Feb. 22, 2022 marks the 183rd anniversary of civil rights activist Octavius V. Catto’s birth. Along with his teachings, mobilization efforts during the American Civil War and his work to desegregate the city’s trolley car system, Catto was known as a star baseball player who fought to integrate the sport in Philadelphia.
The city’s first all-Black baseball team, the Excelsior Base Ball Club of Philadelphia, was founded in 1866. The club disbanded in 1867 following the team’s participation in the first Colored Base Ball Championship against the Brooklyn Uniques.