Editing Talk:Moses Fleetwood Walker (section)

== International League as a major league in the 1880s ==
Another edit by the anonymous user:

:24.196.83.46 (→Baseball Career - International League was not a major league. It was the top minor league in the country, but it was not a major league. The two 1880s major leagues were the AA and the NL)

Here's the source:

"After playing two seasons in minor league baseball, Walker resurfaced in the majors playing for Newark of the International League in 1887. That season, he and star pitcher George Stovey formed the first black battery in organized baseball."

Source: http://www.blackathlete.net/artman/publish/article_0512.shtml

I'm not saying that's gospel, do you have a source indicating otherwise?

:I found a counter point:

:"When the International League was inaugurated in 1887, Walker and seven other African Americans including Fowler and Grant were part of the circuit. This league was (and is) one notch below the majors (AAA)."  Source: http://www.dickiethon.com/omnibus/negro_part1.htm [[User:Econrad|Econrad]] 3 July 2005 13:38 (UTC)


The blackathlete.net site is incorrect.  The International league was often considered the third best league in the country one notch below the two majors.  Any baseball encyclopedia will confirm the the American Association and the National League were the two major leagues in 1887.

See for example these two baseball reference sites and their list of major leagues by year:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/

and

http://baseball-almanac.com/yearmenu.shtml

Properly, these reference sites make no mention of the International League as a major league.