Joe Reliford: Making Baseball History

Joe Reliford Joe Reliford is known for making baseball history. He is the youngest person to be known to play in a professional baseball game. He lived through tough times, and for blacks it was hard for them to make a living off of something other than working on farms and sharecropping. Joe lost his dad at an early stage in life. He had never lost hope and confidence in being a batboy for a team. Joe got turned down once by a team, but the all-white pioneers were hiring anyone. Joe had joined them and got inserted into the game as a joke, but showed the crowd what he was made of when he hit the all. Joe Reliford is the child of Luronie Gillis Reliford and Roscoe Reliford. He is the ninth child of the ten children. His father, Roscoe Reliford, died when Joe was only four, which left Luronie to raise the children herself. When ten, he went up to the manager of the Fitzgerald Pioneers and asked if he could be their batboy. The manager tried to discourage with all his might, but wouldn’t hire him even if he didn’t discourage him. After time over time of begging, Mr. Adams, the manager, finally gave in and hired him to be the batboy. …show more content…
Every time Joe Reliford went to grab a bat to give to a player to use, the fans would yell, “put the bat boy in”, as a joke. When the team were losing blunderingly, and the crowd was trying to rub it in. The manager had a “what the hell” moments and asked player Ray Nichting, a right fielder, if he minded that Joe hit for him. Ray said that he did not mind, so Reliford went up to the plate. If Joe were to get a hit, the pioneers were going to have to forfeit the game because Joe was not on their batting roster. Joe ended up hitting a fastball down the third base line, but easily got out at