Negro league baseball

:Part of the History of baseball in the United States series.

Pre-professional baseball

Negro league baseball was a direct result of baseball's color line. The first black-versus-black baseball game was held on September 28, 1860 at Elysian Fields in Brooklyn, New York. The Weeksville of New York beat the Colored Union Club 11-0. At this point in time, baseball was hardly a sport, let alone organized. It was mostly deemed a recreation around which social gatherings were held. The rules were also greatly different from those of the game as played currently.

Related Topics:
Color line - September 28 - 1860 - Elysian Fields - Brooklyn - New York - Weeksville of New York - Colored Union Club

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By 1865, shortly after the end of the American Civil War and during the Reconstruction period that followed, a black baseball scene formed in the East and Mid-Atlantic states. Comprised of mostly ex-soldiers and promoted by some well-known black officers, teams such as the Jamaica Monitor Club, Albany Bachelors, Philadelphia Excelsiors and the Chicago Uniques started playing each other and any other team that would play against them.

Related Topics:
1865 - American Civil War - Reconstruction - Jamaica Monitor Club - Albany Bachelors - Philadelphia Excelsiors - Chicago Uniques

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By the end of the 1860s, the black baseball mecca was Philadelphia. Two former cricket players, James H. Francis and Francis Wood, formed the Pythians who, because permits were difficult to get for black baseball games, played in Camden, Pennsylvania at the landing of the Federal Street Ferry. Octavius Catto, the promoter of the Pythians, decided to apply for official recognition of the Pythians by the National Association of Base Ball Players during its annual convention in December 1867. The association passed a resolution that excluded "any club which may be composed of one or more colored players."{{ref|afrolumens}}

Related Topics:
1860s - Philadelphia - Cricket - James H. Francis - Francis Wood - Pythians - Camden - Pennsylvania - Federal Street Ferry - Octavius Catto - National Association of Base Ball Players - 1867

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Blackball continued to thrive despite the segregation, with the few black teams of the day playing not only each other, but white teams as well. On October 10, 1871, Catto was leaving the Institute for Colored Youth when he was murdered by a white man. With his death came the death of the best Negro team of the time, the Pythians.

Related Topics:
Segregation - October 10 - 1871 - Institute for Colored Youth

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