The Negro Leagues: Baseball, America, and Segregation
![image]()
One of the greatest players ever to play the game who was not allowed to compete for MLB because of their color of their skin........Great player with Mythical like stories who changed the way the game of baseball changed forever, A HISTORY THAT'S NEED TO BE TOLD AND KEPT ALIVE, THIS THREAD is to remember these Greats and Giants of the game, A RICH CULTURAL HISTORY of THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN AMERICA......... I WILL BE UPPING THIS THREAD ADDING ARTICLES AND PICTURES THROUGH OUT THE BASEBALL SEASON
![nleague.jpg]()
Negro League Organized In Texas In 1897
During the late 1800s numerous attempts were made to organize viable, professional black baseball leagues. However, economic realities, travel and lodging difficulties posed by segregation, and the logistics of travel worked together to thwart the establishment of any solid baseball circuit. Nonetheless, in 1896 an enterprising group of baseball men in Galveston, Texas believed that they had come up with scheme that could build a league on a sound footing. All that was needed to implement their plan for the new Lone Star Colored Baseball League Of Texas, they believed, was an experienced baseball man at the helm.
In 1897 no black player in the country enjoyed a better reputation for his managerial and business skills than the legendary Bud Fowler. Fowler had played on integrated teams in organized baseball prior to the imposition of the color barrier, and he had successfully operated independent clubs throughout the country throughout the early 1890s. The Galveston consortium communicated with Fowler by mail in the winter of 1896, outlined their plan for a new league, and invited Fowler to make the long journey from his home in New York to Texas to organize the new league. In addition to serving as the leauge's principal organizer, Fowler was also asked to manage Galveston's entry into the new circuit, the Galveston Flyaways. Fowler accepted on the condition that he be granted exclusive decision making authority in the management of the Galveston club, and made his way to Texas shortly after Christmas, 1896.
In short, the plan for the new league sought to address the problems of finances and travel by confining the league to cities and towns within close proximity, all within central and eastern Texas. In January of 1897 the first organizational meeting of the league was held at the offices of the Galveston Times newspaper with Fowler representing the Galveston club and several other clubs by proxy. Also in attendance was D. H. Johnson, an early Texas baseball pioneer representing a club from Palestine, Texas.
The Lone Star Colored League of Texas was formed with eight clubs representing Galveston, Palestine, Beaumont,
Lagrange, Temple, Austin and Houston, each team remitting a deposit of $25, a sum judged sufficient to continued operation throughout the inaugural season.
![f71bf_legal_bud_work_104008412_85a5fb934c.jpg]()
History of the Negro leagues
Amateur era
Octavius Catto,![octaviuscatto.jpg]()
black baseball pioneer
Because blacks were not being accepted into the major and minor baseball leagues, they formed their own teams and had made professional teams by the 1880s. The first known baseball game between two black teams was held on November 15, 1859, in New York City. The Henson Base Ball Club of Jamaica, Queens, defeated the Unknowns of Weeksville, Brooklyn, 54 to 43.
Immediately after the end of the American Civil War in 1865 and during the Reconstruction period that followed, a black baseball scene formed in the East and Mid-Atlantic states. Comprising mainly ex-soldiers and promoted by some well-known black officers, teams such as the Jamaica Monitor Club, Albany Bachelors, Philadelphia Excelsiors and Chicago Uniques started playing each other and any other team that would play against them.
