If you asked a large group of people who was the first African-American to play Major League Baseball, undoubtedly, the majority of them would answer, Jackie Robinson. They would be incorrect.
 
Long before Robinson broke into the big leagues in 1947, there was a little-known catcher from the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association named Moses Fleetwood Walker. The American Association later became regarded as a major league and eventually merged with the National League to form the foundation of Major League Baseball as we know it today.
 
While Robinson has long been revered – and rightfully so –  by MLB and its millions of fans from around the world, Walker's recognition and his place in history has slowly expanded over the last 134 years since he first played for the Blue Stockings in 1883.
 
"Athletically and intellectually, Moses Fleetwood Walker was gifted," Associate Vice President for Athletics Advancement and Delta Lodge Director of Athletics & Physical Education, Natalie Winkelfoos said. "His story is Oberlin College's story – woven into the fabric of the institutional mission – connecting so well with our commitment to diversity and social justice."
 
Walker will be enshrined into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame on October 5 and with final approval from Governor John Kasich, October 7 will forever be known as "Moses Fleetwood Walker Day" in the state of Ohio.
 
This is the third attempt by the government to have Walker's date of birth be a day of significance within the state. House Bill 59, which was sponsored by Reps. David Leland (D-Columbus) and Thomas West (D-Canton), never got past the House on its first attempt and the second try stalled in the Senate. However, the third time appears to be the charm. Unfortunately, this year will come and go without official recognition as the bill won't go into effect until 90 days after it is signed. 
 
What's another 90 days after waiting 134 years?
 
"Of course, I'm glad that Walker is now being honored," said Oberlin College Professor of English, Yago Colas, who specializes in the intersection of sport, the humanities, and society. "But on the other hand, I think that sports organizations and other public institutions take the easy, safe route by waiting to honor outspoken black athletes only long after the intensity of feeling around the issues they protested has died down. I wish, as a fan and scholar of sports, that we would do a better job of getting ahead of the curve of history and honoring these courageous individuals while they could appreciate it and, more importantly, when doing so could actually influence positive change on the issues they were addressing."
 
Walker was a member of Oberlin's inaugural baseball team in 1881. As the team's starting catcher, he got behind the plate with no protective equipment and caught barehanded.
 
After Oberlin beat the University of Michigan in that initial season, Walker was recruited to go play for the Wolverines. His brother, Weldy Wilberforce Walker, was also a member of the Oberlin baseball team and together they transferred to Michigan.
 
Walker studied law at UM, but left the school prior to graduating to join the Blue Stockings.
 
Throughout his professional career, Walker faced open prejudice and bigotry. In one reported incident, he was refused a spot in his team's lineup because the opposing team from Kentucky objected to playing with a black man.
 
In his professional career, Walker faced jeers and racist sentiments from opposing teams, fans, and even his own teammates. Before one game in Cincinnati, team leaders were warned that a mob of as many as 75 men would attack Walker if he was placed in the lineup. In spite of these threats and insults and troublesome injuries, Walker continued to play baseball professionally until 1889.

 

After his baseball career ended, he continued to use his other talents, completing his law degree and becoming an inventor, journalist, author, hotelier, and entrepreneur. He continued to face challenges and his later life included violence and crime. Walker died in 1924, at age of 66, however his trailblazing spirit and ability to face adversity made him an important part of history.
 
"It should come as no surprise that there is a connection between Walker and Oberlin College," Winkelfoos added. "As an intelligent athlete, he fought for freedom and equality, a charge that Oberlin College student-athletes champion."

Walker was inducted into Oberlin's Heisman Club Hall of Fame in 1990. Seventy-six years after his passing, the Club financed the erection of a headstone on his previously unmarked grave in Steubenville's Union Cemetery.