Plaque honors baseball legend Sol White

Bellaire, OHIO (WTRF) – He was born in Bellaire more than 150 years ago. Pre-Negro League baseball legend Sol White died in 1955.

Now, his life, talent and challenges are recognized with a new Ohio Historical Marker in Bellaire’s Union Park.

His full name was King Soloman White.

Born in 1868 in Bellaire, he began playing pro baseball at age 16 with the Bellaire Globes. Former Pittsburgh Pirate, Al Oliver, said it’s hard to imagine what Sol White endured.

“He was a player, coach, manager. He wasn’t angry. Not hateful. But that’s the one thing that I’ve always admired about Black players in their time. They could’ve quit. They could’ve been angry at the way that they were treated.”

Al Oliver, Former Pittsburgh Pirate / 7-time All Star

White was also a writer. He wrote the first definitive history of Black baseball.

The marker in Bellaire is the work of The Great Stone Viaduct Society and the Ohio Historical Connection.

Sol White was buried in an unmarked grave on Staten Island. He was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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