Negro league baseball

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

Rube Foster

The Philadelphia Giants, owned by Walter Schlichter, a white businessman, rose to prominence in 1903 when they lost to the Cuban X-Giants in their version of the "Colored Championship". Leading the way for the Cubans was a young pitcher by the name of Andrew "Rube" Foster. The following season, Schlichter, in the finest blackball tradition, hired Foster away from the Cubans, and beat them in their 1904 rematch. Philadelphia remained on top of the blackball world until Foster left the team in 1907 to play and manage the Leland Giants (Frank Leland renamed his Chicago Union Giants the Leland Giants in 1905).

Related Topics:
Philadelphia Giants - Walter Schlichter - 1903 - Andrew "Rube" Foster - 1904 - 1907 - Leland Giants - 1905

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Around the same time, Nat Strong, a white businessmen, started using his ownership of baseball fields in the New York City area to become the leading promoter of blackball on the East coast. Just about any game played in New York, Strong would get a cut. Strong eventually used his leverage to put the Brooklyn Royal Giants almost out of business, and then he bought the club and turned it into a barnstorming team.

Related Topics:
Nat Strong - New York City - Brooklyn Royal Giants

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When Foster joined the Leland Giants, he demanded that he be put in charge in not only the on field activities, but the bookings as well. Foster immediately turned the Giants into the team to beat. He indoctrinated them to take the extra base, to play hit and run on nearly every pitch and to rattle the opposing pitcher by taking them deep into the count. He studied the mechanics of his pitchers and could spot the smallest flaw, turning his average pitchers into learned craftsmen. Foster also was able to turn around the business end of the team as well, by demanding and getting 40 percent of the gate instead of the 10 percent that Frank Leland was getting.

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By the end of the 1909, Foster demanded that Leland step back from all baseball operations or Foster would leave. When Leland wouldn't give up complete control, Foster quit, and in a heated court battle, got to keep the rights to the Leland Giants' name. Leland took the players and started a new team named the Chicago Giants, while Foster took the Leland Giants and started to encroach on Nat Strong's territory.

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As early as 1910, Foster started talking about reviving the concept of an all-black league. The one thing he was insistent on that black teams should be owned by black men. This put him in direct competition with Strong. After the 1912, Foster renamed his team the Chicago American Giants to appeal to a larger fan base. During the same year, J.L. Wilkerson started the All Nations traveling team. The All Nations team would eventually become one of the most well known and popular teams of the Negro leagues, the Kansas City Monarchs.

Related Topics:
1910 - 1912 - Chicago American Giants - J.L. Wilkerson - All Nations - Kansas City Monarchs

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On April 6, 1917, the United States entered World War I. Manpower needed by the defense plants and industry accelerated the migration of blacks from the South to the North. This meant a larger fan base that had more money to draw from. By the end of the war in 1919, Foster was again ready to start a Negro baseball league. On February 13 and 14, talks where held in Kansas City, Missouri that established the Negro National League and its governing body the National Association of Colored Professional Base Ball Clubs. The league was initially comprised of eight teams: Chicago American Giants, Chicago Giants, Cuban Stars, Dayton Macros, Detroit Stars, Indianapolis ABCs, Kansas City Monarchs and St. Louis Giants. Foster was named league president and control every aspect of the league, including who played where and when and what equipment was used (all of which had to be purchased from Foster). Foster, as booking agent of the league, took a 10 percent cut of all gate receipts.

Related Topics:
April 6 - 1917 - World War I - 1919 - February 13 - 14 - Kansas City, Missouri - Negro National League - National Association of Colored Professional Base Ball Clubs - Dayton Macros - Detroit Stars - Indianapolis ABCs - St. Louis Giants

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On May 20, 1921, The Indianapolis ABCs beat the Chicago American Giants in the first game played in the inaugural season of the Negro National League. But, because of the Chicago Race Riot of 1919, the National Guard occupied the Giants' home field, Schorling Park (formerly South Side Park). This forced Foster to cancel all the Giants' home games for almost a month and threatened to become a huge embarrassment for the league. In 1921, the Negro Southern League, a regional black semipro league, joined Foster's National Association of Colored Professional Base Ball Clubs. As a dues paying member of the association, it received the same protection from raiding parties as any team in the Negro National League.

Related Topics:
May 20 - 1921 - Chicago Race Riot of 1919 - Negro Southern League

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Foster then admitted John Connors' Atlantic City Bacharach Giants as an associate member to move further into Nat Strong's territory. Connors, wanting to return the favor of helping him against Strong, raided Ed Bolden's Hillsdale Daises. Bolden saw little choice but to team up with Foster's nemesis, Nat Strong. Within days of calling a truce with Strong, Bolden made an about face and signed up as an associate member of Foster's Negro National League.

Related Topics:
John Connors - Atlantic City Bacharach Giants - Ed Bolden - Hillsdale Daises

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On December 16, 1923, Bolden once again shifted sides and, with Nat String, formed the Eastern Colored League as an alternative to Foster's Negro National League. The league started with six teams: Atlantic City Bacharach Giants, Baltimore Black Sox, Brooklyn Royal Giants, New York Cuban Stars, Hillsdale Daisies, and New York Lincoln Giants. The National League started coming apart at its seams. Three teams folded after the 1921 season, two more after the 1922 season and four more after the 1923 season. Foster kept scrambling to replace the defunct, calling teams up from the Negro Southern League. Finally Foster and Bolden met and agreed to an annual Negro League World Series beginning in 1924.

Related Topics:
December 16 - 1923 - Baltimore Black Sox - New York Lincoln Giants - Negro League World Series - 1924

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1925 saw the St. Louis Stars enter the Negro National League. They finished in second place during the second half of the year due in large part to their 22 year old center fielder, Cool Papa Bell, and their shortstop, Willie Wells. After a gas leak nearly asphyxiated Foster, he was ruled insane because of his erratic behavior and committed to Kankakee Asylum. The last Negro League World Series between Foster's Negro National League and the Eastern Colored League occurred in 1927. While Foster was out of the picture, the owners of the National League elected William C. Hueston as new league president. In 1927, Bolden suffered a similar fate as Foster, by committing himself to a hospital because the pressure was too great.

Related Topics:
1925 - St. Louis Stars - Cool Papa Bell - Willie Wells - Kankakee Asylum - 1927 - William C. Hueston

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In 1927, the Eastern League folded, but was quickly reformed into the American Negro League. The teams in the new American Negro League were the same ones from the Eastern League, with the exception of the Brooklyn Royal Giants which had folded and the addition of the Homestead Grays. The American Negro League lasted just one season. The Negro National League folded after the 1931 season. Some of its teams joined the only Negro league left, the Negro Southern League.

Related Topics:
1927 - American Negro League - Homestead Grays - 1931

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