The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 270 - Forgotten Fleet Walker

Episode Date: June 1, 2017

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine a historic baseball player who has been dismissed, erased, and forgotten. SOURCESTOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. You're listening to the dollop. This is a bi-weekly American History podcast. Each

week I, Dave Anthony, cat whisperer, historian, lover of women, reach a story from American history to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is gonna be about. I love your new list. Back in. Do you want to look who to do? I'll do one bottle. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gara. Dave, okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not gonna become a tickly podcast. Okay. You are queen fakie of made-up town. All hell queen shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle and do what? Pray. Hi, Gary. No. I say done, my friend. No.

October 7th, 1856. Okay. Moses Fleetwood Walker. Yo. Better known as Fleet Walker. Yo. Was born in Mount Pleasant, Ohio to Moses Walker and Caroline O'Hara. So he was from a Moses Walker too. That's what I'm talking about. His parents were, okay, so his parents both had one black parent and one white parent. Okay. But Fleet was born with a very dark appearance. Okay. A town of Mount Pleasant was a very safe place for an African American to grow up in at the time. Okay. It was somewhat incubated from the racism elsewhere in the nation. It was a working class town that had a large abolitionist Quaker population. Okay. Which you want at that

time. Yes. If you're a black guy in the 1800s, find some Quakers. Yeah. Good oatmeal. Don't want to want your freedom. Right. Also freedom, but mostly I'm talking about the oatmeal. Yeah. Well, hello, boy. Care for some oatmeal? Yeah. All right. Care for some more oatmeal? Yeah. You're enjoying your freedom? What? A little more oatmeal? Yeah. Hey, how about some oatmeal for your pockets? What? I want to put some of this oatmeal down your pants. I don't want to be free anymore. Let me fill your shoes with oatmeal and you run there and back. Let's see how much it squishes. I don't like freedom. So it was also, the town was also, there were a lot of

abolitionists that lived there, prominent abolitionists. And it was prominent ones. Part of the Underground Railroad. Okay. The town, which is, which if you're not familiar with that, is an Underground Railroad. Yes. It actually had a free school for black students. So it's possible that the walkers were actually part of the Underground Railroad. In the 1860 census, a three-year-old girl was recorded in the family named Lizzie Walker, but a decade later, her name was not listed. And since there is no record of her birth or death, she may have been a child who was being smuggled north when a census worker came. Oh, wow. Awkward. Right?

That's got to be really crazy. Yeah. Super weird. Um, yeah. Hi, who's this? Hi. Hi. Hello. Hi. Hello. Why do you keep saying hello? Hi. How many are there? Oh, four. What? Two. How many do you need there to be, huh? When Fleet was three, the family moved 20 miles up the Ohio River to Steubenville, Ohio, which you love. Love, Stoops. That same year, Fleet's younger brother and a future lifelong sidekick, Weldy Walker, was born. And a sidekick was born. Weldy. Weldy. I hope he becomes a welder. I think you should connect these two pieces of iron. Use me, sir. I'm Weldy. I gotta blow torch. I know what I'm doing. I'm Weldy. Is that

the whole song? Yeah. Well, these father Moses would become one if not the boy you hear dad part of the Red Sea. I'll tell you, I know how to put it together. A little blow torch and some metal. I'm Weldy, I tell you. Boy, I am. I am. His father Moses would become one if not the first black physician in the state and then a Methodist Episcopal Church minister. Okay. I would have done the opposite way. I would have become a minister and then a doctor. Right. Yeah. Or maybe just cut the minister part. So Fleet had a comfortable middle class upbringing in a town that was relatively unaffected by the Civil War. After high

school in 1878, he was accepted to Oberlin College to study philosophy in the arts. Okay. Which is back then that's the best way to get a job. Right. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Pursue your arts degree. Fleet played baseball at Oberlin and quickly set himself apart as a catcher and lead off hitter and he was a good student, a decent public speaker, handsome and very confident. Okay. Except school was not his thing baseball was and it would eventually negatively affect his grades. He'd often get mentions in the Oberlin review for his standout performances and this did not go unnoticed with the ladies. He was romantically linked to both

