Obscure baseball trivia: who was the first black pitcher in modern MLB?

I didn’t know this in a trivia contest. The man was Dan Bankhead, who made four relief appearances for the 1947 Dodgers. (The legendary Satchel Paige was the first black pitcher in the American League.)

Although Bankhead was not especially successful on the mound that year (7.20 ERA), he did manage to homer in his first at bat, and he did get into the World Series that year – as a pinch runner. An interesting question might be: How did a guy with a 7.20 ERA in four meaningless relief appearances get selected for the World Series roster?

Anyway, Bankhead labored in the Mexican leagues in his last 13 summers in pro ball, where he occasionally managed and was fairly successful as a two-way player well into his 40s.

2 thoughts on “Obscure baseball trivia: who was the first black pitcher in modern MLB?

  1. I would have guessed Newcombe and been way off.
    Talking baseball, I wonder if any club has ever disposed of as much of their Opening Day team at the trading deadline as the Nats did last weekend : P (Scherzer), C (Gomes), 2B (Castro), 3B (Harrison), SS (Turner), LF (Schwarber), closer (Hand) and #1 setup (Hudson). All, except Castro who was released, were traded. The shell-shocked survivors are Bell at 1st, Robles in CF, and Soto RF. Two years after a championship.

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