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Thomas Edison Alston (January 31, 1926 – December 30, 1993) was a
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
who played for the
St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...
from 1954 to 1957, the first African-American to do so. A native of
Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...
, he stood 6'5" () and weighed . Alston was acquired by St. Louis via a trade with the
San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...
of the
Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...
, where he played in 180 games in 1953, on January 26, 1954, after team president
Gussie Busch August Anheuser "Gussie" Busch Jr. (March 28, 1899 – September 29, 1989) was an American brewing magnate who built the Anheuser-Busch into the largest brewery in the world by 1957; he acted as company chairman from 1946 to 1975.Holian, T ...
told manager
Eddie Stanky Edward Raymond Stanky (''né'' Stankiewicz) (September 3, 1915 – June 6, 1999) was an American professional baseball second baseman, shortstop, and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston ...
to find a black player. Not only did Busch think excluding blacks from baseball was morally wrong, his company Anheuser–Busch, which had bought the team a year earlier to keep them from moving to Milwaukee, sold more beer to African-Americans than any other brewery, leading him to fear the effect of a
boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...
. However, Busch was somewhat disappointed by Alston. When he reported to the Cardinals, the team learned he was two years older than the Padres had claimed. Busch demanded they return $20,000 the Cardinals had included with the trade to account for two seasons that Busch believed the team could not get from Alston. When he made his Major League debut (April 13, 1954, at
Sportsman's Park Sportsman's Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in St. Louis, Missouri. All but one of these were located on the same piece of land, at the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street, on t ...
), he became the first black player in St. Louis Cardinals history. He played in 66 games during his
rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...
season, batting .246 with 4
home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...
and 34
runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...
. After that, he got into 25 more games over the next three seasons. He spent most of his major league career splitting time between the majors and the Class AAA
Omaha Cardinals The Omaha Cardinals were a minor league baseball team based in Omaha, Nebraska, from 1947 through 1959. They played in the Class A Western League (1900–1958), Western League through 1954 and in the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A American Associat ...
, where he had a .306 batting average and 21 home runs in 1956. Career totals for 91 games include a .244 batting average (66-for-271), 4 home runs, 36 RBI, 30
runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...
, and an
on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...
of .311. In his 81 appearances at
first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
, he handled 680 out of 689
total chances In baseball statistics, total chances (TC), also called ''chances offered'', represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is the sum of putouts plus assists plus errors. ''Chances accepted'' refers to the total ...
successfully for a
fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...
of .987, just slightly under the league average during his era. Alston's career was handicapped by
neurasthenia Neurasthenia ( and () 'weak') is a term that was first used as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves. It became a major diagnosis in North America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries after neurologist Georg ...
and other mental disorders which forced his hospitalization after his playing career was over.STLtoday.com - Bird Land - Blog Archive - Tom Alston: Seven Years After Jackie, 53 Years Ago Today
/ref>


See also

*
List of first black Major League Baseball players by team and date The baseball color line excluded players of Black African descent from Major League Baseball and its affiliated Minor League Baseball, Minor Leagues until 1947 (with a few notable exceptions in the 19th century before the line was firmly establishe ...


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alston, Tom 1926 births 1993 deaths African-American baseball players Baseball players from Greensboro, North Carolina Major League Baseball first basemen North Carolina A&T State University alumni Omaha Cardinals players Porterville Comets players Rochester Red Wings players San Diego Padres (minor league) players St. Louis Cardinals players United States Navy personnel of World War II