COLUMBUS (AP) - A bill designating Oct. 7 as Moses Fleetwood Walker Day in honor of the first black major league baseball player has cleared Ohio's Legislature and is headed to Gov. John Kasich's desk.
Walker was born in Mount Pleasant, in 1856.
After a college career at Oberlin College and the University of Michigan, Walker was signed by the American Association's Toledo Blue Stockings as a catcher.
He played 42 games in 1884 before being cut because of an injury.He subsequently played in the minor leagues but never got a chance to return to the majors when both the American Association and National League banned black players in 1889.
Democratic state Rep. David Leland, of Columbus, says a day honoring Walker celebrates "the fight for equality in our society."
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