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A History of Negro League BaseballRacism and Segregation Led to the First Black Baseball TeamsThe history of the Negro Leagues is even more interesting and complex than the origins of the Major Leagues.
Early Segregation Leads to the Amateur Negro LeaguesBy most accounts, the first baseball game played between two all-black baseball teams was held on September 28, 1860. The contest took place in Hoboken, New Jersey, and the Weeksville Nine of New York beat the Colored Union Club 11–0. After the Civil War ended in 1865, a black baseball scene began to form in the northeast. By the end of the 1860s, two former cricket players formed Pythians Baseball Club, who played in Camden, New Jersey. In an effort to integrate the emerging worlds of white and black baseball, the Pythians’ promoter requested a permit to play baseball in Philadelphia, and also applied for his team to become a member of the newly formed National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP). The white leadership of Philadelphia denied their permit request. Even worse, in response to the Pythians’ request for membership, the NABBP passed a resolution at their annual convention that excluded "any club which may be composed of one or more colored players." The Early Professional Negro LeaguesAs the major leagues began to thrive, black players found themselves repeatedly excluded from baseball. Frustrated by this de facto discrimination, black players and businessmen began to form teams and leagues all over the country. The first known black professional baseball team was the Babylon Black Panthers, a group formed in 1885 in Babylon, New York. The team’s owner soon renamed the team the Cuban Giants, so that it could attract more white fans. The Cuban Giants quickly became a barnstorming success, traveling through upstate New York to face local teams at county fairs and holiday festivals. Shortly after the Giants' formation, editors of a Florida newspaper put together the first official Negro League, which they named the Southern League of Base Ballists. The Southern League was comprised of ten teams and despite some initial success, the league collapsed after one season due to financial burdens. But the continued barnstorming success of the Cuban Giants soon led to the creation of the second organized Negro League in 1887, the National Colored Base Ball League. But like the Florida League, this circuit collapsed rather quickly. White Baseball’s Discrimination GrowsDuring this time, black players continued to play sporadically for white teams, but they faced verbal and physical abuse from both competitors and fans. There was no official ban on white teams hiring black baseball players, but the pale-faced complexion of the major leagues in the 1870s and 1880s revealed the larger truth. Baseball was a White Man’s Game. This point was driven home on July 14, 1887, when Hall of Famer Cap Anson led one of the first official displays of racism in professional baseball history. On that day, Anson’s White Stockings were scheduled to play an exhibition against the Newark Giants, a minor league squad from the International League who had two black players (Fleet Walker and George Stovey) on their squad. Anson refused to play unless Walker was ejected from the field. Newark quickly gave in. Soon thereafter, the International League voted to refuse future contracts to black players. The American Association and National League, who were baseball’s two Major Leagues at the time, quickly followed suit. Professional baseball would not willingly admit another black player until 1946, when Jackie Robinson broke the so-called color barrier when he signed on with the Brooklyn Dodgers’ minor league team in Montreal.
The copyright of the article A History of Negro League Baseball in Baseball is owned by James Lincoln Ray. Permission to republish A History of Negro League Baseball in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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