Most Influential African American Baseball Figure Besides Jackie Robinson

Originally Posted by ATP

The issue with Claxton, and don't get me wrong, I live in Seattle and respect all PCL history...he just did not "impact" baseball. Most believed he may or may not have been African American.

Respect your opinion Jeff, but Claxton's father, William Edward Claxton (1862-1943), was one of the original 50 African American strikebreakers in Roslyn, Washington August 1888. Jimmy played for forty years (1906-46) in semi-professional baseball, segregated and integrated teams up-and-down the west coast. Though of mixed ancestry he was most certainly first-most African American, and opened the doors for others such as his nephew, Jack Tanner, the first African American superior court judge in Washington state history. A teammate of Claxton's on the 1946 Tacoma Casino Giants.