Sol White Recalls Baseball’s Greatest Days

History of Colored Baseball

"Sol White wasn’t just a sure-handed, line-drive-hitting infielder in black baseball of the nineteenth century; he was one of its founding fathers, and its historian. White and Philadelphia sportswriter Walter Schlichter founded the Philadelphia Giants in 1902, and this was the most powerful black club of the time. According to the records, they played 680 games from 1902 through 1906 and won 507 of them. In 1903 they played the 'Cuban X-Giants' in the first-ever 'Colored Championship of the World.' A young pitcher named Rube Foster won four games for the Cuban X-Giants to upset White’s team. The next year Foster came over to pitch on White’s side, and they won. Although there was no formal league structure, in 1905 the Philadelphia Giants won 134 games and lost just 21. They challenged what they thought was the second best black team to a World Series; the opponents never showed. After going 108-31 in 1906 they issued a challenge to play the winner of the white World Series to see who was truly best. No one answered then, either...." - The New York Amsterdam News; The Pittsburgh Courier, March 12, 1927
Our Game - John Thorn

1887 Wheeling with Sol White

Sol White : Renaissance Man
"... King Solomon 'Sol' White was born June 12, 1868 in the industrial city of Bellaire, Ohio merely three years after the Civil War ended, but right smack in the middle of a time period that saw baseball explode in popularity. During his extraordinary life, Sol was to witness great changes, not only in the development of baseball but in our society as well. He, perhaps like no man before him or since, was to not only participate in, but later to chronicle, the very history of the game that he loved dearly. But he was also to feel "up close and personal" a much darker side of the game, a part that must have broken his heart. Even though baseball is rightfully and proudly called the National Pastime, the game also reflected the deep-seated racial animosity that permeated post Civil War America, an animosity so strong that it would, for over six decades, prevent Sol and countless others from playing ball alongside of whites in the major leagues. Tragically, they were barred from playing 'America's Game,' not because of a lack of talent but because of the color of their skin. What quiet pride Sol must have felt when, as an old man living alone in Harlem, he saw Jackie Robinson break down the blight on the game we now, quite antiseptically, refer to simply as the 'color barrier'."
Baseball Almanac

Baseball Hall of Fame

"King Solomon White (June 12, 1868 - August 26, 1955) was an American professional baseball infielder, manager and executive, and one of the pioneers of the Negro leagues. An active sportswriter for many years, he wrote the first definitive history of black baseball in 1907. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. Born in Bellaire, Ohio, White's playing career lasted from 1887 to 1912, followed by several additional seasons of managing. He played a major role on many of the greatest teams throughout that era. While enrolled at Wilberforce University, White joined the 1887 Pittsburgh Keystones of the world's first Negro League the National Colored Base Ball League as a second baseman and was batting .308 when the league after a week of play. He then joined the Wheeling (West Virginia) Green Stockings of the Ohio State League and batted. 371."
Wikipedia

[PDF] Rube Foster and Negro League Baseball - Special Collections