EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a weekly series on our region’s history coordinated by the Trumbull County Historical Society.

The editorial cartoon, which originally appeared in the Tribune Chronicle on April 16, 2016, borrowed a theme from the baseball fantasy drama film “Field of Dreams” and proclaimed Ted Toles Jr. as “…good enough”to play at the highest level of the sport.

This was shortly after Toles’ untimely death. At the time, some may have viewed this as far-fetched. However, that proclamation was later affirmed on Dec. 16, 2020, when Major League Baseball recognized the Negro Leagues as a “Major League.”

Not only was this recognition a correction to a longtime oversight in the history of the United States and the national pastime, but that singular event increased the number of former Major League ballplayers who had their beginnings in this region. George “Shotgun” Shuba (Brooklyn Dodgers) came from Youngstown, while Warren produced the likes of Robert “Lem” Hunter (Cleveland Blues), Leon “Red” Ames (New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies), Fred Richards (Chicago Cubs), Joe Caffie (Cleveland Indians / now Guardians), Bill White (New York / San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Phillies), Hal Reniff ( New York Yankees and Mets), Jim French (Washington Senators), Ed Stroud (Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators), Jack Kucek (Chicago White Sox, Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays), Darrin Chapin (Yankees, Phillies), and Tanner Scott (Baltimore Orioles, Miami Marlins).

But on that December day, joining their ranks was Ted Toles Jr., who had somewhat of a circuitous route to Major League baseball. Toles’ family came to Braceville in the early 1920s and he is reported to have been the first, if not one of the first, black children born in Braceville (Dec. 4, 1925).

Growing up, Toles was a very good student and an outstanding all-around athlete starring in basketball, track, billiards, boxing and baseball. After graduating from Braceville High School as class valedictorian in 1943, he began playing for Charlie Caffie’s Warren GCs, part of the well-developed sandlot baseball league. Toles’ time with Caffie adequately prepared him to join the Pittsburgh Crawfords of the United States League in 1946.

He later played for the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro American League, the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League, and the Jacksonville Eagles. Many baseball researchers and historians refer to the period 1946 through 1948 as the Negro Leagues’ last seasons of top-level play largely due to the entry of Jackie Robinson (National League) and Larry Doby (American League) in 1947, which led to the recruitment of black and Latino talent by the previously segregated baseball leagues.

During his Negro League playing days, Toles also participated in traveling All-Star games, often sharing the field with, for and against, many of the black and Latino legends of the game, including the aforementioned Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby, but others like Monte Irvin, Sam Jethroe, Biz Mackey and Don Newcombe to name a few.

In some instances, the Black All-Star team faced off against the Bob Feller All-Stars that featured players like Phil Rizzuto, Johnny Sain, Mickey Vernon, Mel Harder, Ken Keltner and Jim Hegan. The talent on display in these exhibition games is sometimes credited with accelerating the recruitment effort of black and Latino players. That certainly was hailed as “good news” from a social conditions standpoint at the time, but the accompanying “not so good news” was the ultimate demise of Negro League baseball as a sport, form of entertainment and an industry.

While Toles never made a Major League roster, he did play on the minor league affiliates of the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians), New York Yankees, and Philadelphia Athletics (now Oakland) with stints in the Middle Atlantic League (1951-New Castle Indians), Pioneer League (1952-Magic Valley Cowboys), and the Provincial League (1953-Trois Rivieres Yankees and St Hyacinthe A’s).

When he ended his baseball experience, Toles returned to Braceville, married Jean Bruton in 1955 and they raised one daughter and six sons. He was employed for a number of years by Republic Steel and retired from LTV Steel.

As we entered the new millennium, long after his playing days had ended, Toles began receiving recognition of his prior baseball accomplishments through speaking engagements, tributes and appearances — most notably with the Josh Gibson Foundation (Pittsburgh) Roadway Negro League Traveling Exhibit (Akron) Buck Leonard Family (Rocky Mount, N.C.), Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club (Milwaukee, Wisc.), Mahoning Valley Scrappers Baseball Team (Niles) Cleveland Indians Baseball Club (Cleveland) Morley Library (Painesville), Warren-Trumbull County Public Library and Baseball Heritage Museum (Cleveland), among others.

He also received many citations and awards, including Ebony Sports Museum Lifeline All Sport Hall of Fame, Youngstown, in 2001; Trumbull County African American Achievers Association in Warren in 2007; Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Lorain in 2008; his very own baseball card through the Topps Baseball Card Series in 2007; Hartland Sports Collectible Statue in 2008; and a Mahoning Valley Scrappers Bobble Head in 2009. And as the ultimate compliment, his life has been chronicled in the book “Living on Borrowed Time: The Life and Times of Negro League Player Ted Toles Jr.” by Michael Swank.

It is more than fitting to reflect on the Dec. 16, 2020 statement made by Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred: “All of us who love baseball have long known that the Negro Leagues produced many of our game’s best players, innovations and triumphs against a backdrop of injustice. We are now grateful to count the players of the Negro Leagues where they belong: as Major Leaguers within the official historical record.”

And Braceville native Ted Toles Jr. is proudly positioned there among them.