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Adversity Breeds Inspiration: The Influences That
Molded Rube Foster into One of the Greatest
Baseball Minds in Black Ball
By Mike Griffen
“When the big game shall have become history there will stalk
acrossthe pagesof the recorda massivefigure and its namewill
be Andrew Foster…Always the center of any crowd, the magnet
attracting both the brains and the froth of humanity. Cold in
refusals, warm in assent….Known to everybody – knows
everybody.That’sRube.”1
- Dr.W. RolloWilson, PittsburghCourier,Oct.1924
Nearly seventy years have passed since Jackie Robinson broke Major League
Baseball’s color barrier and set in motion a movement towards the disintegration of the
systemic segregation inherent not only to American sports but American society as whole.
Robinson’s achievements were monumental and their impact on civil rights in the United
States cannot beunderstated.Forthis reasoncasualfansandscholarsalike areliable to point
to Robinson when asked to name the greatest figure in black baseball. His shadow over the
1 W. Rollo Wilson, “Rube Foster Dominating Figure in World Series,” Pittsburgh Courier, October 24, 1924.

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black game loomsso largethat it oftendwarfsthe merits of othergiants ofthe Negro Leagues
like Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, John Henry Lloyd, and countless others. But despite
Robinson’s renown, the most influential man in black baseball, the man that laid the
foundations for the integration of our national pastime, died nearly two decades before
Robinson took the field for the Dodgers.
Andrew “Rube” Foster was considered to be one of the greatest pitchers, managers,
and all-around baseball minds of the early twentieth century. His formation of the first
African American baseball organization, the Negro National League (NNL), gave black
baseball public legitimacy for the first time. Foster single-handedly ensured black baseball’s
endurance and relevance in modern society. He was the physical incarnation of the American
dream, a self-made, self-reliant pioneer. Born the son of a former slave, Rube's struggles
against racial injustice and segregation coupled with a difficult youth and limited education
opportunities sculpted Andrew Foster into one of the greatest figures the game has ever
witnessed.
Most scholars of the game recognize Foster’s profound impact, many even labeling him the
“Father of Black Baseball,”2 yet very few works about the life and significance of Rube Foster
tend to focus his great accomplishments and prowess as a baseball man. Scholarly and
popular works alike however, have underexamined the valuable role that his youth played in
molding him into what he became. In Foster biographies such as Robert Cottrell's The Best
Pitcher In Baseball: The Life of Rube Foster, Negro League Giant or Phil S. Dixon's Andrew
2 “The American Giants and Chicago’s Negro League Era Teams,” Black Baseball and Chicago: Essays onthe Players, Teams
and Games of the Negro Leagues' Most Important City, ed.Leslie A. Heaphy, (Jefferson,NC: McFarland & Company
Publishing,2006) 18-40.

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“Rube” Foster: A Harvest on Freedom's Fields, the authors tend to present his career in
progression, one event after another; Rube's formative years receive little more than a
cursory examination. This is true of scholarly pieces as well, except a more retrospective
approach is often taken. Foster's early years were marked by racial unrest and segregation
and family tragedy. But these struggle, combined with his inherent motivation and
headstrong, optimistic personality, introduced young Foster to the realities of the world he
would one day change and allowed him to achieve things that lesser men would not have
dreamed possible.
In April of 1864, Congress ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, officially declaring the
abolition of slavery in the United States. The ensuing period, dubbed the Reconstruction Era,
was a period of dramatic political and economic gains for African Americans. The Fourteenth
Amendment – which assured automatic citizenship and representation to all former slaves –
was passed in 1868 and the Fifteenth Amendment – which granted suffrage to all eligible
black citizens – was passed two years later. Beginning in the late 1860s continuing into the
mid-1870s, blacks, often aided by the military supervision of both black and white voters,
were frequently elected to local and national offices.3
But when Congress passed the Electoral Count Act, which settled the disputed
presidential election of 1876 by declaring Rutherford B. Hayes the victor, the situation for
southern blacks changed quickly.4 Many of the laws which benefited blacks during the
Reconstruction had to be enforced by troops.5 These troops essentially acted as a federal
3Randolph B. Campbell, “Reconstruction in McLenna County, Texas, 1865-1976,” Prologue27 (Spring 1995): 16-25.
4 “Shallthe Republicans Reject the Compromise,” Chicago Daily Tribune, January 22,1877.
5 “President Hayes in the South,” Christian Advocate (1866-1905); Oct 4,1877; 52.

