A Native American from the Penobscot tribe, Sockalexis is often identified as the first person of Native American ancestry to play in the National League and Major League Baseball, though many conflicting reports exist. In some cases, Jim Toy, a catcher in the early American Association, is identified as the first person with Native American ancestry to play major league baseball. Author Ed Rice has disputed this, having found a death certificate for Toy stating his race as Caucasian, although birth records of the time are notoriously inaccurate. Also, Chief Yellow Horse, who played in the early 1920s, is noted as the first full-blooded American Indian to have played in the major leagues.