Gerald Early presented and answered questions on his role in preserving and sharing the history of Black baseball players during “An Evening with Gerald Early: ‘Reconceiving the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Black Baseball Exhibit,’” co-hosted by the WashU Alumni Association and College of Arts & Sciences on Wednesday, March 6. 

This talk was the second event in the “Power of Arts & Sciences” series, a string of events launched to display faculty speakers who embody the interdisciplinary might of Arts & Sciences.

Early, the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in the African and African-American Studies (AFAS) Department, is a St. Louis Walk of Fame honoree, two-time Grammy Award nominee, and celebrated author, and has been a faculty member at Washington University since 1982. 

His presentation focused on his work as a consultant to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., and its upcoming “The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball” exhibit. He also spoke about his accompanying book, “Play Harder: The Triumph of Black Baseball in America.” The exhibit opens on May 25, and the book releases this November. 

Major League Baseball (MLB) excluded Black players completely until 1947, when Jackie Robinson made his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the “color barrier.” Prior to integration, Black players had founded and played in several leagues now collectively known as the “Negro leagues” beginning in the late nineteenth century. 

Early said he researches baseball to find meaning in our fates as Americans. He said that he believes Americans can learn from Black baseball players who faced discrimination. 

He quoted several Black players who described how they proved their worth and fought the bigotry plaguing their sport and society, emphasizing a mantra they shared that all Americans should aspire to follow: 

“Always play harder.” 

Early said this phrase inspired the title of his book. It reflects the players’ approaches that Early emphatically described as being “both aspirational and militant.”  

“It was an expression of resistance against failure,” Early said. “‘I refuse to fail!’ is what the players were saying when they used it. Playing baseball was the triumph of their will.” 

Early explained how he, along with fellow baseball historians Rob Ruck, Larry Lester, Leslie Heaphy, and Rowan Ricardo Phillips, began their consultancy work in June 2022 by meeting with curators from Cooperstown to “not simply update the current exhibit on Black baseball, but to reconceive it.” 

The previous exhibit, which opened in 1997 and was initially named “Pride and Passion,” was seen as stale, according to Early. Early added that the political nature of a race-related exhibit subjects it to quickly becoming outdated. 

Citing the fierce struggle of operating the Negro leagues, Early said that the upcoming exhibit is a celebration of the American spirit. 

“This goes beyond just sports,” he said. “The thing I think is uplifting for all of us is thinking about Black people making this effort because they thought being an American was worth the effort.” 

The reconceived exhibit differentiates itself from the previous iteration through four distinct principles that Early and his colleagues abided by throughout this process: that Black baseball leagues be understood not as imitations of white leagues, but as their own distinct entities; that Black baseball players be celebrated and portrayed to the public as a group that has played baseball for nearly as long as whites; that they honor the way the Black press and other Black institutions of the era supported Black baseball throughout its entire existence; and that all the voices in the exhibit be Black voices. Early said that he regards the last principle as the most important one, as the story would be told by those who experienced segregation. He referred to this as “history from the ground-up rather than from the top-down.” 

However, Early said that he made it a point in the exhibit not to gloss over the brutality of the treatment of Black players, and to not avoid historical terms, particularly “Negro,” that some visitors of the old exhibit found offensive.  

“History is not meant to calm the conscience or validate the values of any particular group,” Early said. “In any case, curators have to be concerned these days about people being outraged or desiring comfort.” 

Early went on to highlight the dominance of Black MLB players by 1960, just 13 years after Robinson’s debut with the Dodgers.  

“You don’t have to be a fan of baseball to be stunned by the statistics,” he said. “This incredible talent had been suppressed.”  

He named Hall of Famer Satchel Paige as a prime, and particularly heartbreaking, example. Paige played in the Negro leagues beginning in 1926, yet was only afforded a Major League opportunity by the Cleveland Indians in 1948 at age 42, when he was well past his physical prime. 

Nonetheless, Early said that Paige’s life and career is also a story of the human spirit. 

“It’s a story that really lifts you up,” he said. 

Paige believed in himself enough and persevered until he finally received a chance, and competed in the major leagues until age 59. 

Early’s presentation was followed by a reception in the Frick Forum, where several members of the WashU community commented on the event.  

Feng Sheng Hu, the Richard G. Engelsmann Dean of Arts & Sciences, explained how the “Power of Arts & Sciences” series allows professors to educate the WashU community on “a wide range of disciplines, from classics to chemistry.” The common thread between every speaker, Hu said, is that they are all “brilliant scholars.” Hu said that as a prestigious institution, WashU attracts leading scholars. 

Organizers noted the event attracted an exceptionally large and diverse contingent of community members, but the absence of undergraduate students was noticeable. Hu attributed this to ongoing midterm exams, but, citing personal experience, Hu implored undergraduates to attend unique events such as Early’s presentation going forward. 

“These are truly such outstanding opportunities, and sometimes people need to understand that you’re not just in college for some grades,” Hu said. “Having the opportunity to attend a lecture by such eminent scholars could be a source of inspiration that will change your trajectory.”

Hu said he once attended a lecture that led him to an entirely new research field, and that he hoped events like Early’s could effectuate the same for students.

One senior in Olin, who requested anonymity, said they enjoyed the entire experience, and would like to visit Early’s exhibit. They said that they were interested in Early’s mention of how the only two athletes ever to be given the prestigious NAACP Spingarn Medal, which has been awarded annually since 1915 in recognition of an outstanding achievement by an African American, were both baseball players: Robinson and Hank Aaron. 

“I would want to dig deeper into Early saying that the NAACP really loved and revered Black baseball,” the student said. “I’m curious as to why they care about baseball in particular.” 

According to Early, the correct answer was the palpable resolve and mettle Robinson, Paige, Aaron, and others possessed. Asked how undergraduate students can apply the players’ “always play harder” mindset to their studies, Early invoked the key tenets he has found define what it means to be an American: to have the passion and perseverance that the Black players embodied. 

“I would hope that students would be inspired by the fact that these ball players took such pride in what they were doing that they felt they had to do it at the absolute top of their ability,” Early said. “To have their best as their standard.”