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police forceandkeptthe peaceforthemost part. But when Hayeswonthepresidencydespite
receiving fewer popular and electoral votes, he was forced to concede to the Democrats
demand that the troops be removed from the South.6 The Reconstruction Era came to an
abrupt end without federal support and in the south, things shifted quickly. Within twenty
years the idea of “separate but equal” opportunities for blacks and whites had become
prominent in the South. The SupremeCourtupheld the constitutionality of segregatedpublic
institutions – such as railroad passenger cars, marriage, places of worship, and schools7 – in
the landmarkPlessy v. Ferguson caseof1896.8 Widespreadstatesanctioned segregationlaws,
also known as Jim Crow laws, came into effect in all southern states.
Andrew Foster was born in Calvert, Texas on September 17, 1879, two years after the
demise of Reconstruction to Andrew and Evaline Foster.9 In the years following his birth,
many of the advances made during the previous era were largely erased in the South.
Opportunities for rural blacks in the south were severely limited during young Andrew's
early life, but his family was better off than some. His father was the presiding elder at the
local American Methodist Episcopal Church10, which meant that, should he so choose, Rube
could have a secure job in the clergy when he came of age. It was more than many of his
contemporaries could say.
6“Hayes' Southern Policy,” Chicago Daily Tribune, November 5,1877.
7Lawrence D.Rice, The Negro in Texas, 1874-1900 (Baton Rouge: Lousiana State University Press, 1971)
8“United States Supreme Court Record,” The Chicago Tribune, April 14,1896.
9 1880 United States Census,s.v. “AndrewFoster,” Calvert, Robertson County, Texas,accessed through Ancestry.com.
10 Larry Lester, Rube Foster in His Time: On the Field and in the Papers With Black Baseball’s Greatest Visionary (Jefferson,
NC: McFarland & Company Publishers,2012) 6.

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Calvert was a small city in Robertson County, Texas with just north of two thousand
citizens. Located approximately one hundred miles northeast of Austin, the city's chief
employer was the local gin, which was at one time the largest in the state. Young blacks in
Calvert, and throughout the South had very few options. They could work the local cotton
fields, picking boll weevils off cotton and working at the gin or, if they were lucky enough to
be born into a landowning family, they could work on the family farm. Opportunities for
upward mobility in rural black communities in the post-Reconstruction era were practically
non-existant.
By all accounts, young Rube adapted and adhered to the principles and morals of his
family’s faith was a regular attendee at Sunday mass. But baseball was his first love. At the
time the game was looked down upon by blacks and whites alike as “low and
ungentlemanly.”11 His father disliked Rube’s infatuation with baseball, hoping instead that
his son would join him in the ministry. Despite his deep respect for his father, the elder
Foster's objections did little to change his love of the sport. Rube's dedication to the game
and disregard for the opinions of anyone who stood in the way of his aspirations would
become a hallmark of his personality.
Rube was the fifth of six children by Reverend and Evaline Foster. He grew up a strong
and healthy young man; athletic and agile as well as intelligent. Many of his siblings however,
were not so lucky.
11 Robert Charles Cottrell, Best Pitcher In Baseball: The Life of Rube Foster, Negro League Giant (NewYork: New York
University Press, 2001) 9.

