Few men have dominant careers as baseball players. Even fewer have success as a manager.
But Rube Foster excelled on the diamond as a manager and as an executive, earning him the recognition as the “father of black baseball.”
Born on Sept. 17, 1879 in Calvert, Texas, Foster began his playing career pitching for the Fort Worth Yellow Jackets in 1897. By 1902, he was hurling for the Giants in Chicago, then jumped to the Otsego, Mich., semi-pro white team and before heading to the Philadelphia Cuban X Giants. That season he won 44 games in a row.
