Over 100 years after Louis Sockalexis, Indigenous players still breaking barriers on the baseball diamond

June is National Indigenous History Month. To celebrate our accomplishments, CBC Indigenous is highlighting First Nations, Inuit and Métis trailblazers in law, medicine, science, sports — and beyond.

Over a century since the first Native American man stepped up to home plate in Major League Baseball, Indigenous players say there's lots of talented youth who want a shot at chasing major league dreams. 

Louis Sockalexis, a member of the Penobscot Indian Tribe in Maine, is believed to be the first Native American to play professionally — and he did so nearly 50 years before Jackie Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking Major League Baseball's colour barrier. 

Sockalexis signed a contract with the Cleveland Spiders in 1897 after playing college baseball for two different teams.

As a 25-year-old, Sockalexis hit .388 over 336 at bats in his rookie season and he struck out just over 10 per cent of the time he appeared at the plate — clearly a man with an eye for the strike zone. 

Sockalexis's play on the diamond captured fans' imaginations and garnered media attention in many cities he visited. 

Newspaper stories from the late 1800s — often loaded with trope-filled descriptions of the man — also detailed his feats on the field, from near-impossible catches to long throws preventing runs, to driving in game-winning runs.

Those papers also detail Sockalexis's decline. Some cite injuries he incurred on the field; others recount the man's alcohol abuse. 

Sockalexis would phase out of Major League Baseball after the 1899 season. After Sockalexis's major league career was over newspapers took to describing numerous arrests.

His story was retold at various points in the last 20 years. CBC Indigenous spoke with a descendant when Cleveland ditched the use of a racist mascot. ESPN released a short documentary about him, and his story was shared by media when the Cleveland team changed its name ahead of the 2022 season.

But while his accomplishments are remembered by some, not everyone today is aware of Sockalexis's story.

Kaleb Thomas, a Mohawk pitcher from Six Nations of the Grand River currently playing NCAA Division I level baseball with Missouri State University said he hadn't heard Sockalexis's story. 

Thomas himself was the first Indigenous player on Canada's Junior National team.

"I thought it was really cool to see that, even back then, there's Indigenous people playing baseball," Thomas told CBC Indigenous.