Weldy Wilberforce Walker (July 27, 1860 – November 23, 1937), sometimes known as Welday Walker and W. W. Walker, was an American professional baseball player. In 1884, he became the third African American to play Major League Baseball.
Walker played at Oberlin College and the University of Michigan. In July 1884, he joined the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association which was then part of Major League Baseball. His brother Moses Fleetwood Walker, commonly known as Fleetwood (or "Fleet") Walker, was the second African American to play Major League Baseball, making his debut two months before Weldy. In 1887, as racial segregation took hold in professional baseball, Weldy joined the Pittsburgh Keystones of the short-lived National Colored Base Ball League.
His March 1888 open letter to The Sporting Life protesting the racial segregation of baseball has been described as "perhaps the most passionate cry for justice ever voiced by an athlete."
After retiring from baseball, Walker operated restaurants and a hotel in eastern Ohio. In 1897, he served on the Executive Committee of the Negro Protective Party, a newly formed political party established in Ohio in protest of the failure of the Republican governor to investigate the lynching of an African American in June 1897 at Urbana, Ohio. In the 1900s, Weldy and his brother Fleetwood became active in the Back-to-Africa movement and promoted emigration to Liberia. The brothers also established and edited The Equator, a black issues newspaper.
Early years Walker was born in 1860 in Steubenville, Ohio, an industrial city in the eastern part of the state with a reputation for racial tolerance. Weldy's name was a combination of the biblical word for wealthy ("weldy") and the surname of English abolitionist William Wilberforce.
His parents, Moses W. Walker and Caroline (O'Hara) Walker, moved to Steubenville from Mount Pleasant, Ohio. His father was a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, a physician, and a leader in Steubenville's African-American community.Zang 1998, p. 16. In June 1870, at the time of the 1870 United States census, the Walker family was living in Steubenville's First Ward. Walker's father was identified as a minister who had been born in Virginia. The couple had four children listed in the Census: William (age 25), Mary (age 21), Sarah (age 19), Moses F. (age 11) and Weldy W. (age 9).Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Census Place: Steubenville Ward 1, Jefferson, Ohio; Roll: M593_1228; Page: 30B; Image: 65; Family History Library Film: 552727. In June 1880, at the time of the 1880 United States census, the family was still living in Steubenville and consisted of Moses (age 59, clergyman), Caroline (age 57), William (age 35, teamster), Sarah (age 22), Moses (age 21, at school), Weldan (age 19, at school), and Mary Alexander (age 13, adopted).Ancestry.com. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Census Place: Steubenville, Jefferson, Ohio; Roll: 1037; Family History Film: 1255037; Page: 452D; Enumeration District: 110; Image: 0495.
Weldy attended Steubenville's integrated public high school in the 1870s.Zang 1998, p. 15.
College baseball
While Weldy was still in high school, his older brother, Fleetwood Walker, enrolled at Oberlin College, which was among the first colleges in the United States to become racially integrated. In 1881, Weldy joined his brother at Oberlin College, enrolling as a student in the Oberlin's preparatory school. In the spring of 1881, the Walker brothers played on Oberlin College's first varsity inter-collegiate baseball team. Weldy, a freshman, played right field while Fleetwood, a junior, was the catcher.Zang 1998, p. 22. According to one account, Weldy played second base and finished the 1881 season as Oberlin's second leading batter.
After the 1881 baseball season, Weldy's brother Fleetwood transferred to the University of Michigan and played as a catcher for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team in 1882. Fleetwood became the first African American to play on a varsity sports team at Michigan and helped lead the Wolverines to a 10–3 record, a conference championship, and the best record for a Michigan baseball team up to that time.Adler 2004, p. 15. Weldy initially remained at Oberlin, but he transferred to Michigan in the fall of 1882 as a student in the homeopathic medical school.Zang 1998, p. 32. In the fall of 1882, the Oberlin Review reported: "Weldy Walker, '85 leaves to assist his brother in making the 'Ann Harbor' [sic] nine a little more able to compete with Oberlin." Two weeks later, a writer for an Ann Arbor newspaper noted that "we have added to the list Weldy Walker, a magnificent fielder, safe batter, and phenomenal base runner." Before the 1883 baseball season began, Fleetwood left Michigan to play professional baseball for a team from New Castle, Pennsylvania.
During the 1883 season, Weldy became the second African American to play for the Michigan baseball team. He played third base for Michigan and also served on the board of directors of the University Base-Ball Association.The University Palladium, 1884, The Inland Press, p. 67. Weldy also played for Michigan as a catcher during part of the 1884 baseball season.Adler 2004, p. 16. Weldy scored four runs and had four hits in five at-bats to help Michigan defeat Michigan Agricultural College (later known as Michigan State University) on June 14, 1884.Adler 2004, p. 11. According to Rich Adler's book Baseball at the University of Michigan, each of the Walker brothers was "accepted as a member of the student body," although neither received a degree from the university.Adler 2004, p. 10.
