Section 1 Cuban Giants season ticket, 1887 Courtesy of Larry Hogan Collection National Baseball Hall of Fame Library
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The Indianapolis ABCs Charles Isham Taylor, known as C.I., began his baseball career in college like a number of other black players. He and his two brothers, Jim (Candy) and Ben, all became important leaders and players in black baseball during the early 20th century. C.I. organized several teams before finally settling with the ABCs in Indianapolis. He was known for gentle, persuasive leadership, a style very different from the bluster and force of Rube Foster. After C.I. Taylor's death in 1922, the Indianapolis team lost several of its best players and faded from its earlier glory. Indianapolis ABCs team featuring Hall of Fame outfielder Oscar Charleston (back row, center), early 1920s Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Indianapolis ABCs, 1915, with team leader C.I. Taylor (middle row, center) and Hall of Famers Ben Taylor (back row, second from left) and Oscar Charleston (middle row, far left) Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library The Eastern Colored League Seeing the success of the Negro National League, Ed Bolden, manager and part owner of the Hilldale club of suburban Philadelphia, joined Nat Strong, a powerful white booking agent who controlled two New York black baseball teams, to build a second league. The Eastern Colored League opened for business in 1923 with teams in Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Atlantic City. Teams were added in Washington, D.C. and Harrisburg the following year. The Hilldales Ed Bolden's Hilldales, already a professional club for six seasons, won the Eastern Colored League pennant three straight years from 1923 to 1925. Typical of professional black teams, the Hilldales, based in Darby, Pennsylvania, played a variety of clubs, including other league teams, white semi- pros and local teams. During the peak season, one or two games a day, seven days a week, was not unusual. By the mid-1930s, three games a day on weekends and holidays became common. The Hilldale club, featuring Hall of Famers Louis Santop (back row, far right) and Biz Mackey (back row, third from left), 1924 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Ed Bolden, manager and part-owner of the Hilldale baseball club Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Belt buckle celebrating Hilldale’s Eastern Colored League championship, 1923 Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Kansas City Monarchs Take to the Road In the 1920s, the Kansas City Monarchs were among the first to travel in team owned vehicles instead of by rail. The Monarchs' white owner, Hall of Fame executive J.L. Wilkinson, traveled with them in “Dr. Yak,” the team bus. In the South, many restaurants often refused to serve black patrons. If the players could not find black restaurants, they had to locate grocery stores. Sometimes they did not eat at all. In big cities, they could find housing in segregated hotels, but in small towns they slept in people’s homes, barns, under the stars or on their bus. Kansas City Monarchs team members with their first bus and team owner J.L Wilkinson (standing, second from left), 1934 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Kansas City Monarchs, 1924 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library The First World’s Colored Championship In 1924, the Kansas City Monarchs, champions of the Negro National League, and Hilldale of suburban Philadelphia, champions of the Eastern Colored League, played the first World’s Colored Championship, with games in four different cities to increase attendance. The Monarchs won in 1924; the following year Hilldale captured the series. Baseball watch fobs given to Hilldale’s Judy Johnson and the Kansas City Monarchs’ Newt Joseph for the 1925 and 1924 World’s Colored Championships, respectively Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Program from the first “World’s Colored Championship,” played in 1924 between the Negro National League’s Kansas City Monarchs and the Eastern Colored League champion Hilldales of Philadelphia Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library This broadside from 1925 advertises the Kansas City Monarchs’ victory in the 1924 World’s Colored Championship. Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library The Chicago American Giants The Chicago American Giants enjoyed one of the longest histories of any African-American baseball team. Organized by Rube Foster and John Schorling in 1911, the American Giants were a dominant team throughout the teens and the Negro league era from 1920 onward. “Gentleman” Dave Malarcher was the soft-spoken and fleet-footed third baseman, who later became manager of the club. Chicago American Giants with Dave Malarcher (front row, third from left), 1927 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Chicago American Giants jersey belonging to “Gentleman” Dave Malarcher, whose Giants career spanned 1920 to 1934 Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The St. Louis Stars The St. Louis Stars were one of the most consistent teams in the Negro National League during the 1920s. They almost always finished in the first division and sometimes took the championship. Lightning fast James “Cool Papa” Bell was among the best-known ballplayers. Black teams tended to play a very fast running game, a strategy they kept while adding power hitting in the 1920s. In contrast, white major league teams began to adopt a slower-paced, slugging brand of ball during the same era. St. Louis Stars with Cool Papa Bell (sitting, third from left), 1928 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Jersey, cap, bat and sunglasses belonging to outfielder James “Cool Papa” Bell, who played for the St. Louis Stars from 1922 to 1931 Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Ball autographed by the Kansas City Monarchs, winners of the 1924 World’s Colored Championship Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Timeline: African-American History 1920s Harlem Renaissance Age of the “New Negro” African-American music, art and literature flourish in New York City. Bandleader Duke Ellington, stage actor Paul Robeson, and poets Langston Hughes and Claude McKay figure prominently.