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Tuberculosis, an infectious disease which primarily targets the lungs, spread like
wildfire through the American South during the late 1800s. Although the national death-rate
related to TB in the 1880s and 1890s was high – 6.5 deaths per 1000 people in the African-
American community – the Fosters suffered particularly hard.12 Of Rube's six siblings, half
yielded to the deadly disease and his mother suffered the same fate.
Up until the introduction and distribution of the antibiotic streptomycin in 1946,
there was no known cure for the disease and very few effective procedures. Surgical
intervention was the only form of treatment practiced at the time. The most common
operation, known as the “pneumothorax technique,” involved the induced collapse of a
contaminated lung with the purpose of letting it “rest,” allowing the tubercular lesions to
heal.13
Prevention of the disease was relatively unsophisticated at the time. It was thought
that one of the most effective ways to prevent the contraction of the tuberculosis – often
referred to as “consumption” around the turn of the century – was outdoor exposure and
exercise. Those at risk were advised by doctors such as Indiana State Health commissioner
John N. Hurty, to spend as much time as possible outdoors, even to sleep outside when they
could.
In an article which appeared in a 1914 edition of the Huntington Herald, Hurty
emphasized the importance of fresh air in the fight against tuberculosis: “Spend as much of
12 T.M. Daniel, “The Impact of Tuberculosis on Civilization,” Infectious Disease Clinics of North America, vol. 18,no. 1, 157-
165,2004.
13Thomas Shields, General Thoriac Surgery (7th ed.) (Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams
& Wilkings) 79.

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your time as possible in the open air, protected, in winter by suitable clothing,” and “If
possible, sleep out of doors in a tent or on a porch. If this is impossible, sleep in a room with
all of the windows open, but with enough cover to keep you warm.”14
Unsurprisingly,the toll that tuberculosishadtaken onhis family hadan effectonRube.
He adhered to the prevailing sentiment that fresh air could help prevent its spread and
baseball helped him get all the air and exercises he needed. In an indirect way, the spread of
tuberculosiswithin his family pushedFosteronto a collision coursewith his destiny. It forced
him to be outside and practice different forms of physical exertion and although his father
was averse to the game of baseball becoming a potential career path for his son, Rev. Foster
supported frequent exercise, particularly during periods where family members were sick.
This exposureto thegameaided the earlydevelopmentofsomeof his intrinsic talents.
Even from a young age Foster’s affinity for leadership and ball-playing was evident. There
are multiple accounts of his organizing and operating a baseball team when he was still in
gradeschool,then setting up andrunning a local league ayearlater.15 On the field, Rube,who
would grow into a strapping 6'3”, 260 lbs pitcher, showed obvious talent both on the mound
and at the plate. His involvement in this semi-formal league help him catch the attention of
some semi-pro teams in his late teams.
Foster himself acknowledged baseball as the primary influence which help him reach
adulthood. In a 1907 article by sportswriter Fredrick North Shorey of the Indianapolis
Freeman, Rubewasquotedin a statement abouthis youthsaying, “If it hadn'tbeenforplaying
14J.N Hurty, “Health -- How to Preserve It, Disease -- How to Prevent It” Huntington Herald, December 8, 1914.
15 Cottrell, The Best Pitcher in Baseball, 9.

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ball and living outdoors, I don't suppose I'd been here today. All the rest of my family died of
consumption and I suppose I'd gone the same way if it hadn't been for baseball.”16
Later in the article, which was written three days before Foster's twenty-eighth
birthday, Shorey describes Foster as “apparently well educated.”17 In his assessment of
Rube's education, Shorey is only half-correct.
In 1890, the “separate but equal” doctrine, which permitted the systematic
segregationofsociety anddisenfranchisementof African-Americans,took effectin theSouth.
On paper, the basic foundation of the doctrine was the guarantee of equal protection of all
citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment. It permitted the separation of many aspects of
public life – housing, education, public facilities and accommodations, employment, etc. –
along racial lines, as long as the quality provided was equal all parties. The laws that were
spawned by the passing of the doctrine and the subsequent upholding ofits constitutionality
in the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896, were dubbed the Jim Crow laws.
During the early years of the Jim Crow era, elementary school was often the pinnacle
of education for Southern blacks.18 Many rural blacks were forced to miss school because
their family required their services on the farm or at home. Southern states typically spent
less money on their educational system than their Northern counterparts and the majority
of the spending went towards white schools. The lack of funding made it difficult to find
16Fredrick North Shorey, “A Historical Account of a Great Game of Ball: How Rube Foster Cleaned Up With One
of the Best Teams in the Country,” Indianapolis Freeman, September 14, 1907.
17Ibid.
18 LeuthelTate Green, “Gender Differences and African American Education,” Encyclopedia of African-American Education,
ed. Faustine Childress Jones-Wilson (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996) 181-184.

