How best to integrate baseball early?

[DTF955]

Though this is for a book I'm pondering starting, since it's baseball history I've put the poll here - feel free to change it if needed.

My idea is a history of baseball with early integration, though surely not every name will get mentioned, it'll probably go season by season or something, highlighting pennant races, records, etc..

My question is, what's the best Point of Departure - that is, something changes so there's a push to integrate.

I'm figuring a player of Anson's stature is born to a fellow who doesn't does in the Civil War (easy to figure some 18-year-old lives instead of dies), and that this soldier, already from a more liberal home, has his life saved by someone from one of the Colored Regiments. That would get this player in in the 1880s, and give him power to do something by the 1890s.

OTOH, maybe you feel it's the soldier who has a bright baseball future that isn't snuffed out - maybe you think it has to be someone playing *before* Anson, in the 1870s, who maybe has a battle with Anson and his side prevails.

Or, maybe you think either way, Anson has to be eliminated, which is possible, too.

Thanks for your votes.

[DTF955]

One note, several answers say superstar int he 1880s, but while that's whent he person would have the most clout, he would have started in the 1870s - and actually probably the 1860s if he was only, say, 18 at Gettysburg. But it's in the 1880s that he'd start having the impact.

[Brian McKenna]

a group of men work, play and travel together for a a few years - finding work building offshoots of the transcontinental railroad, mining for gold in california and fighting in the civil war - these men are caucasion, african-american and chinese - they eventually funnel to the east coast playing professional ball - there are simply too many for a small faction of established baseball men to discriminate against - perhaps they join up with octavius catto in philadelphia - they enter the national association and tenacle throughout the league and eventually the national league

[DTF955]

Ooooh, clever - theres one I never thought of. Thanks. I'll definitely consider it. Probably one of them can sort of be the catalyst in the 1870s as a true baseball superstar.