A. Philip Randolph organizes this influential African-American labor union, the first of its kind. 1929 -1939 Great Depression The stock market crashes; many banks, farms and businesses fail; and the unemployment rate soars. (Soup kitchen for the unemployed, 1930 Courtesy of Chicago History Museum) Timeline: Baseball History 1920 Baseball’s First Commissioner Following the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, the National and American leagues agree to appoint one person, federal judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, to oversee the major leagues. Negro National League Eight team owners create the first successful league of African-American teams. As president and booking secretary, Rube Foster is its most powerful individual owner. His Chicago American Giants win the first three pennants. The NNL folds in 1931. (Kenesaw Mountain Landis Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library) 1923 Eastern Colored League The Eastern Colored League forms an eastern circuit of teams to compete with the Negro National League. The ECL folds in 1928. 1924 First World’s Colored Championship With two African-American leagues, the first “World’s Colored Championship” is played between Kansas City and Hilldale (Philadelphia), with Kansas City winning five of nine games. The series is played irregularly until 1948. 1929 American Negro League The Eastern Colored League revives itself as the American Negro League, but lasts only one season. 1932 East-West League After both the Negro National League and the Eastern Colored League fold, some owners start the East-West League, which has a statistics bureau, black umpires, and a full 80-game schedule. It folds in midseason. 
SECTION 4 Paving the Way 1933–1946 Warm-up jacket worn by pitcher Chet Brewer for the Kansas City Royals, an African-American barnstorming team of the 1940s Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Glove used by Dave Barnhill, a pitcher for the New York Cubans from 1941 to 1948 Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Estrellas Importadas jersey worn by Hall of Famer Buck Leonard Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Glove belonging to outfielder Jimmy Crutchfield, who played for such teams as the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Newark Eagles during a long career (1930–1945) Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Jersey from the Pittsburgh Crawfords, a fixture of Pittsburgh’s Hill District through the 1920s and 1930s Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The Great Depression of the 1930s hit hard in the many new and vibrant, but relatively poor, black neighborhoods of industrialized America, where spending power was already limited. Attendance at black baseball games plummeted. By 1931, both the Negro National and Eastern Colored leagues had folded. But black baseball reorganized with two new leagues, the second Negro National League and the Negro American League, forming in 1933 and 1937, respectively. Eventually Negro league baseball grew into a multi-million dollar enterprise, one of the largest in the African-American community and a focus of pride. The teams of these revived leagues paved the way to major league integration. Night Games Playing under lights helped preserve black baseball during the Depression. The Negro leagues and the minors pioneered night games in the early 1930s, before they were taken up by major league teams. Among the first to hold night games were the Kansas City Monarchs and their innovative owner J.L. Wilkinson, who traveled with their own generators and light stands. By moving contests to hours when more people could go to games, management improved gate receipts many times over. Broadside advertising the Kansas City Monarchs’ portable lighting system, c. 1930 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Tools of the Game Equipment used by Negro leaguers is scarce today because players used their equipment until it was beyond repair. Most Negro leaguers were outfitted at the beginning of the season with two uniforms, sometimes second-hand, meant to survive a season of 200 to 300 games. Most players bought the rest of their equipment. If a player returned to spring training without a glove or shoes or ready cash, he could borrow against his first paycheck to buy equipment. The Negro leagues came to an end before the idea of a baseball memorabilia market took hold, meaning the few objects that remained were often not saved.
