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- Negro League Baseball
- General questions related to the Negro Leagues.
- 1. What teams played in the Negro League?
- 2. When did the Negro Leagues disband?
- 3. Did Negro League teams ever play against major league teams?
- 4. Did Josh Gibson really hit a home run out of Yankee Stadium?
- 5. Did Josh Gibson really hit more homeruns in a single season than Mark McGwire?
- 6. Who was the first African American to play in a professional baseball game?
- What teams played in the Negro League?:
- The term “Negro League” does not refer to a single league. It is, rather, a term used to refer to all of the professional, pre-integration black baseball leagues in which the level of play was considered to be the equal of play in major league baseball. There is considerable debate among baseball historians as to which black leagues maintained such a level of play, and in which years.
The first stable black league was the Negro National League organized in 1920 by Andrew “Rube” Foster. This league, as well as the reorgnized Negro National League (created by Gus Greenlee in the early 1930s) and the Negro American League are universally regarded as having offered the highest level of play.
Some historians contend that the Negro Southern League and Texas Negro League also offered major league caliber play. Additionally, several of the stronger independent teams during the 1920s and 1930s were, undoubtedly, of major league quality.
The Negro League Teams page on this web site lists many of the teams that played in the several black leagues and indicates their league affiliations. (Updated: 04/04/99)
- When did the Negro Leagues disband?:
- During the 1940s the Negro National and Negro American leagues reached their highest point of popularity and financial success. While fans dreamed of watching their stars compete in major league play, the realization of this dream meant the end of both leagues.
The Negro National League folded under financial pressures at the end of the 1948 season. The Negro American League continued play into the late 1950s, but was no longer a stable circuit. As the talent pool of black baseball was absorbed into the integrated major and minor leagues, Negro League team owners were left without a product of sufficient quality to attract fans to the ballpark.
Baseball historians generally mark the 1950 season as the last Negro League campaigne. (Updated: 03/28/99)
- Did Negro League teams ever play against major league teams?:
- Between 1910 and 1948 there were many exhibition games played between Negro League squads and major league “all star” teams. The games were, of course, purely exhibition contests.
During the 1930s and 1940s, Satchel Paige joined with Dizzy Dean to promote numerous black-white exhibition games throughout the country. In 1948 Satchel Paige assembled a true “all star” Negro League squad to compete against Bob Feller’s All Stars in a highly successful cross country barnstoming tour.
Exhibition games pitting Negro League stars against their major league counterparts were generally well attended by black fans, and often drew large crowds of white fans in the larger cities of the East and Midwest. (Updated: 03/28/99)
- Did Josh Gibson really hit a home run out of Yankee Stadium?:
- There is no doubt that Josh Gibson was a prodigious power hitter. And, if ever there was a player with the capability to hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium it would have been him. However, there is no record to substantiate the claim that Gibson ever actually hit such a home run.
It is possible, of course, that Gibson accomplished this feat during batting practice or at some time other than during an actual game. (Updated: 03/28/99)
- Did Josh Gibson really hit more homeruns in a single season than Mark McGwire?:
- The answer to this question is both yes and no.
Josh Gibson is credited with having hit 84 homeruns during the 1936 season. However, it is important to understand that the official Negro League season consisted of only around 60 games. The remaining 110 games of the season were played as exhibition contests against widely varying levels of competition.
It is impossible to meaningfully compare Gibson’s homerun statistics against those of Ruth, Maris, McGwire and Sosa. If should be sufficient to acknowledge that Gibson was a prodigious power hitter who should be ranked with the greatest. (Updated: 03/28/99)
- Who was the first African American to play in a professional baseball game?:
- John “Bud” Fowler, a hard throwing black pitcher, made a mound appearance for the Lynn (Massachusetts) Live Oaks in a regularly scheduled International Association game on May 18, 1878. On that day he defeated the team representing London, Ontario. (Updated: 03/29/99)
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The negroleaguebaseball.com web site is an educational project intended to provide an online resource for students, teachers, historians and baseball enthusiasts interested in increasing their knowledge of the pre-integration, professional baseball leagues and their role in the shaping of American society and the national game of baseball. Comments, questions or suggestions concerning this web site should be directed to: [email protected].
- 1. What teams played in the Negro League?