Blacks in Baseball
Unfinished History
1944 Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard Softball Team, "The Honey Bees," which played in the city league against Coca Cola, Southern Pacific, etc., nearly a decade before professional baseball's color line was cracked by Jackie Robinson's ascent to the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Photo: African American Historical and Cultural Society, San Francisco, CA
<iframe width="100%" height="100" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/318483843&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true"></iframe>
East Bay Yesterday podcast on the history of east bay baseball before the Oakland A's.
Courtesy: East Bay Yesterday
1958 photograph of legendary San Francisco Giant, Willie Mays.
Photo: San Francisco History Room, San Francisco Public Library
In 1958, Willie Mays, baseball's greatest center fielder and star of the San Francisco Giants, could not rent the house of his choice in Forest Hill until Mayor Christopher publicly invited Willie to stay as his guest while the problem was resolved (Willie got his house the next day).
Willie Mays with his wife and child, c. 1959.
Photo: OpenSFHistory.org
Willie Mays' original home in Forest Hill, 1958.
Photo: OpenSFHistory.org