Between 1884 and 1947, from the year that Moses Fleetwood Walker played for the American Association’s Toledo Mud Hens until the Brooklyn Dodgers inserted Jackie Robinson into the lineup, the most prominent minority in baseball was American Indians.

One of the most insightful chapters in Larry Ritter’s classic, “The Glory of Their Times,” is based on his interviews with John Tortes “Chief” Meyers, the slugging catcher who played for John McGraw’s New York Giants and, in his career’s twilight, for the Dodgers and Boston Braves, from 1909 to 1917. Although Meyers, a California Cahuilla Indian, had matriculated at Dartmouth and was better educated than most ballplayers, his peers often treated him poorly. Meyers answered with his bat, compiling a .291 lifetime batting average. His 1912 mark of .358 was second in the league only to the Chicago Cubs’ triple-crown winner Henry Zimmerman’s .372.

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Joe Guzzardi is a Society for American Baseball Research and Internet Baseball Writers’ Association member. Contact him at guzzjoe@yahoo.com.

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