The trailblazer before Jackie Robinson

Almost a year to the day before Jackie Robinson breaks the color line in Major League Baseball, 27-year-old pitcher Eddie Klep tries to do the same in 1946 as a White pitcher in the all-Black Negro Leagues.

Klep is with the Cleveland Buckeyes 78 years ago today, but is barred from playing in Birmingham, Ala., which has segregation laws prohibiting Whites from playing with Blacks.

Klep – sometimes spelled as Klepp – eventually is credited with pitching in one game for the Buckeyes, giving up three runs in three innings before he is released in June.

Three months later, the native of Erie, Pa., is convicted of burglary and never again plays pro ball.

Klep, though, is not the first White player to play in the all-Black leagues.

A journeyman infielder named Chick Meade, who constantly is running afoul of the law, caps a six-year, seven-team career in the Negro Leagues – all the time evading the police – with the Harrisburg Giants in 1922.

Click here to hear baseball balladeer extraordinaire Chuck Brodsky’s terrific look into Klep’s career.