Mr Foster's League

   Although the Cities of Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, OH; Detroit, Michigan and Saint Louis, Missouri had six Major League Baseball teams between them and the fact that Kansas City, Missouri and Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana both had successful teams in the American Association, it did not discourage Rube Foster from putting together a league of his own to share fans in these cities. It also did not discourage Mr. Foster that several attempts had been made to put together leagues such as the one he was about to propose, that quickly ended in failure.

     On February 13, 1920 Foster got team owners from across the Midwest to meet with him and put a new league together. The name they gave their league was the Negro National League. On that day Baseball's Jim Crow era formerly began. Late that spring another Negro League came forth, that being the Negro Southern League. Together the Negro Leagues provided regular jobs for Negro baseball players for the next 30 years.

   Foster placed two clubs in Chicago and one in Dayton, Ohio in addition to the other previous mentioned cities. Foster's Chicago American Giants were a very long time league member playing in one of the cities that saw cooperation between regular Major League owners and Negro League owners. The American Giants frequently played at Comiskey Park in Chicago and hosted the annual East-West All-Star Game every year for many years. The Kansas City Monarchs and the Indianapolis ABCs enjoyed similar long term success with the cooperation of white counterparts, who owned the local ballpark. The league did slip in the early 1930s with the depression, however it used the 1932 season to take a one season break and retool itself for the hard times ahead.
 
   From the 1933 season on the league slowly moved East and such clubs as the Homestead Grays (Suburban Pittsburgh), New York Black Yankees and the Baltimore Elite Giants became league members. Although the league enjoyed the performances of its many stars through the years, league officials knew that in 1947 with Jackie Robinson experiencing a year like no one else ever had or ever will, knew the writing was on the wall. After the 1948 season, league officials gave up the ghost and signed off on a merger with the Negro American League. The NAL kept the torch burning through the 1961 season, even after the knew the Jim Crow era was gone. Today many of the Nego Leagues stars have been rightfully given their place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. If you would like to know more, please contact the Negro League Committee of the Society for American Baseball Research at http://www.sabr.org/.

   Tomorrow we will look at the great Madison Square Garden in New York.