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educators of any color who were willing to take the pittance offered by black schools.
Additionally, black education during the 1890s tended to adhere to the principles of political
activist Booker T. Washington, who urged a focus on vocational education.19 Washington's
principles were, by nature, accommodations to the very segregation which blacks across the
South were trying to battle. A focus on vocational education, even at the highest level, limited
the potential for mobility in comparison to a well-rounded approach.
Foster spent his youth under the shadow of the injustice of the Jim Crow laws. By the
time young Rube had reached grammar school age, Calvert schools had already been
completely segregated, forcing him to attend the only school that accepted African American
children. Conditions in black schools at the time were abysmal. The schools themselves were
filthy and overcrowded. Supplies such as books were outdated and in poor condition,
teachers were vastly outnumbered by students who ranged from toddlers to 8th graders and
limits were often placed on what black students could be taught (for instance, black schools
were frequently prohibited from using textbooks which included the Declaration of
Independence to prevent exposure to the ideas of equality and freedom.)
Limited opportunities notwithstanding, Rube made it further than most. To his
father's bemusement, he dropped out of school in 8th grade to pursue a career as a
ballplayer.20 But despite the premature end to his schooling, Rube continued his studies on
19 Booker T. Washington, "IndustrialEducation for the Negro," in The Negro Problem, A Series of Articles by Representative
American Negroes of Today (New York: James Pott 1903) 9-29.
20 Cottrell, The Best Pitcher in Baseball, 9.

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his own. Those who knew him always assumed that he was highly educated and indeed, he
projected an aura of intelligence matching that of a highly educated gentleman.
Early in his career, after Rube had begun to create a reputation as a dominant pitcher,
Chicago black baseball magnate Frank C. Leland, invited him to join the newly formed
Chicago Union Giants (Leland Giants.) Leland informed Foster that he would be challenged
as a member of the team since they intended to play all the best white clubs. Rube's response
embodied everything that he was as a man. In his accustomed cocky tone, he replied, “If you
play the best clubs in the land, white clubs, as you say it, it will be a case of Greek meeting
Greek. I fear nobody.”21
Foster's uninhibited intelligence and flair is on exhibit here. He begins by displaying
pride in the ability of his race with a subtle, sarcastic response to Leland's implication that
“white teams,” were the best in the land. He then says that if they will be playing the best
teams in the nation, “it will be a case of Greek against Greek.” The ancient Greeks were a
highly competitive culture. The stakes were high in any competition. The loser would often
be shunned, exiled, or even killed as a result of their defeat. Greek culture was not widely
taught in southern black schools, so Rube's knowledge of the subject and subsequent
declaration, “I fear nobody,” suggests that he continued his personal education independent
of formal schooling, as does his talent as a writer.
Beginning in the early 1910s and continuing up until the end of his time in baseball,
Rube was a regular contributor to Chicago's black newspaper, The Defender, as well as the
Chicago Tribune. He used the medium to promote his intentions and ideals. He was a
21 Cottrell, The Best Pitcher in Baseball, 10.