Arabella Taylor and Edna Mason, two women who are also half black, half white. Okay. A regular pitcher Fleet caught for was Harlan Birkett. Birkett almost didn't end up as a student at Oberlin. The day he and his father pulled into the school, an unpopular student was being tarred and feathered by his fellow students. You know, turn around. You want to make a Huey? I think there's other places we can probably go. No, this looks like a good school. I don't know, but that guy's giving him tarred and feathered. He looks, it's just a prank. It's my major. Oh man, Burns. Anyway, I'm joining the fraternity. Hey. Birkett's father said he

thought Oberlin students might be a bit too rough. Really? Because of the tarring and feathering that he saw? Is that why? Son, I think this might not be a great college because of the way that they're pouring tar on that human. Ah, I don't know, dad. Oh, and feathers. Kids nowadays, I don't get it. You walk differently. You're tarring and feathering your pals. But Birkett decided the college was for him. In his first year, a fellow student showed Birkett how to manipulate the friction grip and release of an object that could make it curve. He did this by using a grape. Wait, what? So a student at the school showed

him how to use... Show him how friction grip and release when you're throwing an object could make it curve. He showed him with a grape though. To use the grape. So he goes into the lab where the guy's like, boy, I actually have come up with something that could help me, some of you athletes. If I throw anything larger than a grape, I'm likely to throw my back and shoulder out. Gentlemen, I have been working with this grape for two years. I have learned how to make it. Okay. Settle down. You're sweating a lot, man. Are you okay? Are you okay? You're sweating an awful lot. Do you want to sit down? Okay. How old are you? You look like you're 15 and

maybe 94. You're 49. I've been a student working with grapes for my god, 29 years. Oh my god. Just grapes? Yes, I am a grape major and minor. Oh my god. It turns out there's not a lot, the grapes. And so I just started throwing them. When do you graduate grape? Birket then use snowballs over the off season to practice. Whoa. This guy, this is a montage, obviously. And the next year he was one of only three known pitchers in the state who could throw a curveball with a snowball with a snow. I'm still pitching with snow or grape. Right. Okay. Coach, I can't make it work with a baseball. Can we get the guys to play with grapes? I'm actually

gonna have to throw a flag on the play. The grapes are not for sporting use. It was so he's he's one of the three people who could throw a curve in the state. Yeah. It was a very controversial pitch at the time. Many dismissed it as being an optical illusion. Boy, I mean, we just it was just the ceiling to intelligence forever. You could only know so much. And then like the fact that I saw it happen, but I don't think it happened. I was a wizard. To throw this new pitch, Birket had to have a competent catcher behind the plate. And that was fleet. At the time, catchers use their bare hands. Oh my god. Catchers mitts would not be used for

another decade. Fleet would sometimes wear a thin lambskin glove with finger holes cut out. But more than often, he was catching bare hands. It's tough. The two men probably did not have the best relationship. Birket was known to be delighted in having thrown a minstrel show on campus. Alrighty. While fleet was at Oberlin for the first two years, we're opening for the Tarring and Feather first two years, it was just interclass games. But then colleges around the country started to look at collegiate sports as something to help create status, build stronger campus community. Oh, and to make a shitload of money.

