All Time "Ethnic" Baseball Teams

AFRICAN - AMERICAN

Brooks Robinson 3B

I'm having a bit of trouble manning my all Jewish team. Anyone know of a Jewish second baseman or outfielder (I'm one short.)

Accepting $20 a week to play third base for the Philadelphia Athletics in l866, Lip Pike became baseball's first professional player. Other top players soon followed suit, and within three years, the first all-pro team was born in Cincinnati.

The National Association, the first professional league, was founded in 1871, and Pike played and managed the N.A. Troy Haymakers, batting .351. His six year National Association batting average was .321, and his five season National League average was .306, with 5 home runs, 36 doubles, 16 triples and 88 RBIs.

Pike was also baseball's first homerun champion. Although the exact number of his round-trippers is not known, it is recorded that he hit six homers in one game in July, l866.

Primarily an outfielder, Pike played every position, and batted and threw left-handed. His career spanned 1865-1887, playing, playing/managing or managing numerous teams in six different leagues. Among his teams were the Brooklyn Atlantics, Philadelphia Athletics, Lord Baltimores, Troy Haymakers, St. Louis Brown Stockings, Cincinnati Red Stockings, Hartford Nutmegs, and the original New York Mets.

"Close don't count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades."

"I don't see why you reporters keep confusing Brooks (Robinson) and me. Can't you see that we wear different numbers."

In 1987 the spunky, 5'9" Candaele played six positions and finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year balloting. His teammates had a pool to guess the date of his first home run; it came on July 19, and was the shortest ever to clear the fence at Olympic Stadium. A special yellow seat was set in the first row of bleachers to mark the shot. The switch-hitter was later demoted and traded to Houston in mid-1988. His most productive season came in 1991 when he played in a career-high 151 games for the Astros while hitting .262 with four home runs and 50 RBIs. After being out of baseball for two years, Candaele resurfaced briefly a reserve for the Indians' division-winning squads in 1996 and 1997. Casey's mother, Helen Callahan St. Aubin, played in the professional All American Girls Baseball League of 1942-1954 and had 354 steals in 388 games.