By the end of the 1860s, the black baseball mecca was Philadelphia, which had an African-American population of 22,000. Two former cricket players, James H. Francis and Francis Wood, formed the Pythian Base Ball Club. They played in Camden, New Jersey, at the landing of the Federal Street Ferry, because it was difficult to get permits for black baseball games in the city. Octavius Catto, the promoter of the Pythians, decided to apply for membership in the National Association of Base Ball Players, normally a matter of sending delegates to the annual convention; beyond that, a formality. At the end of the 1867 season "the National Association of Baseball Players voted to exclude any club with a black player." In some ways Blackball thrived under segregation, with the few black teams of the day playing not only each other but white teams as well. "Black teams earned the bulk of their income playing white independent 'semipro' clubs
![negro-baseball.jpg]()
John "Buck" O'Neil: Ty Cobb and Prejudice
![image]()
![82985675.jpg]()
THE GREAT STACHEL PAIGE and JOSH GIBSON
One of the greatest players ever to play the game who was not allowed to compete for MLB because of their color of their skin........Great player with Mythical like stories who changed the way the game of baseball changed forever, A HISTORY THAT'S NEED TO BE TOLD AND KEPT ALIVE, THIS THREAD is to remember these Greats and Giants of the game, A RICH CULTURAL HISTORY of THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN AMERICA......... I WILL BE UPPING THIS THREAD ADDING ARTICLES AND PICTURES THROUGH OUT THE BASEBALL SEASON
Negro League Organized In Texas In 1897
During the late 1800s numerous attempts were made to organize viable, professional black baseball leagues. However, economic realities, travel and lodging difficulties posed by segregation, and the logistics of travel worked together to thwart the establishment of any solid baseball circuit. Nonetheless, in 1896 an enterprising group of baseball men in Galveston, Texas believed that they had come up with scheme that could build a league on a sound footing. All that was needed to implement their plan for the new Lone Star Colored Baseball League Of Texas, they believed, was an experienced baseball man at the helm.
In 1897 no black player in the country enjoyed a better reputation for his managerial and business skills than the legendary Bud Fowler. Fowler had played on integrated teams in organized baseball prior to the imposition of the color barrier, and he had successfully operated independent clubs throughout the country throughout the early 1890s. The Galveston consortium communicated with Fowler by mail in the winter of 1896, outlined their plan for a new league, and invited Fowler to make the long journey from his home in New York to Texas to organize the new league. In addition to serving as the leauge's principal organizer, Fowler was also asked to manage Galveston's entry into the new circuit, the Galveston Flyaways. Fowler accepted on the condition that he be granted exclusive decision making authority in the management of the Galveston club, and made his way to Texas shortly after Christmas, 1896.
In short, the plan for the new league sought to address the problems of finances and travel by confining the league to cities and towns within close proximity, all within central and eastern Texas. In January of 1897 the first organizational meeting of the league was held at the offices of the Galveston Times newspaper with Fowler representing the Galveston club and several other clubs by proxy. Also in attendance was D. H. Johnson, an early Texas baseball pioneer representing a club from Palestine, Texas.
The Lone Star Colored League of Texas was formed with eight clubs representing Galveston, Palestine, Beaumont,
Lagrange, Temple, Austin and Houston, each team remitting a deposit of $25, a sum judged sufficient to continued operation throughout the inaugural season.
History of the Negro leagues
Amateur era
Octavius Catto,
black baseball pioneerBecause blacks were not being accepted into the major and minor baseball leagues, they formed their own teams and had made professional teams by the 1880s. The first known baseball game between two black teams was held on November 15, 1859, in New York City. The Henson Base Ball Club of Jamaica, Queens, defeated the Unknowns of Weeksville, Brooklyn, 54 to 43.
Immediately after the end of the American Civil War in 1865 and during the Reconstruction period that followed, a black baseball scene formed in the East and Mid-Atlantic states. Comprising mainly ex-soldiers and promoted by some well-known black officers, teams such as the Jamaica Monitor Club, Albany Bachelors, Philadelphia Excelsiors and Chicago Uniques started playing each other and any other team that would play against them.
By the end of the 1860s, the black baseball mecca was Philadelphia, which had an African-American population of 22,000. Two former cricket players, James H. Francis and Francis Wood, formed the Pythian Base Ball Club. They played in Camden, New Jersey, at the landing of the Federal Street Ferry, because it was difficult to get permits for black baseball games in the city. Octavius Catto, the promoter of the Pythians, decided to apply for membership in the National Association of Base Ball Players, normally a matter of sending delegates to the annual convention; beyond that, a formality. At the end of the 1867 season "the National Association of Baseball Players voted to exclude any club with a black player." In some ways Blackball thrived under segregation, with the few black teams of the day playing not only each other but white teams as well. "Black teams earned the bulk of their income playing white independent 'semipro' clubs
John "Buck" O'Neil: Ty Cobb and Prejudice
THE GREAT STACHEL PAIGE and JOSH GIBSON