Right. In 1881, Oberlin expanded into intercollegiate sports. Okay. That was the year Weldy joined fleet at Oberlin. Hey, you need someone to put those things together? Well, he played right field and second base. They didn't win many games. But in the final game against the University of Michigan, fleet led Oberlin to a 10 to three win. Michigan was so impressed. And they needed a catcher. So the university offered fleet a position at their law school. Hmm. This was 1870. The University of Michigan was now only the second college in America to have an African American law school graduate. Okay. Fleet also knocked up

Arabella around the same time. So they got married and she came with him. Now fleet was a good law student and was looking at a decent career. But one day, he was helping put up a fence around the baseball field to make sure the 600 expected fans would pay their entry fee. Okay. And that's when Flint real fleet realized the game had the potential to give him a nice career. And he talked to Weldy and Weldy was also on board. Okay. So putting up a fence, he was like, wait a minute. There's a future. What is this? We got to put up a fence to keep out the whole. Eureka moment. The local play paper called fleet the wonder. He

was given the opportunity to get paid to play in a few games for semi professional teams. He played in Pittsburgh for the Newcastle. Nessian ox. I loved the Nessian ox. I mean, I don't even know what that means. You don't know what a Nessian. I guess. No. Oh, well, you've never been to Hunmasters. What? That's where they got the Nessian. Nessian ox or Nessian? Oh, they sell both. Where is this? Hunmasters. Go there. They have a website. He was, um, fleet was very well received and was considered a brilliant talent. Another time, the white sewing machine company from Cleveland paid fleet to play the

Louisville Eclipse in Louisville, Kentucky. Okay. That's the weirdest baseball sentence I've ever read. I'm a little confused, but one more time. The white sewing machine company. Interesting start already. From Cleveland. Paid fleet to play the Louisville Eclipse in Louisville, Kentucky. Play them again. Play them as who? I think it's like advertising. I think that they like sent like the white sewing machine companies like, let's have a ball club go down with the white sewing machine company. So they were just kind of put together their own like white team. Yeah, I think so. Okay. Fleet had lived a life in which he had

somehow managed to avoid experiencing overt racism directed towards him. Enter Kentucky. Hey, the morning of the game, the hotel where the team had their pregame breakfast, refused fleet entry. Cool. When his team arrived at the stadium, the Louisville players and management refused to play if fleet took the field. Wow. Fleet's manager. Even as an athlete, how can you not just be like, I want to beat him? Right. Like if you have that, but like, I don't like him that much. Yeah. That much of a problem. Then you want to beat him. Then you win. Instead they're like, well, he can't play. I can't play him. Yeah. Same color. Because they

first scared they're going to lose. It'll be tough to know who's who if there's a black person. Fleet's manager accepted the terms and benched fleet. Wow. Putting in a replacement catcher. Now, this was a time before they had mitts, as we said. And by the end of the first inning, the replacement catcher's hands were so swollen and bruised that he refused to keep playing. Yeah. That happened to every game or standing. Does that happen to every game where the catcher's like, I can't. The manager tried to get other players to go in his catcher, but no one wanted to play the position. This caused a delay in the game. The Louisville crowd

then decided starting then decided to start chanting nigger. Oh good. I was fun to hear the paper reported that it was done in a very playful manner. Oh the playful and bomb drop. The Louisville management thought the chanting was a green light to allow fleet to play. This seems like. What do we like here? I don't like the crowd. I don't like the person is like they like you. So they offered to let him play for some weird reason. Fleet did not want to leave the bench. He didn't feel comfortable. I don't know why I didn't want to go out and play. So weird. Let's go get him coach. All right, let's go. But after much persuasion,

he went in the game. Fleet warmed up and was ready to go. But at that point, two furious Louisville players stormed off the field and into the clubhouse to protest. And the game again was delayed. Finally, the third baseman volunteered to catch and Fleet went back to the dugout. Louisville won six to three. Congratulations, America. Yeah. Most of the media reports at the time were supportive of Fleet and argued that he was worthy of the title of best amateur catcher in the nation. Some even wrote the Cleveland team had grounds for a lawsuit against Louisville, although that would never happen. Good. Closure. Closure.

