Negro league baseball

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

The end of the Negro Leagues

In 1944, Bill Veeck tried to buy the Philadelphia Phillies with the intention of signing black ballplayers immediately. When Judge Landis, Baseball Commissioner, commissioner of Major League Baseball, was informed of Veeck's plan, he had the National League buy the team and award it to William Cox. (Although this story has long been part of accepted baseball lore, in recent years, its accuracy has been challenged by researchers.) In March 1945, the white majors created the Major League Committee on Baseball Integration. Its members included Joseph P. Rainey, Larry MacPhail and Branch Rickey. Because MacPhail, who was a outspoken critic of integration, kept stalling, the committee never met. Under the guise of starting an all-black league, Rickey sent scouts all around the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico, looking for the perfect candidate to break the color line. His list eventually was narrowed down to three, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe and Jackie Robinson.

Related Topics:
1944 - Bill Veeck - Philadelphia Phillies - Judge Landis - Baseball Commissioner - National League - William Cox - 1945 - Major League Committee on Baseball Integration - Joseph P. Rainey - Larry MacPhail - Branch Rickey - Puerto Rico - Roy Campanella - Don Newcombe - Jackie Robinson

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On August 28, 1945, Jackie Robinson met with Rickey in Brooklyn where Rickey gave Robinson a "test" by berating him and shouting racial epithets that Robinson would hear from day one in the white game. Having passed the test, Robinson signed the contract which stipulated that from then on, Robinson had no "written or moral obligations" {{ref|Ribowsky}} to any other club. By the inclusion of this clause, precedent was set that would raze the Negro leagues as a functional commercial enterprise.

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August 28 - 1945

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To throw off the press and keep his intentions hidden, Rickey got heavily involved in Gus Greenlee's newest foray into black baseball, the United States League. Greenlee started the league in 1945 as a way to get back at the owners of the Negro National League teams for throwing him out. Rickey saw the opportunity as a way to convince people that he was interested in cleaning up blackball, not integrating it. In midsummer of 1945, Rickey, almost ready with his Robinson plan, pulled out of the league. The league folded after the end of the 1946 season.

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United States League - 1945 - 1946

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Pressured by civil rights groups, the Fair Employment Practices Act was passed by the New York State Legislature in 1945. This followed the passing of the Quinn-Ives Act banning discrimination in hiring. At the same time, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia formed the Mayor's Commission on Baseball to study integration of the major leagues. This all led to Rickey announcing the signing of Robinson much earlier than he would have liked. On October 23, 1945, Montreal Royals president Hector Racine announced that, "We are signing this boy." {{ref|Ribowsky2}}

Related Topics:
Fair Employment Practices Act - New York State Legislature - 1945 - Quinn-Ives Act - Mayor - Fiorello La Guardia - Mayor's Commission on Baseball - October 23 - 1945 - Montreal Royals - Hector Racine

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Early in 1946, Rickey signed four more black players, Campanella, Newcombe, John Wright and Roy Partlow, this time to much less fanfare. After the integration of the major leagues in 1947, as marked by the appearance of Jackie Robinson with the Brooklyn Dodgers that April, interest in Negro League baseball waned. Young players with enough talent were signed by major league teams, often without regard for any contracts that might have been signed with Negro League clubs. Negro League owners who complained about this practice were in a no-win situation: they could not protect their own interests without seeming to interfere with the advancement of players to the majors. By 1948, only the Dodgers and Veeck's Cleveland Indians had integrated. While Robinson was quickly becoming a star, it was the performance of Larry Doby in 1948 that convinced most owners that black players had the ability to compete in the major leagues.

Related Topics:
1946 - John Wright - Roy Partlow - 1947 - Jackie Robinson - Brooklyn Dodgers - 1948 - Cleveland Indians - Larry Doby

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Some proposals were floated to bring the Negro Leagues into "organized baseball" as developmental leagues for black players, but this was seen as contrary to the goal of full integration of the sport. So the Negro Leagues, at one time one of the largest and most prosperous black-owned business ventures, were allowed to fade into oblivion. After the 1948 season the Negro National league folded when the Grays withdrew to go back to barnstorming, Eagles moved to Houston, Texas and the New York Black Yankees folded. The Grays ended up folding after the 1949 season having lost $30,000 trying to barnstorm. Many black players were signed to minor league contracts only to move from one bush league team to another, rarely getting the chance to play in the majors despite their success in the minors. The Negro American League played its last game in 1958.

Related Topics:
Houston - Texas - 1949 - 1958

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The last of the Negro league teams the Indianapolis Clowns continued to play exhibition games into the 1980s as a curiosity and sideshow rather than a serious baseball team.

Related Topics:
Indianapolis Clowns - 1980s

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