occupation curt welch
Baseball is a bat - and - ball ___MASK93___ played between two teams of nine players each , who take turns batting and fielding . Moses Fleetwood " Fleet " Walker ( October 7 , 1856May 11 , 1924 ) was an American ___MASK16___ , inventor , and author . He is credited by some with being the first African American to play Major League Baseball . Walker played one season as the catcher of the Toledo Blue Stockings , a club in the American Association . He then played in the minor leagues , until 1889 , when professional baseball erected a color barrier , that stood for nearly 60 years , until the game was once again integrated , with the rise of Jackie Robinson , in 1947 , which brought an end to the segregated Negro Leagues . After leaving baseball , Walker became a businessman and advocate of Black nationalism . Weldy Wilberforce Walker ( July 27 , 1860  November 23 , 1937 ), sometimes known as Welday Walker and W . W . Walker , was an American ___MASK16___ . In 1884 , he became the second African American to play Major League Baseball . The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati , Ohio . The Reds compete in ___MASK1___ League Baseball ( MLB ) as a member club of the National League ( NL ) Central division . They were a charter member of the American Association in 1882 and joined the NL in 1890 . The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs , known simply as the National League ( NL ), is the older of two leagues constituting ___MASK1___ League Baseball ( MLB ) in the United States and Canada , and the world ' s oldest current professional team sports league . Founded on February 2 , 1876 , to replace the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , it is sometimes called the Senior Circuit , in contrast to MLB ' s other league , the American League , which was founded 25 years later . Both leagues currently have 15 teams . The two league champions of 1903 arranged to compete against each other in the inaugural World Series . After the 1904 champions failed to reach a similar agreement , the two leagues formalized the World Series as an arrangement between the leagues . National League teams have won 48 of the 112 World Series contested from 1903 to 2016 . The 2016 National League champions are the Chicago Cubs . Toledo is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County , Ohio , United States . Toledo is in northwest Ohio , at the western end of Lake Erie bordering the state of Michigan . The city was founded by United States citizens in 1833 on the west ___MASK39___ of the Maumee River , and originally incorporated as part of Monroe County , Michigan Territory . It was re - founded in 1837 , after conclusion of the Toledo War , when it was incorporated in Ohio . The Toledo Blue Stockings formed as a minor league baseball team in Toledo , Ohio in 1883 . They won the Northwestern League championship in 1883 . Their home ballpark was League Park . The following year , they joined the ___MASK1___ league American Association . That year , they finished 8th with a 46 - 58 record . The team returned to the minors the next year and disbanded after the 1885 season . Historically , the team is best known for being the only ___MASK1___ league team with black players ( Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother , Weldy Walker ) ___MASK64___ to Jackie Robinson ' s appearance with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 . The Louisville Colonels were a ___MASK1___ League Baseball team that played in the American Association ( AA ) throughout that league ' s ten - year existence from 1882 until 1891 . They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884 , and as the Louisville Colonels from 1885 to 1891 . The latter name derived from the historic Kentucky colonels . After the AA folded in 1891 , the Colonels joined the National League and played through the 1899 season . Kentucky ___MASK4___ is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky . Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the governor and the ___MASK22___ of state to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community , state or the nation . The sitting governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky bestows the honor of a ___MASK4___ ' s commission , by issuance of letters patent . Curtis Benton Welch ( February 11 , 1862 -- August 29 , 1896 ) born in East Liverpool , Ohio , was a ___MASK1___ League Baseball outfielder for the Toledo Blue Stockings , St . Louis Browns , Philadelphia Athletics , Baltimore Orioles , Cincinnati Reds , and Louisville Colonels . At the end of each ___MASK1___ League Baseball season , the league leaders of various statistical categories are announced . Leading the league in a particular category is referred to as a " title ". Jack Roosevelt " Jackie " Robinson ( January 31 , 1919  October 24 , 1972 ) was an American professional baseball second baseman who became the first African American to play in ___MASK1___ League Baseball ( MLB ) in the modern era . Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15 , 1947 . The Dodgers , by signing Robinson , heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s . Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 .