And that's the end. So Fleet Walker is building a name for himself as a potential. I genuinely thought that was the end for a minute. Oh, really? Yeah, I was like, huh, I don't know what my lesson is. So it looks like this guy can become a great player. In 1883, the manager of the minor league Toledo Blue Stockings offered Fleet a contract with the Blue Stockings. What? Yummy. What's happening? We're playing the garters. OK. Fleet dropped out of law school and pursued his dream of being a full time professional baseball player. His old Oberlin college pitcher, Harlan Burkitt, was also on the Blue Stockings. But Burkitt was

not the pairing that brought Fleet attention. He also caught for future National Baseball Hall of Famer Hank O'Day. Together they were considered the greatest battery partners in the country. In Fleet's first season with Toledo, they won the Northwest League title and Fleet played in 60 of their 84 games. Their success enabled the team to move up to the American Association. Fleet was now the second major league baseball player making Jackie Robinson not the first. Wait. What? Yeah. What do you mean? Fleet. He played for the majors before Jackie Robinson. Yeah. And he's dark skinned but not. He's black guy. He's not

fully black though, right? He's black guy. But he's a black guy. Yeah. What? You know what? The actual first black player to play in the majors was William Edward White in 1879, five years before. But he was technically the first African-American player. He played a grand total of one game for the Providence Grays in the National League. He was born in Georgia to a white plantation owner and his black servant. White was so fair-skinned that he passed as a white man and he did not point out to anyone that he was half black and a former slave. So while he is the first guy who played in the major leagues who was

black, no one actually knew he was black and he lived his whole life as a white guy and on his death certificate he was even listed as white. That is just like... So he's not really... Mind-bendingly... So the first black guy to play was actually a white guy. I mean he's a black guy. No, he was a black guy, but if you're passing as white... Well, you're... I mean baby steps. You just quietly say it in your 70s. You know, he's actually the first black guy. Huh? What? Nothing. I'm gonna kill you! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Okay. So I consider Moses Fleet Walker to actually be the first... Still. So there is someone else before Jackie Robinson. Yes. Okay. That is

indeed true. White was born in Georgia. Oh, I already did that. So Toledo is promoted. Fleet Walker is going to be the first black player to play major league baseball because people actually knew he was black as opposed to the other guy who his name was white. But the executive committee of the American Association... His name was also white. It was white. Yeah, his name is white. He was just... I mean, he was just destined for radar flying under. But the executive committee of the American Association lost their fucking minds. They moved a motion to ban blacks from playing in the Northwestern League, specifically trying to expel Fleet Walker. However, after a bitter fight,

the motion was dropped and Walker was allowed to play. He was signed to a $2,000 contract. Okay. Which is pretty nice. I think for back then, that's fucking great money. Well, whenever we hear any figure, we're like, that's really good for back then. We have like no idea of what the scale is, but we hear any dollar around we go, I mean, back then, that was a million bucks back then. Really? A million bucks back then. This was at a time when the average labor would earn around $10 a week. That's like a million bucks now. So first up, Toledo were scheduled to play an exhibition game against the Chicago white stockings. The white stock

stockings, these all, they got started to stocks, all these guys. Oh, I don't think that was a good decision. The white stockings were the best team in the country and had won the last three titles. They were managed by a big superstar of the game, feature hall of ammo, an outspoken racist douchebag cap Anson from a local Toledo newspaper quote. Walker, the colored catcher of the Toledo club was a source of contention between the home club and the Chicago club. Shortly after their arrival in the city, the Toledo club was informed. There was an objection in the Chicago club to Toledo's playing Walker. Walker has a

very sore hand and it had not had not been intended to play in yesterday's game. And this was stated to the bearer of the announcement for the Chicago's. Not content with this, the visitors declared with the swagger for which they are noted that they would play ball with no damned nigger. The order was given then in there to play Walker and the beefy bluffer was informed that he could play or go. Just as he blank, please. Anson hauled in his horn somewhat and consented to play remarking, we'll play this here game, but we won't, but we won't play never know more with the nigger in. So that's all right there in the newspaper.