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historian of “black ball,” penning countless articles about the progress blacks had made in
the game and suggesting ways to fix the issues impeding their progress. His writing was not
elegant but straight to the point and highly persuasive. Through a series of weekly articles in
the Chicago Defender titled, “The Pitfalls of Baseball,”22 he successfully achieved his goal of
persuading his fellow owners to unify and form the first truly organized and profitable all-
black baseball league. His proficiency with the pen and relationship with the press made him
arguably the most well-known media figure in baseball outside of Babe Ruth.23
Historians often seek understand great historical figures through analysis of their
greatest accomplishments or their greatest follies; the seminal events that defined their lives
and continue to shape their legacies. But how can one hope to wholly understand someone
if they do not first examine the environments, events, and situations that shaped them?
Rube Foster was one of the most remarkable baseball minds the game has ever seen.
His unique brand of thinking and limitless ambition garnered him respect from blacks and
whites alike. Hall of Fame shortstop Honus Wagner called him “the smartest pitcher I’ve ever
seen,”24
legendary managers Connie Mack and John. J. McGraw were said to frequent Foster's
office or residence to talk baseball and ask for advice25 and it is rumored that he taught the
great Christy Mathewson his devastating “fade-away” or screwball pitch.26
He dealt with
white MLB counterparts such as American League founder Ban Johnson and Chicago White
22 Rube Foster, “The Pitfalls of Baseball,” Chicago Defender, Nov. 29,1919–Jan.17,1920.
23 “Rube Foster: Master Mind of Baseball, Passes Away,” Chicago Defender, Dec. 13,1930.
24Robert Peterson,Only the Ball Was White, (New York: Random House Value Publishing: 1970) 115.
25Cottrell, The Best Pitcher In Baseball, 182.
26
Donn Rogosin, Invisible Men: Life in Baseball's Negro Leagues (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007,) 10.

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Sox owner Charles Comiskey as equals27 and it is rumored that, before he died, he had plans
to integrate white ballplayers into his league.28
RubeFoster'syouthin ruralTexasturned him into the man hewould oneday become.
The obstacles he was forced to overcome, Jim Crow laws, poor education prospects and
facilities, constant threat of tubercular infection, were the driving force behind his growth as
a man, a ballplayer, and even his survival. Were it not for the game of baseball he may not
havesurvived.If hehadbeen raisedunderdifferent,tamer conditions, it is quitepossible that
he would not have gone down the path he ultimately chose and the contributions he
ultimately made would not have occurred. The game of baseball and indeed, the state of race
relations in our country may have turned out different.
27 Cottrell, The Best Pitcher in Baseball, 183.
28 Bill James, “The NegroLeauges,” The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (NewYork: Simon &Schuster, Inc.,
2001) 168.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Documents
Ancestry.com
Archive.org
Chicago Defender
Chicago Tribune
ChristianAdvocate
HuntingtonHerald
IndianapolisFreeman
PittsburghCourier
Secondary Sources
Campbell, Randolph B. “ReconstructioninMcLenna County,Texas, 1865-1976,” InPrologueMagazine,
Spring 1995.
Cottrell, Robert Charles. TheBestPitcher InBaseball:TheLifeofRubeFoster,Negro LeagueGiant.New
York:New YorkUniversity Press, 2001.
Daniel, T.M.“TheImpact of TuberculosisonCivilization,” InInfectiousDiseaseClinics ofNorthAmerica,
vol.18, no. 1, 2004.
Green, Leuthel Tate. “Gender Differences and African-American Education,” In Encyclopedia of
African-American Education. Edited by Faustine Childress Jones-Wilson. Westport, CT: Greenwood
Publishing Company, 1996.
Heaphy,Leslie A. “TheAmerican Giants and Chicago’s Negro League EraTeams.” In Black Baseballand
Chicago:EssaysonthePlayers,Teams andGames oftheNegro Leagues’MostImportantCity.Editedby
Leslie A. Heaphy. Jefferson,NC: McFarland & Company Publishers, 2006.
James, Bill. TheNewBill JamesHistoricalBaseballAbstract.New York:Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2001.
Lester, Larry. Rube Foster In His Time: On the Field and in the Papers With Black Baseball’s Greatest
Visionary.Jefferson,NC: McFarland & Company Publishers, 2012.
Peterson, Robert. Only the BallWas White. New York:Random House Value Publishing, 1970.
Rice,LawrenceD.TheNegro inTexas,1874-1900.BatonRouge:LousianaState University Press,1971.
Rogosin, Donn. Invisible Men: Life in Baseball’s Negro Leagues. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska
Press, 2007.
Shields, Thomas. General Thoiac Surgery, 7th. Ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott
Williams & Wilkings, 2009.