Negro leagues were America’s professional baseball associations made up of teams comprising of African Americans, and to a lesser Latin Americans. The term may be broadly applied to integrate skilled black teams that were not part of the league, and narrowly to refer to the seven successful leagues that began in 1920 and were in other instances known as Negro Major Leagues (Heaphy). During the year 1885, the Cubans formed the first professional baseball team. The first league, the National Colored Baseball League, was planned precisely as a minor league. Nonetheless, it did not succeed due to low attendance rates. The Negro American League of 1951 was considered the final season besides the last professional club. The show was conducted in a humorous way rather than competitively. Concerning that, we would analyze the Negro Leagues and the history behind them.
Because black players were not accepted into major and minor baseball leagues due to racism, they formed their own teams and professionalized them by the 1880s. The first known baseball game by black players took place in the year 1859 in New York City (Heaphy). It involved the Henson baseball club from Jamaica and the Unknowns of Weeksville. After the end of the Civil War and during the Reconstruction period, a black baseball scene emerged in the East and Mid-Atlantic states. It was made up of ex-soldiers and advocated by popular black officers. Teams such as Philadelphia Excelsiors and Albany Bachelors began competing against each other. By the end of the 1860s, the black baseball meeting point was Philadelphia. Former cricket players, James Francis and Francis Wood came up with the Pythian Baseball Club. They played their games in New Jersey at the landing of the street ferry, due to the difficulties they encountered in getting permits for black baseball players.
The promoter of Pythians arrived at a decision to apply for membership in the National Association of Base ball players. After the 1867 season ended, the association unanimously voted to exclude any club that had black players (Rogosin). Contrary to the decision, in some ways the baseball played by blacks thrived under the segregation with few teams playing themselves and those of white players. Black teams earned their income from playing against white teams. Baseball featuring African American became professionalized in the year 1870 (Heaphy). The first known player was Bud Fowler who appeared in a number of games and then left for another team. Moses Walker and Welday Walker were the first blacks to play in a major league. Afterwards, other blacks joined in major championships in the succeeding years.
The first known professional baseball team by blacks came into existence in the year 1885 when three clubs merged to form the Cuban giants. The success of the team led to the formation of the Negro League in the year 1887 known as the National Colored Baseball League (NCBBL) (Heaphy). It was organized strictly to take part in minor leagues and comprised of six teams namely New York Gorhams, Baltimore Lord Baltimore, Pittsburgh Keystones, Boston Resolutes, Philadelphia Pythians and Louisville Falls City. Additional teams joined the league but were not able to play. Walter Brown of Pittsburgh applied and was granted a permit that recognized the minor league status and thus, safeguard under the major league contract. The move was to prevent any team from signing the NCBBL players besides locking them to their precise teams. Nonetheless, after a short while, the teams began folding and the league was left with only three groups.
Since the Cuban giants were a success, many teams came into existence with a similar name. Some examples were Columbia giants, and the Brooklyn Royal Giants. The earlier Cuban team was made up of African Americans rather than Cubans to increase their level of acceptance with white patrons. At that particular period, Cuba enjoyed good ties with America. In the beginning of 1899, several Cuban teams played in North America (Heaphy). Some of them included white players while others were Negro League members. The few players in the minor leagues often escaped attacks from both competitors and fans. During the year 1888, the Middle States league came into existence and admitted black teams to its association (Rogosin).
In the year 1888, Frank Leland got sponsors to assist the black amateur Union Baseball Club (Heaphy). He was able to obtain a license to play at the South Side Park, which led to his team going pro and becoming the Chicago unions. During his career, Fowler was persuaded by other businesspersons to start a team that would be financed by the Page Woven Wire Fence Company. The new team, Page Fence Giants, went on to become a powerhouse squad making their achievements become the prototype for black baseball teams that followed. The team, later on, was folded due to challenges such as finances and lack of play.
Philadelphia Giants rose to prominence after they lost to Cuban X-Giants in the Colored Championship. Leading the way was a young pitcher by the name Andrew Foster. He was later on, hired away from his team leading their defeat in the 1904 rematch (Heaphy). Philadelphia remained on the top until Foster quit the team in 1907 to manage the Leland Giants. Nat Strong began using his influence and status to promote baseball on the East Coast. He used to get a cut on any game played in New York eventually purchasing the Brooklyn Royal Giants and turning it into a barnstorming team. When Foster joined Leland Giants, he became so efficient in his work. He used to earn higher commission and he was able to build his players and make them highly skilled, thus, making the team difficult to beat.
