Bud Fowler

Bud Fowler (born March 16, 1858, Fort Plain, New York, U.S.—died February 26, 1913, Frankfort, New York) was an American baseball player widely recognized as having been the first Black man to compete in organized professional baseball. He played primarily in the 1880s and ’90s, before team owners and other leaders in the sport firmly established a colour barrier that excluded Blacks from playing in the major or minor leagues. (After lasting for decades, the colour barrier was finally broken by Jackie Robinson in the 1940s.) Fowler earned a reputation as one of the best players of his era, gaining particular fame as a second baseman. He also served as a manager at various times and helped found a number of ball clubs.

Early life

John W. Jackson, Jr., grew up in Cooperstown, New York, the legendary birthplace of baseball. There he learned the game and played for several years as an amateur. His habit of calling others “Bud” led to his becoming known by that nickname. It is not clear, however, why he took the surname Fowler. He had adopted the surname by the time he began his professional career in 1878. That year he played briefly for the Lynn (Massachusetts) Live Oaks of the International Association, one of the first minor leagues to be formed. Over the next few seasons he appeared with several other teams. Fowler saw action mostly as a pitcher and as a catcher early in his career.

Star second baseman

By 1884 Fowler had begun to focus on playing second base. Overuse of his pitching arm may have been his reason for switching positions. In 1885 he became the second baseman for the Keokuk (Iowa) Hawkeyes of the Western League. Sporting Life magazine once highlighted his exceptional talent at the position, declaring, “Those who know say there is no better second baseman in the country.” Fowler also provided solid hitting for a number of teams. In 1886 he signed with another Western League club, the Topeka (Kansas) Capitals. He posted a batting average of .309 that season and hit a league-leading 12 triples. Playing for the Binghamton (New York) Crickets of the International Association the following year, he recorded a .350 batting average.

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Despite Fowler’s stellar play, his stints with various ball clubs were often short-lived because of the racism and harassment he faced. In Binghamton, for example, his time on the team came to an end after white players protested his presence by refusing to take the field for a game in June 1887. The club’s directors later fined those players for their actions, but by that time Fowler had asked for and had been granted his release from the team. He went on to play for such clubs as the Terre Haute (Indiana) Hoosiers of the Central Interstate League, Greenville of the Michigan State League, and the Lincoln/Kearney Giants of the Nebraska State League. During this period the number of Black players in organized baseball steadily declined as efforts to exclude them mounted. By the early 1890s Fowler was one of the very few Black players left in the minor leagues.

Later years

In 1894 Fowler worked with another prominent Black player of the era, Grant (“Home Run”) Johnson, and a group of businessmen to form a Black professional baseball team. It was called the Page Fence Giants and was based in Adrian, Michigan. The team took its name from its main sponsor, the Page Woven Wire Fence Company. The Giants were largely a barnstorming team, spending most of their time on the road looking for other clubs to play against. Fowler was the Giants’ player-manager during their inaugural season in 1895. That spring the Giants played a two-game exhibition against a major-league team, the Cincinnati Reds. Although the Giants lost both games, Fowler’s dynamic play stood out. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Fowler, who was 37 years old at the time, was “as spry and as fast as any man on the field.”

Fowler subsequently returned to the Michigan State League, where he played briefly for teams in Adrian and Lansing in 1895. That marked the end of his career in the minor leagues. He later helped organize other Black barnstorming teams, most notably the All-American Black Tourists, a club based in Findlay, Ohio. Fowler served as a player-manager for the All-American Black Tourists into the early years of the 20th century. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on July 24, 2022.