Okay, a couple things. Yeah. One, I like that they are like, don't swear. No, I know. They put, they actually put blank in the paper. Don't swear where it should be. And word, and word, and word, and word. Don't swear. Don't swear. But also, that's how dumb that quote is at the end. Oh, it's fucking stupid. I mean, it's like, we'll play this here game, but won't play never know more with the. Yeah, like there are so many twists and turns as far as negatives go there that I think he might be saying he'll play with a black guy. I think he doesn't realize he is, but he is saying, I'll never not always don't do it. Not gonna can if I will, will not.

Okay, so you're playing with him. Yeah, I like black people. Toledo manager, Charles Morton had decided he wasn't putting up with any of Cap Anson's racist shit. Fleet was supposed to sit the game out injured, but Morton put him in just to spite Anson. Good. Anson, isn't that great? Yes. Anson agreed to play after Morton said that if he forfeited the game, then he'd forfeit his team's share of the ticket stubs. But Fleet did not play catcher because of injuries he played in right field. That's great, too. Yeah. But he was like, no, we just got to get you in, kid. Oh, so I just stand out in the field.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're bad boy. You're the bad boy. No, no, no. That's great. I want to kill myself. My position is horrible. I understand. What about a glove? And they're not around. Toledo's first official game was scheduled to be in Louisville, Kentucky. Good. Back to the old stop. Bruja is over an ex exhibition game. Jesus. Once again, he was refused entry and service at the team hotel. The media attacked him in the paper. Fans reigned abuse on him relentlessly again, and the Louisville players threatened to walk off if he played. But Toledo management was fine with all the threats. They pointed out

that if Louisville walked off and forfeited, then Toledo would get the points for the win. And Louisville would also be fined $500. So Louisville reluctantly agreed to play during the game. We won't like it, though. We're not going to like it. During the game, Fleet was abused and threatened by the crowd and players on Louisville. Because of this, he did not play well. He made several errors and did not get a hit. The local paper headline the next day read quote Negro catchers disastrous errors. I don't know why he's not playing good. This became the norm throughout the season. The press,

players and fans would relentlessly abuse and threaten Fleet. And because of segregation laws, he would often have to sleep on park benches while his team slept in a hotel. What? How did no one would take him in? Not good. God bless. How'd you sleep, Fleet? Oh, good. It's a good bench. Better than the last bench. Yeah, my bed was lumpy. Yeah, fuck you. Yeah. Fuck you'll fuck yourself. No, right. Anyway, fuck you. And then the second black player came to play in the majors. Well, he was

called what? Yeah. Yeah. This now we have two, two black three, three. Well, I mean, yeah, white, but whitey the white two black guys who are brothers. So already that's a crazy fucking story. Yeah, the first two totally erased from history. Are we a racist? Well, he was called up and played five games in the 1884 season due to team entry. You know, I think I could fix that fence, but it just needs to be like sealed together a little better. Little job for wealthy if you ask me just play baseball. Okay. Because of Segre. Oh, already that the brothers never played together. However, because Fleet was injured for those

games. As usual, it was his hands. So there were some bright spots. When Toledo went to play the St. Louis Browns, a large group of black fans came out to cheer for the star black catcher of the opposing team and fleet had a great game. After well these brief time with Toronto, he returned home in 1884 to Steubenville, the peaceful integrated sanctuary city he grew up in. A new roller skating rink had been built. And well, he decided to go for a skate on opening night with a with a black friend on arrival. They found a no Negroes need apply, except for positions of menials in the window when they

tried to enter. The owner stopped them and said, quote, you're colored and you can't skate. Not one to take shit. Well, the in his friend filed a civil rights lawsuit on the grounds of racial discrimination and they won. Nice. $5. Sorry. $15. Seriously? Yeah. Each. And and then he still the judge still allowed the skating rink to bar black people. Cool. After all the years of having a fairly integrated town, Steubenville was moving backwards. There were other indicators that all around

