Sol White
| Solomon "Sol" White | |
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| Second Base, Manager, Historian | |
| Born: June 12, 1868 Bellaire, Ohio |
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| Died: August 26, 1955 (aged 87) New York City, New York |
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| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| Professional debut | |
| Negro leagues: 1889 for the New York Gorhams | |
| Last professional appearance | |
| 1926 for the Newark Stars (Manager) | |
| Teams | |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
Negro league baseball
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| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame |
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| Inducted | 2006 |
King Solomon White (June 12, 1868 - August 26, 1955) was an American professional baseball infielder, manager and executive, and one of the pioneers of the Negro leagues. An active sportswriter for many years, he wrote the first definitive history of black baseball in 1907. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Bellaire, Ohio, White's playing career lasted from 1887 to 1912, followed by several additional seasons of managing. He played a major role on many of the greatest teams throughout that era.
[edit] Playing career
While enrolled at Wilberforce University, White joined the 1887 Pittsburgh Keystones of the world's first Negro League the National Colored Base Ball League[1] as a second baseman and was batting .308 when the league after a week of play. He then joined the Wheeling (West Virginia) Green Stockings of the Ohio State League and batted. 371. White made a name for himself in the predominately white minor leagues of the time and batted .385 for Fort Wayne, Indiana of the Western Interstate League in 1895. He played for the New York Gorhams in 1889 which was a black team that played in the otherwise white Middle States League and won that league's championship. Also in 1895, White played for Bud Fowler's barnstorming Page Fence Giants team, batting .404 as the Giants finished with an impressive 118-36-2 record and played in 112 towns in 7 states.
He was instrumental in the 1902 formation of the Philadelphia Giants and the later development and operation of various leagues.
[edit] Negro league writings
The 1907 book Sol White's History of Colored Baseball was the first volume to discuss black baseball. White's History begins with the organization in 1885 of the first professional colored baseball team, discusses the brusque removal of all black players from predominantly white teams during the next four years, and then traces the growing strength of "colored base ball" into the early years of the 20th century. This short book-within-a-book is history, but it can also be described as an almanac, a scorecard, an archive, a who's who of African-American baseball up to 1907.
[edit] Death
White died at age 87 in Central Islip, New York. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Frederick Douglass Cemetery in the Oakwood neighborhood of Staten Island, NY.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Riley, James A. (1994). "White, Solomon (Sol)". The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. Carroll & Graf. pp. 836–37. ISBN 0-7867-0959-6.
- (Riley.) Sol White, Personal profiles at Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. – identical to Riley (confirmed 2010-04-13)
- (White.) Sol White's History of Colored Base Ball with Other Documents on the Early Black Game, 1886-1936, by Sol White. Compiled and with an introduction by Jerry Malloy (reprinted 1995, Univ. of Nebraska Press)
[edit] External links
- Sol White at the Baseball Hall of Fame
- 2006 Hall of Fame Inductee: Sol White (video) – unknown content, URL confirmed 2010-04-16
- Sol White at Negro Leagues Baseball Museum's eMuseum
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