Ahead of Friday's Rumble Ponies game, a ceremony will honor this man: Here's his story

One of the forerunners of America’s favorite pastime – and a former Binghamton resident – will soon be honored with a stop on the Downtown Binghamton Freedom Trail.

A memorial honoring Bud Fowler is set to be unveiled ahead of the Binghamton Rumble Ponies game Friday, Sept. 1, near the Mirabito Stadium box office.

Fowler was one of the first Black players to integrate professional baseball in the late 19th century, more than half a century before Jackie Robinson ever swung a bat. Robinson was born six years after Fowler’s death in 1913.

“We all know baseball is as American as apple pie,” said Anne Bailey, history professor at Binghamton University and director of the Harriet Tubman Center for Freedom and Equity. “We’d like civil rights to be as American as apple pie, too.”

“You can have a plaque – there’s nothing wrong with that – but sometimes it’s lost on the wall and people walk right past it,” she continued, highlighting the marker’s prominent location near the flagpole at the corner of Henry and Lewis streets.

Born John W. Jackson Jr. in 1858 in Fort Plain, Fowler was raised in Cooperstown. By his own estimation, he played for more than 60 teams across 22 states and Ontario throughout his two-decade career, much of which occurred before Black players were officially banned from the American, National and minor leagues in 1887.

That same year, Fowler was forced off the Binghamton Bingos, despite being credited as one of the preeminent pitchers and infielders of his era. He batted .350 in 34 games there.

“My skin is against me,” Fowler is quoted as having written in 1895. “The race prejudice is so strong that my Black skin barred me.”

Fowler had first integrated a pro team as a pitcher in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1878. He pitched, caught, played second base, managed and worked to establish Black teams and leagues over the next two decades. Fowler also played two stints with the Binghamton Crickets.

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Fowler’s Binghamton memorial is the latest effort to dust off his legacy. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022 and the Binghamton Baseball Shrine in 1999. The Society for American Baseball Research recognized Fowler as the Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend for 2020.

In a promotional video at his Hall of Fame induction, John Thorn, the official historian for Major League Baseball, said Fowler "testifies to a period we are now celebrating and we don't have a face for it. I think Bud Fowler is that face."

Fowler’s marker is the second installment on the Downtown Binghamton Freedom Trail, which commemorates key Binghamton locations on the Underground Railroad and other notable abolitionist and civil rights sites.

“Each marker on the Freedom Trail tells a story of individual courage, sacrifice and moral mettle, creating an anthology of late 19th-century abolitionist and civil rights activity in the Southern Tier,” according to the Harriet Tubman Center for Freedom and Equity at Binghamton University, which partnered with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies for the latest installation.

The first marker, honoring the center’s namesake, was installed at the Binghamton University Downtown Center in March. The project was made possible by a $400,000 state grant and an additional $100,000 from the City of Binghamton.

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: At Rumble Ponies' stadium, freedom trail marker unveiled: What to know