those advocating segregation were winning the battle against those for integration. The next time Toledo came up against the Chicago White Stockings, manager Charles Morton made an agreement with Cap Anson days before the game that he wouldn't field any black players for the game. The issues with Toledo went even further. Fleet was also facing racial hatred from certain teammates. And New York age interviewed later with Toledo pitcher Tony Malaine would elaborate on what Fleet was putting up with. Tony Malaine was pitching pitching for Toledo and he did not like to be the

partner of a Negro Malaine quote. He was the best catcher I ever worked with, but I disliked a Negro and whenever I had to pitch to him, I used to pitch anything I wanted without looking at his signals. One day he signaled me for a curve and I shot a fastball at him. He caught it and came up to me and said, I'll catch you without signals, but I won't catch you if you're going to cross me when I give you signals. And all the rest of the season, he caught me and caught anything I pitched without knowing what was coming. Wow. And yet it's so weird to compartmentalize it like that, to have that

ability to be like, he's the best catcher ever. Right. But I hate him because he's black. And I'm going to try to hurt him. I'm going to try to hurt him, but he's the... He's a great teammate. Oh yeah, he's a great teammate. Hell of a guy. One of the best teammates I've ever had. Look, if we had another white on our hands, oh man. Oh man. Now that was my kind of black guy. The one whose last name was white, looked white, and acted white. I miss ol' Whitey. I miss Whitey. Fleet and the club were constantly getting threats and pressure to drop him. Weeks before a scheduled game with the Richmond Virginians, the Virginians wrote that at

least 75 men were waiting in Richmond for Fleet if he turned up to play. The letter signed off with quote, we only write this to prevent much bloodshed as you alone can prevent. Wow. So that's... It's that's on you. Yeah. Whether it was the threats, fleets, injuries, or the team's financial struggles, he was released from the team. He first worked as a male clerk when he left the majors, but he was not done with baseball. In 1885, he briefly played for Cleveland in the Western League before moving to play for Waterbury. In the offseason, he used some of the major league cash he'd saved to buy the Le Grand in Chicago, which was a hotel theater, and he operated briefly with Weldy. And in 1886, Fleet played for Waterbury again, and the manager

of defending champions, New York Little Giants, signed to play in the international league. Fleet was happy to arrive in Newark to catch for their star pitcher, another black guy named George Stovey. Fans called them the Spanish Battery, and they both had a great season. I feel like they might not have known what Spanish people were. Yeah. Well, at that time, I mean, you were like, oh, we'll take what we can get. They're labeling us with non-N words, which is nice. Is he, he's like in your bag. And he's fine. He's just got his head in there. He's poking around. Quite a seal. In 18, in the 1887 season, exhibition game against the Chicago White Stockings, New York management. I'm not getting used to the Chicago White Stockings. I mean,

it's hard to deal with White Stockings. So the Newark management agreed not to play Fleet or Stovey after threats again from Cap Anson, who again did not want to play against black men or two in this case. They were benched. And that same day, the international league owners voted to ban any future contracts for black players. Throughout the rest of 1887, most of the minor leagues moved towards racial segregation as official policy. Oh, good. This meant the end of any baseball career that Weldy had. Right. Because he's not currently signed. And a lot of progress. It also meant there's now a countdown to the end of Fleet's career because once his contract's out, it's over. He's done. So Weldy wrote to the tri-state league president who had introduced the policy

and then he had the letter published in the Sporting Life under the headline, Why Discriminate. The law is a disgrace to the present age and reflects very much upon the intelligence of your last meeting and cast derision at the laws of Ohio. The voice of the people say that all men are equal. So in 1888, Fleet followed the Newark manager that originally signed him to the Syracuse Stars, another international league team. He was a popular player even though his play was mediocre. Fleet was the unofficial spokesman for the team and he was held in high regard throughout the town. But the years of dealing with constant violent threats and abuse started to weigh on Fleet. The official stance of segregation had made baseball a safe

space for bigots. Screaming, kill the nigger became commonplace at baseball stadiums. Jesus. By the time he got to Syracuse, Fleet was carrying a loaded revolver with him wherever he went. He's just, I just can't imagine going to see a baseball game and just that being the thing that you're most fired up about. Oh my god. When the team was in Toronto, Fleet was out on the street when a group of white Toronto fans started harassing and threatening him and he pulled out his gun. No shots were fired but the media used it as an example of how blacks had a propensity for violence. It's one of those things though that in the moment feel so good. So fucking good. Like just feels like those are the look on their face when they're like, all right. So great.

