Eddie Klep

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Edward Joseph Klep (October 12, 1918 – November 21, 1981)^[1] was born in Erie, Pennsylvania. Most notably, Klep became the first white American to play baseball in the Negro leagues when he pitched seven innings for the Cleveland Buckeyes on May 29, 1946, in an 8-6 win over the Chicago American Giants in Grand Rapids, Michigan.^[2]

Eddie Klep on the cover of Elysian Fields Quarterly.

Klep was featured on the cover and in a highly regarded feature article in the Spring 2002 issue of Elysian Fields Quarterly.^[3] This article covers Klep's breaking the color barrier.

Singer-songwriter Chuck Brodsky memorialized Klep's time in the Negro leagues in a song entitled, The Ballad Of Eddie Klepp.
A few years after Klep's turn with the Buckeyes he was playing baseball at Rockview State Prison in central Pennsylvania.
Klep died in 1981, in a state home in Los Angeles, of conditions related to long-term alcoholism.
A film based on the story of Eddie Klep has been sold to Adam Sandler's production company.

Notes

↑ baseball-reference.com
↑ "Baseball's other 'great experiment': Eddie Klep and the integration of the Negro leagues", by Larry R. Gerlach, Journal of Sport History (Fall 1998) p465
↑ Elysian Fields Quarterly, vol. 19:2, Spring, 2002

References

Jonathan Tilove, "A Robinson in Reverse, Eddie Klep Integrated the Negro Leagues", Newhouse News Service, March 5, 2005, retrieved October 22, 2006.
"Adam Carolla Podcast- May 11, 2009"

External links

Negro league baseball statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference (Negro leagues)

Persondata
Name	Klep, Eddie
Alternative names
Short description	American baseball player
Date of birth	October 12, 1918
Place of birth	Erie, Pennsylvania
Date of death	November 21, 1981
Place of death	Los Angeles, California

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