The first to play..

Many people just think of Jackie Robinson as the first to play baseball on a all white team. Well, African-Americans began to engage the game of baseball in the mid to late 1800s. They played on military teams, college teams, and company teams. They eventually found their way to professional teams with white players. Moses Fleetwood Walker and Bud Fowler were among the first to participate. In 1887 Fleetwood played with Newark in the International League, where he and George Stovey formed the first black battery, and Walker hit .263 and stole 36 bases for the season. The superstar of the era, Cap Anson, refused to play in the game because of their presence, setting the stage for future exclusion of blacks from the established leagues. Before the color line was established, Walker also played with Cleveland in the Western League in 1885, but the team folded in June and he joined the Waterbury team, which played in both the Southern New England League and the Eastern League, during the remainder of the season. In 1886 he hit .209 with Waterbury, and he joined Newark in 1887. When the Newark team folded in the fall, he was signed by Syracuse of the International League, and after the 1889 season he was out of baseball.
However, racism and "Jim Crow" laws would force them from these teams by 1900. Thus, black players formed their own units, "barnstorming" around the country to play anyone who would challenge them.