Foster began advocating for the return of an all-black league besides ownership of the teams by black men. He renamed his team the Chicago American Giants to appeal to a wider fan base. During the same year, Wilkinson began the All Nations travelling team that became one of the most popular team of the Negro League, the Kansas City Monarch. On February 1920, talks were held in Kansas City that led to the establishment of the Negro National League (NNL) and their governing bodies know as the National Association of Colored Professional Baseball Clubs (Rogosin). The league was at first made up of eight teams. Foster became the president and controlled every aspect to ensure its thriving. In May 1920, the Indianapolis ABCs defeated the Chicago American Giants in the first game played in the opening season of the Negro National League at Washington Park. Nevertheless, due to the Chicago Race Riot of 1919, the National Guard occupied the Giant’s field (Rogosin). The situation made Foster threaten to cancel the games but it would have resulted to a huge embarrassment.
In the same year, the Negro Southern League was formed and it joined Foster’s governing body. It received similar safeguard and privileges as other teams from external interference. John Connor’s was admitted as an associate member by Foster to raid Nat Strong’s territories. The circumstances made Bolden united with Strong to form the Eastern Colored League (ECL) as an alternative to Foster’s Negro National League that began with six teams. The National League was encountering numerous challenges among them maintaining its franchises forcing some teams to wind up in addition to being replaced. Foster and Bolden met and agreed to annual the Negro League World Series in 1924 (Lanctot). Later on, Foster was unavailable in the league and was replaced by William Hueston. Similar to Foster, Bolden exited the league marking the end of NNL and ECL. The ECL was folded in the year 1927 then followed by NNL in the year 1932 (Lanctot).
Just when the Negro baseball league seemed to be collapsing, Cumberland Posey came together with other individuals. In 1932, Lloyd Thompson, John Drew and Charlie Walker formed the East-West League and eight cities were included in the new league (Lanctot). In 1933, Greenlee and other delegates met to ratify the constitution of the baseball league. Many aspects were maintained but there was an incorporation of fans while selecting the players. The first game known as the East-West-All-Star Game took place in the year 1933 at Comiskey Park in front of a crowd of about twenty thousand people. Judge Kenesaw was against integrating the game and blocked all attempts. A popular narrative reveals is that in the year 1943, Bill Veeck planned to buy the Philadelphia Phillies but his efforts were scattered by Landis in favor of a bid from William Cox (Lanctot).
In 1945, the whites formed the Major League Committee on Baseball Integration (Lanctot). However, there was opposition from those who were against integration. In the same year, Robinson was forced to sign a contract that restricted his activities to any other club. Through the inclusion, a precedent was set that recognized the Negro Leagues as a functional commercial business. Greenlee began the league in1945 as a way to get back to the Negro National League owners for sidelining him. Rickey saw the opportunity as a way to convince people that he was interested in cleaning up baseball and not integrating it. After a short while, he pulled out and the league ended in the year 1946. Numerous legislations such as the Fair Employment Practice Act and the New York State Legislature were passed to eliminate discrimination during hiring (Rogosin).
In 1946, more black players were hired but there was less fanfare (Rogosin). After the integration of the league, interest in the Negro baseball declined. Black owners were unable to control the circumstances as it was seen as interfering with the advancement of players. There were proposals to bring the Negro league into organized baseball but it was recognized as contrary to the objective of complete integration. As a result, the once most prosperous enterprise owned by black people was allowed to gradually disappear.
Majority of the player were signed into Major League Baseball teams and were made to sign contracts that made them languish. They were constantly being transferred despite their abilities. The Negro league terminated in the year 1948 after the Grays left to resume barnstorming (Lanctot). The New York Black Yankees also collapsed and the Eagles went to Houston. The Grays went under after losing money during a barnstorming effort. After about two years, the Negro League was reduced to a minor league playing its last game in 1958 (Lanctot). Few teams continued playing the game until about 1980 but as a sideshow rather than a competitive game.
In conclusion, the Negro Baseball League represented a crucial moment in sporting world regarding the baseball sport. The leagues were popular in America due to their competitiveness and their viability as a business. However, internal and external interference and wrangles led to their collapse.
Works Cited
Heaphy, Leslie A. The Negro Leagues, 1869-1960. McFarland, 2003.
Lanctot, Neil. Negro league baseball: The rise and ruin of a Black institution. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
Rogosin, Donn. Invisible Men: Life in Baseball's Negro Leagues. U of Nebraska Press, 2007.
