Rap at Yankee Stadium

Rap Dixon becomes the first Black player to homer in Yankee Stadium 94 years ago today.

Dixon, playing then for the Baltimore Black Sox in the Negro Leagues, actually homers three times during the Saturday afternoon doubleheader against the New York Lincoln Giants as all-Black teams finally play their first games at the previous Whites-only House That Ruth Built.

Rap Dixon

Dixon first homers in the first inning of the first game off Bill Holland in what turns out to be a 13-4 victory for the Lincoln Giants.

Dixon then homers twice in the second game – again in the first inning and then in the third on an inside-the-park homer to deep left-center field – as the Black Sox win 5-3 to split the doubleheader.

Dixon, an outfielder who stars for the Harrisburg Giants from 1922-27, spends 15 seasons with eight teams in the Negro Leagues, batting .300 or better in eight of those seasons.

Three years prior to homering at Yankee Stadium, Dixon in 1927 hits a tape-measured home run in Japan that is good enough to earn him a trophy from Emperor Hirohito.

Dixon, who dies in 1944 at the age of 41 and is buried in Steelton, Pa., later is among the 39 candidates on a special Hall of Fame ballot in 2006 for Negro Leaguers and their predecessors.

Alas, Dixon does not make the final cut, which does include onetime Harrisburg teammate Ben Taylor.