Brent Peterson's twin obsessions — history and baseball — merged 40 years ago in a freshman history class at Mankato State University. For a class project, he began researching Bud Fowler, an obscure minor league vagabond who played in the late 19th century and is widely considered the first Black man to play organized baseball.
"Fowler's the one who got me into history," said Peterson, 58, executive director of the Washington County Historical Society in Stillwater for the last 20 years. "Athletes are often credited for inspiring young people. Well, Bud Fowler began inspiring me nearly 80 years after his death."
When Peterson learned that Fowler spent the 1884 season playing for a Stillwater team, he was hooked. He can tell you where Fowler resided in 1884, the Black-owned Live and Let Live boardinghouse on Chestnut Street. He can rattle off arcane statistics such as Fowler's .313 batting average against future Hall of Fame pitcher John Clarkson. He can even tell you where Fowler worked on off-days: clipping hair at Black barber Sam Hadley's shop at 113 S. Main St.
Four decades into his Fowler infatuation, Peterson is calling this summer "nirvana for a baseball geek like me." He'll make a fourth pilgrimage to Cooperstown, N.Y., for the July 24 Hall of Fame inductions of several players with Minnesota ties — former Twins Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat and David Ortiz, who went on to blossom in Boston. There's Minnie Minoso, who walked in a single plate appearance with the St. Paul Saints in 1993, becoming the first man to play professional baseball in seven separate decades.
Last but not least there's Fowler, who will be introduced by St. Paul-born Hall of Famer Dave Winfield.
"Bud Fowler overcame numerous obstacles to become one of the most significant players in baseball history," Winfield says on the Hall's Facebook page, going on to call Fowler "an important barrier breaker."
A barber's son who was born in 1858 as John W. Jackson, Fowler changed his name for unknown reasons and grew up in Cooperstown, where a street was renamed Bud Fowler Way for him in 2013. He'll be the first hometown star to be enshrined there.
A versatile player who primarily pitched and played second base and catcher, Fowler never made it to the major leagues. He played for as many as 17 teams in more than a dozen minor leagues, from Vermont to the New Mexico Territory, mostly because of his skin color.
