A sporting achievement is likely to be greater and more impressive when you consider how it came about. George Altmanwho died recently, was born in Goldsboro, USA. Not only is this a small town in North Carolina, but it was also racially segregated in 1933, the year Altman was born. That in itself was a crappy prerequisite for a black boy to start life. His mother died when he was four. His father raised the children alone, and he didn’t understand or support the fact that his son George was always on the streets playing baseball and basketball.
“My father always thought that sports were a waste of time,” Altman wrote in his autobiography. “He couldn’t imagine that you could make a living from sport.” But George was good enough to get a scholarship to what is now called Tennessee State University. After graduating in 1955, he became a professional baseball player where he was accepted but didn’t pay well: with the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues.
At that time, blacks were already playing in Major League Baseball (MLB). But it was just the case that they were allowed to play there, as the MLB clubs really thought: As if it were a grace granted. In 1947, African-American Jackie Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Someone like George Altman can attest to the fact that Robinson’s signing in the MLB was not the one and only breakthrough in US sports.
Robinson wasn’t the biggest star in black baseball when he was brought in. He was considered much more than someone who appeared smart and modest enough to be acceptable to the white sports public – and who at the same time was trusted to be able to cope with the insults and humiliations that awaited him.
In addition, the declared goal of integrating the best black professionals into the MLB was to weaken the “Negro Leagues”. The manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey, who was celebrated as the one who initiated the end of racism in US sports, simply denied the “Negro Leagues” the right to exist. Their managers only had to complain about the disrespectful treatment.
And black professionals didn’t feel that much about the end of racism either. There was hostility from white colleagues and sometimes players like Jackie Robinson had to wait on the bus while their white teammates ate in restaurants.
During this time, George Altman was signed by the Chicago Cubs, a top white club. He made his MLB debut in 1959. He played well, above average – in baseball you can prove that by the game statistics – and above all he provided a few moments of sports history. In 1961, he became the first to hit two home runs against LA Dodgers star pitcher Sandy Koufax. Something like that stays in your memory.
But Altman was passed around: from the Chicago Cubs to the St. Louis Cardinals to the New York Mets. When there was a player to give up, someone like Altman was always the first to come to mind. After injuries, the Cubs sorted him out completely where he landed again.
But Altman didn’t want to stop yet. He signed up in Japan, with the Lotte Oryons, and later with the Hanshin Tigers – both clubs in the Nippon Professional Baseball, as the professional league is called. He impressed there for seven years, until 1975 – you could also say: until the age of 42.
George Altman, for whom life in Goldsboro, North Carolina had not presented many attractive options, became a businessman. He died at the end of November 2025 at the age of 92. He didn’t become one of the really famous stars. This is because racism cannot be eliminated simply by integrating black athletes. But Altman was the last living professional who played in both the MLB and the Negro Leagues and, for good measure, in the Nippon League.