But yeah, I'm sure the media was really understanding. Look at them. Jess Shia was 33rd birthday and in his seventh season as a pro ball player, Syracuse released Fleet. This was the end of his baseball career. There wouldn't be another pro black player in the international league again until Jackie Robinson in 1946 when he played for the Montreal Royals. Fleet returned to his job as a male clerk. He became a friend of former Syracuse University professor, Dr. Joel Gilbert Justin. Dr. Justin had been having a hard time with resolving a problem with his invention that he called the Justin gun, which was using gun powder instead of compressed air to fire artillery shells. So just some casual shit he's doing in

his garage. Wait, what is he doing? He's building a Justin gun using gun powder instead of compressed air. Fleet designed an outer casting that fixed the problem with the Justin gun, which he patented. And they never made any money because the other patents made it. It was confused. Right. Sure. But he's so fucking smart. Right. That he invented the thing that made a gunwork. In the two years after his retirement from baseball, Fleet took to drinking. He had grown bitter after his treatment, which is weird. One evening while he was walking through the streets of Syracuse Drunk, he came across Irish cousins, Patrick Curley Murray and Patrick Bootle Murray. Oh, boy. There were two cousins named Patrick Murray. Okay. I was really curious

what happened separated by nicknames. Right. Curley and Bootle. Right. Bootle and Curley. Bootle. I'm Bootle. And this is my cousin, Curley. Hello. Hello. Would you like to fight? Bootle and Curley and Bootle and Curley and Bootle and Curley. I love you cousin. Curley and Bootle were not happy to see a black man in their neighborhood. They started racially abusing him. And when Fleet didn't take the bait, they threw rocks at him. One hit Fleet in the back of the head. And then Fleet confronted them, which quickly escalated into a brawl. Fleet pulled the knife and stabbed Curley in the groin. You're gonna stab a guy in the dick. I mean, anytime you want to meet a guy named Curley, you probably want to stab him in

his groin. Absolutely. The men took off. I just imagine. Took off? Running around. Where's Curley going? Well, the other guys, I guess. So Curley's on the ground. Fleet was arrested and taken to jail the next morning. Fleet learned that Curley had bled to death. Fleet was charged with second degree murder. The news that a black former major league baseball player had stabbed a white man to death got national headlines. But the Syracuse community seemed to mostly be on Fleet's side. Throughout the trial, the court house was packed mostly with white supporters of Fleet. But that's also because blacks weren't allowed inside the court unless they were on trial. Right. Oh, cool. Cool policy. The Murray cousins had a history of being violent drunks,

and the members of their group that gave testimony what happened that night gave inconsistent accounts. In contrast, the well-dressed and articulate Fleet walkers sat throughout most of the trial with his youngest child on his lap and wife and baby by his side. He was polite and concise and a cross examination and clearly established that he was attacked because of the color of his skin. A jury of 12 white men somehow found Fleet not guilty on grounds of self-defense. They might have actually been black guys just who were named white. The crowd erupted into cheers to the point that the judges gavel flew apart as he tried to bring the court back to work. Yeah, that's like from a movie. Yeah. The judge appeared pleased with the verdict and gave a

stern warning to Fleet not to drink anymore. He then shook hands with Fleet's wife as Fleet shook the hands of each member of the jury. All is fucking great. But two weeks after the acquittal, his father died. Fleet returned to his job as a mail clerk. He was now in his mid 30s. In 1893, his mother died and two years later, his wife died of cancer. Three years later, he married his old flame from Oberlin, Edna Mason, but things didn't go well for the marriage. Within months, he was sentenced to a year in federal prison for male robbery. I couldn't figure out what that what he was just robbing the guy. For 12 months, he left Edna and his three children from the previous marriage while he was in jail. The details are just not clear,

