Long before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, Denver played a key role in integrating America’s pastime. Now that statistics from the Negro Leagues are officially part of the MLB record books as of last month, we’re looking back to a time when history made its way through the Mile High City.
A Historic Invitation
In 1934, as The Denver Post was preparing to host its 20th annual baseball tournament, known as the “Little World Series of the West,” sports editor Poss Parsons invited the Negro National League champions, the Kansas City Monarchs, to participate in the competition. The tournament often featured some of the best players around the country, but they had been exclusively white up to that point.
The Monarchs faced off against a local Greeley team at Merchant’s Park on South Broadway (now a shopping center) on August 1, marking the first integrated professional game in the country. It wouldn’t be until 13 years later that Jackie Robinson started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, becoming the first Black player to play in the MLB.
Denver’s Team
Baseball has been popular in Colorado since before it even became a state. And while Denver did not have a professional Negro Leagues team, the all-Black White Elephants were the most prominent semi-professional baseball club in the city. The team was sponsored by businessman A.H.W Ross, who ran the historic Rossonian Hotel in Five Points at the time. During their 20-year existence, the White Elephants played primarily against all-white teams, a rarity at the time. The team included infielder Theodore “Bubbles” Anderson, the only Coloradan to play in the Negro Leagues.
