Cleveland Sports and Social Change? Part 2

The series takes a glimpse at the history of Cleveland and social change during the 1940s and 1950s through the prism of sports with a primary emphasis on baseball because of its stature at the time. It will discuss the role Cleveland professional sports teams may have played in affecting social change in this country. For example, the Cleveland Indians led the way in the American League with the numbers of African American and Black Latino players on their rosters from 1947 to 1960. Many of those players launched their careers in the Negro Leagues. Not to be overshadowed, Cleveland professional football and basketball teams were part of landmark recruitment and staffing decisions paving the way for African Americans to showcase their skills, knowledge, and talent. It is also important to point out that Cleveland was a ‘Top 10’ US city and central to several significant groundbreaking civil rights events during the era.