Good column from Jerome Solomon about the first Black baseball player for the Astros, who were still the Colt 45s at the time.
Carrie Beth Tucker / Houston Chronicle
You have probably never heard of many of the first Blacks to play modern-day baseball for franchises.
J.C. Hartman, the first Black man to play for the Astros, [was] a special guest at the team’s Jackie Robinson Day luncheon Friday.
Special is indeed a proper descriptor. We’re talking about a man who played in the Negro Leagues, is a retired Houston policeman and, as a barber’s college graduate, cut Willie Mays’ hair.
Hartman was 28 when he debuted with the Colt .45s. Friday [was] his 88th birthday.
Two weeks ago, he told me he was on his second-story roof doing work.
“Um, Mr. Hartman, that doesn’t sound like something you should be doing.”
“If you have a leaking roof, what are you gonna do, son?” the longtime Third Ward resident asked.
[…]
Hartman played for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues and was an All-Star in 1955 before his contract was sold to the Cubs.
He played for the Magic Valley Cowboys, the Cubs’ Class C affiliate in Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1956. He was in Double-A with the San Antonio Missions in 1959.
Between those stints, Hartman was drafted into the Army, where he played on the 1957 Fort Carson team, winning the All-Army team championship along with teammate and Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo stalwart Charley Pride.
Baseball is just part of the story of firsts for Hartman.
After he retired from the sport, he joined the Houston Police Department and, after just two years on the force, became the first Black to be a supervisor. His efficiency score and test grade had to make up for his lack of seniority.
Instead of taking off-duty jobs, he prepared for the exam by often taking refuge in his son’s treehouse to study.
“There were almost no Black people in the department and none wearing stripes, so I was determined,” Hartman said. “I knew I couldn’t play baseball forever, so once I decided that’s where I wanted to be, I had to focus on it.”
I’ve been in Houston almost 35 years, and I don’t believe I’d ever heard the name JC Hartman before I read this story. I’m glad he had the chance to be honored at the Jackie Robinson Day luncheon while he’s still here with us, but the Astros should have been celebrating players like him well before now. Hartman’s major league career was brief, but he still made an impact. We should know more about him and about those who followed in his footsteps.