Okay, he played in what would become the precursor of the American League. Details here.
Moses Fleetwood Walker, first black player to break colour barrier in baseball decades before Jackie Robinson - Face2Face Africa
by Farida Dawkins
Moses Fleetwood Walker --- The Undefeated
He is relatively unknown as compared to Jackie Robinson, but Moses Fleetwood Walker was the first to break the barrier that prevented black men from playing organized baseball.
Born October 7, 1857, in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, Walker became the first African American to play major league baseball in the nineteenth century.
He took to the fields in the 1880s during a period of upheaval in the United States when African-Americans were seeking equality with whites.
Read more at: https://face2faceafrica.com/article/moses-fleetwood-walker-first-black-player-to-break-colour-barrier-in-baseball-decades-before-jackie-robinson