Professional baseball
Toledo Blue Stockings At the start of the 1884 baseball season, Weldy continued to study homeopathic medicine and play baseball at Michigan. Meanwhile, Fleetwood was playing for the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association, which was considered to be part of Major League Baseball. On May 1, 1884, Fleetwood became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball.Peterson 1970, p. 22.
As the 1884 baseball season progressed, the roster of the Toledo Blue Stockings was depleted by injuries. In need of additional players, the team recruited Weldy to join his brother in Toledo. Weldy appeared in his first game for the Blue Stockings on July 15, 1884, becoming the second African American to play Major League Baseball. ("His brother, Weldy Wilberforce Walker, who was to become the second Negro major leaguer, played right field.") ("Fleet's brother, Weldy, joined the Bluestockings and played in five games in 1884, and thus, he too competed in baseball's major leagues.") ("Fleet and his brother Welday were on the team, becoming the first two black players in Major League history") ("two former University of Michigan students, Fleetwood and Welday Walker, became the first African Americans to play in the major leagues") Weldy appeared in five games as an outfielder for the Blue Stockings between July 15 and August 6, 1884. He had four hits, two runs batted in, and one run scored in 18 at-bats for a .222 batting average. After a series in Indianapolis, an article in The Sporting Life noted that "the Toledos were short-handed and played Weldy Walker, a brother of the catcher; he played well." The Walker brothers in 1884 were the last African Americans to play Major League Baseball for more than 60 years until Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Segregation of baseball and minor leagues Weldy blamed Chicago White Stockings player-manager Cap Anson for the fact that neither he, his brother, nor any other African Americans were allowed to play in the major leagues after 1884. During the 1884 season, Anson refused to play against Toledo until the Walker brothers were benched. In 1887, Anson again refused to play against the Newark team on which Fleetwood played. Anson biographer David L. Fleitz shared Weldy's belief that Anson was responsible for the game's segregation: "Cap Anson, more than anyone else, was the man who wielded the infamous pen."
Following his time with the Blue Stockings, Weldy played for the Cleveland team in the Western League. During the 1885 season, Weldy compiled a .375 batting average for the Cleveland Forest Cities. In 1886, Weldy played third base for the Excelsior Club in Cleveland. (available by subscription from genealogybank.com)
Open letter on racial segregation By early 1887, 13 African Americans were playing in the "white" minor leagues, including four in the Ohio State League. Weldy began the season with the Akron Acorns of the Ohio State League. However, he appeared in only four games for the Acorns. During the 1887 season, racial segregation began to become the official policy in certain minor leagues. Weldy was outraged by a report that the Tri-State League (successor to the Ohio State League) had abandoned racial integration. In March 1888, he wrote a letter to the league's president protesting the decision. In his 1970 history of racial segregation in baseball, Robert Peterson described Weldy's letter as "perhaps the most passionate cry for justice ever voiced by a Negro athlete."Peterson 1970, p. 32. In the letter, Walker wrote:The law is a disgrace to the present age, and reflects very much upon the intelligence of your last meeting, and casts derision at the laws of Ohio – the voice of the people – that say all men are equal. I would suggest that your honorable body, in case that black law is not repealed, pass one making it criminal for a colored man or woman to be found on a ball ground ... There should be some broader cause – such as lack of ability, behavior and intelligence – for barring a player, rather than his color. It is for these reasons and because I think ability and intelligence should be recognized first and last – at all times and by everyone – I ask the question again, 'Why was the law permitting colored men to sign repealed, etc.?'
On March 14, 1888, and at Weldy's request, his letter was published in The Sporting Life under the headline "Why Discriminate?" In his book on baseball's segregation, Robert Peterson wrote that Weldy's question "went unanswered, because it was unanswerable . . . but the truth was plain for all who wished to see it: Jim Crow was warming up."Peterson 1970, p. 33.
Pittsburgh Keystones In 1887, Weldy joined the Pittsburgh Keystones in the newly formed National Colored Base Ball League and compiled a .360 batting average in five games as a player. Although the National Colored Base Ball League disbanded after a short time, the Keystones continued to play as an independent team. Weldy took over as the team's manager in 1888 and led the Keystones to a 9–1 record in the first ten games of the season. The Keystones' lineup in 1888 also included Sol White. In early June 1888, The Cleveland Gazette wrote that Weldy was "making quite a success of the Keystone Base Ball Club." (available by subscription from genealogybank.com)
Civil rights efforts and business career
1884 civil rights lawsuit