but he never worked for the Postal Service again. After he got out, Fleet and Weldy owned the Union Hotel in Steubenville. Then he ran a theater somewhere else. Edna and Fleet would be well respected for how they ran the theater over the next two decades, showing plays, opera, vaudeville and films. During this period, he came up with three new patents for inventions that improved a projectionist ability to seamlessly change cinema rules. Wow. I mean, guys like this that are so smart. It's like, whatever they do, like, no, I'm just going to do this great. And Fleet and Weldy became increasingly politically active. He started a Black nationalist publication. The Walkers openly advocated for the Back to Africa movement, which was a segregationist solution

for what to do with freed slaves in white society. And the movement would eventually culminate in the founding of Sierra Leone and Liberia, which are working out great. Despite the Walker Brothers words of returning to Africa, they never acted on them and live it out the rest of their lives in Ohio. The theater he ran for two decades was segregated and allowed minstrel shows to be regularly performed. Wow. In 1920, after 22 years of marriage, Edna died. Shortly after her death, he sold the opera house and moved with Weldy to Cleveland where they ran another theater. Moses Fleetwood Walker died of pneumonia on May 11, 1924, at the age of 67. Until 1990, he was in an unmarked grave until Oberlin College paid for his headstone as a tribute to their

star former student and the first African-American baseball player. 13 years after Fleet died, Weldy was buried beside him. As of 2016, Weldy, the second African-American to play Major League Baseball, still does not have a headstone on his grave. Today, it is widely believed that the great Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play Major League Baseball. He was not. In March 2017, the Ohio House voted 93 to 1 in favor of recognizing Fleet's birthday, October 7 as Moses Fleetwood Walker Day. It is now waiting Senate approval. The one no vote was a white Republican named Nino Vitale. Vitale cited Fleet's conviction for male robbery, the murder he was acquitted of in self-defense, and his times of alcohol abuse after his career as

reasons of objecting to commemorating what Fleet had accomplished. Fleet had a batting average of 263, which was the third best on the Toledo team and 23 points above the league average. Boy, that is crazy. Why does nobody know that? I don't know. That's the thing like that is so just shitty about, you know, the way you're taught and digest history too is that, you know, you just accept all these things. Well, so, so, like people, if you don't know this, Jackie Robinson's numbers retired in baseball and his numbers up in all these stadiums around the country, which is great. And he did a great thing. Well, even even beyond that, though, Jackie Robinson is completely, I mean, they made a

movie about him three years ago. I mean, Jackie Robinson has looked at as the first black person to ever play baseball. Because he's the first black player who, I mean, he was just fucking brutalized. Yes. And not to take away that's. And he, and he, and he took it and he didn't have, he knew he couldn't give any attitude. He just had to play the game. And so he came out of it and and then other black players were allowed to play. What America doesn't want to do is look at the time that the first black player played and they broke him as a person and made him drink and made him leave the game he loved. Like that's not the story. That's not the story they want to tell, right? They want to tell the story of the one that opened the world up to black players to play

baseball. That is the, that's the reason. The reason is because I mean, honestly, because Jackie Robinson just dealt with it, dealt with it and was allowed and was allowed to keep playing. If Jackie Robinson a couple of years later, it didn't work out or they passed a law saying blacks could not play in baseball, he would be forgotten. Right. Just like Fleet Walker was. And Weldy still doesn't have a headstone? Yeah, that's got to change. Maybe we could start a GoFundMe. It can't be that much. Yeah, it can't be that much. We could, we should be able to do it. You know, we can do is we take one tombstone another and we weld them together. Weldy!

Well, we should, we should try to do that. Well, let's look into it. All right. I think Maurice for the research on that one. We like to call that more research. You know, we sign baseball players. Alrighty.