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Solomon White

Second Base, Manager, Historian

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, in 1907 he wrote the first definitive history of black baseball. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. 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. While enrolled at Wilberforce University, White joined the 1887 Pittsburgh Keystones of the world's first Negro League the National Colored Base Ball League 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 a terrific 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. 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 twentieth 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.

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.