who were in the Black leagues were never as good as the players in the white leagues because they had to have their own separate league. In fact many upon many of the players in the Black leagues, such as Jackie Robinson, were extremely good and even better than their rival white league players. Although some ideas changed about the topic one idea about the topic did not change, the fact that most of if not all of the black players were discriminated against everywhere. For example if a black player was batting at home plate against a white pitcher or catcher they would harass him beyond belief by stepping on his shoes with cleats, spitting on him, and deliberately hitting him with the baseball. That's what many had to go through and to find out the exact details of these events was another reason that I chose to look deeper into my topic. The main thesis or theme behind this topic being: Skin color doesn't matter when it come to the game of baseball for everyone is good. From looking through journals of deceased Black players that were away from home all the time, box score recaps from different games or events that took place, and news articles/advertisements from that era I could tell that this kind life was not ideal and was the road that would soon not be taken.

Sincerely, Ryan Abbaspour