The East-West Game also provided the venue where major league scouts and the white press saw many of the best black players for the first time. Chicago hosted the last East-West contest in 1953. The East squad from the 1939 East-West All-Star Game, featuring Buck Leonard (back row, far left), Willie Wells (back row, second from left) and Josh Gibson (back row, third from right) Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Ball signed by participants in the first East-West game, including Josh Gibson, James “Cool Papa” Bell and Bingo DeMoss, 1933 Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum A 1949 program for the East-West Game, black baseball’s all-star game Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Ballparks for Rent As Negro league crowds grew, team owners sometimes rented major league ballparks to increase their gate receipts. Around New York City, black teams occasionally rented mammoth Yankee Stadium for Sunday. The Homestead Grays split their home schedule between Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field and Washington’s Griffith Stadium, which stood in a largely black neighborhood. The Brooklyn Eagles rented Ebbets Field for homestands in 1935. Program for the Philadelphia Stars vs. the New York Black Yankees at Yankee Stadium, 1941 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library The Homestead Grays on the dugout steps at Griffith Stadium, Washington, D.C., 1940 Courtesy of the Collection of Lawrence Hogan The Latin Beat From the early 1900s, African-American players and teams had strong ties with Latin America. The best American players often played in winter leagues in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Mexico, where they were treated like princes. A few, like Ray Dandridge, Josh Gibson and Willie Wells, ended up playing several summer seasons there too. The flow of players also went in the other direction. Unable to play in the majors because of the color of their skin, many great Latino ballplayers came north to barnstorm and play with black teams in the U.S. Early Latino stars included Cuban natives José Méndez, the Kansas City Monarchs’ pitching hero in the 1924 World’s Colored Championship, Cristóbal Torriente, the power-hitting outfielder who helped lead the Chicago American Giants to three straight pennants (1920-1922), and Martín Dihigo, who played all nine positions with skill during a distinguished Negro league career. Mexico City team jersey worn by Ray Dandridge, c. 1946 Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Bacardi Trophy awarded to the Brooklyn Eagles for winning the Puerto Rican winter league, 1936 Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The Pittsburgh Crawfords Gus Greenlee created the professional Pittsburgh Crawfords team from an amateur club, first fielding the pro team in 1932. He built Greenlee Field, making the Crawfords one of the few Negro league teams of the 1930s to own its home field. The new club provided strong competition for the powerful Homestead Grays, another Pittsburgh team. This rivalry lasted until 1937, when the Crawfords were weakened as their best players jumped their contracts to play for Rafael Trujillo, president-dictator of the baseball-mad Dominican Republic. President Rafael Trujillo’s team poses in the Dominican Republic in 1937. Among the players who left the Pittsburgh Crawfords to play for Trujillo’s team were Satchel Paige (middle row, far right), Josh Gibson (back row, far left), and James “Cool Papa” Bell (front row, center). Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Pittsburgh Crawfords in front of their bus at Greenlee Field, 1935 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library The Homestead Grays Travel was the way of life in the Negro leagues of the 1930s. Beyond playing a league schedule, many teams also barnstormed continuously, sometimes playing three games a day. Nearly all teams kept their own vehicles, racking up thousands of miles criss-crossing North America. Led by Cumberland “Cum” Posey, the Homestead Grays began as barnstormers before joining the short-lived American Negro League in 1929. They returned to barnstorming, but by 1937 this legendary team was a dominant power in the second Negro National League. The Homestead Grays, c. 1931 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Max Manning, one of the Newark Eagles’ best pitchers during the 1940s, was awarded this Bulova watch for his outstanding 1946 season, when the Eagles won the Colored World Series. This watch might be compared to today’s Cy Young Award of the major leagues. Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Traveling bag used by Buck Leonard, backbone of the Homestead Grays for 17 seasons Loaned by the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum League Champions Like major league baseball, the Negro leagues awarded an annual championship to the strongest team in each league. A season in the Negro leagues consisted of fewer games than in major league baseball. Only a handful of teams owned their fields and, thus, controlled the booking of their games. This made it difficult to stick with the schedule as the season progressed because most teams rented fields as they were available. Negro National League trophy for 1940 season awarded to the Homestead Grays Loaned by the Pittsburgh Pirates Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Timeline: African-American History 1933 New Deal President Franklin Roosevelt designs far-reaching programs to improve the economy and provide publicly-funded jobs during the Great Depression. 