Thomas Edison Alston (January 31, 1926 – December 30, 1993) was a

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

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 (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

from 1954 to 1957, the first African-American to do so. A native of

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

, 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 (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...

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 Companies into the largest brewery in the world by 1957 as company chairman from 1946 to 1975.Holian, Ti ...

told manager

Eddie Stanky Edward Raymond Stanky (born 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 Br ...

to find a black player. Not only did Busch think excluding blacks from baseball was morally wrong, his company

Anheuser–Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple glo ...

, 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, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

. Busch was, however, 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 the ...

), 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 and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

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 i ...

and 34

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) 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 the bat ...

. After that, he got into 25 more games over the course of 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 through 1954 and in the Triple-A American Association from 1955 to 1959 as an affiliate of their m ...

, 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 balls ...

, and an

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

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 defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

of .987, just slightly under the league average during his era. Alston's career was handicapped by

neurasthenia Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North A ...

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>

References

External links

Baseball Reference
{{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 20th-century African-American sportspeople

See also

References

External links