1939 Marian Anderson at Lincoln Memorial Denied permission by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) to sing in Constitution Hall, Marian Anderson is invited to perform at the Lincoln Memorial. (Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial, 1939 Bettmann/CORBIS) 1939-1945 World War II Over one million black soldiers serve and fight in segregated units. 1940 First Black General Colonel Benjamin Davis Sr. becomes the first African-American officer promoted to a general’s rank in the American military. (Colonel Benjamin Davis inspects troops, c. 1942 Courtesy of Library of Congress) 1945 Ebony Magazine Publisher John Johnson begins this popular and enduring magazine geared towards African Americans. (The first cover of Ebony magazine Courtesy of Johnson Publishing) Timeline: Baseball History 1933 The Second Negro National League With teams from Chicago, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland, Nashville, Detroit and Columbus (Ohio), a new NNL is formed. It lasts until 1948. East-West Game Beginning the same year as the first major league All-Star Game, the East-West All-Star Game in Chicago is the highlight of the African-American baseball year. Played until 1953, it frequently outdraws the majors’ Midsummer Classic. (Ticket to the East-West All-Star Game, 1948 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library) 1937 Negro American League The new Negro American League brings several midwestern and southern barnstorming teams, such as the Kansas City Monarchs and the Memphis Red Sox, back into league baseball.
In a letter to President Roosevelt, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis offers to cancel the 1942 season to help with the war effort. President Roosevelt says baseball is important for national morale and should continue. 1943 All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Philip K. Wrigley founds the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League to help fill ballparks during wartime. The league lasts until 1954. (The Rockford Peaches girls’ professional baseball team at the Savanna, Illinois, Ordinance Depot, 1945 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library) 1946 Robinson Breaks Color Barrier Jackie Robinson breaks the minor league color barrier when he debuts with the Montreal Royals, a Brooklyn Dodgers farm club, on April 18. (Jackie Robinson slides into base as a minor-leaguer with Montreal, 1946 Courtesy of the Photographs and Prints Division, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library)
SECTION 5 Jackie Robinson Breaks the Barrier – 1947 Jackie Robinson’s #42 Brooklyn Dodgers jersey from the final year of his career, 1956 Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Bat from Jackie Robinson’s 10-year major league career Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Glove from Jackie Robinson’s 10-year major league career From the Barry Halper Collection Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum As World War II ended, many African Americans believed that “separate but equal” could no longer be tolerated because while much was separate, little was equal. Highly decorated black regiments helped foster the pride and impetus that demanded change in all parts of American life. Following the death of commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson took the lead in testing America’s tolerance for integrated baseball. Under pressure, the major and minor leagues began to desegregate, but slowly and on their own terms. Jack the Soldier Jackie Robinson served in the Army during World War II. Like many African Americans, he felt it was a war to end prejudice as well as a war for democracy. Black soldiers served in segregated units until after the war. Many were highly decorated for their service, and their example helped highlight their right to full participation as citizens when peace came in 1945. Having been in the service made Robinson somewhat older than the usual baseball recruit, but it was an important part of his past for Branch Rickey and baseball fans. Directory: programming -> sites -> ala.org.programming -> files -> content content -> Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World Section One content -> Dust, Drought, and Dreams Gone Dry Exhibit Script Panel 1 Dust, Drought, and Dreams Gone Dry programming -> Abbsoft computers programming -> Programming in C: a tutorial programming -> Programming Languages and Learning Contributors programming -> First-generation programming language Download 144.33 Kb. Share with your friends:
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