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The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in 1920 that are sometimes termed "Negro Major Leagues".
Leon Day was an American professional baseball pitcher who spent the majority of his career in the Negro leagues. Recognized as one of the most versatile athletes in the league during his prime, Day could play every position, with the exception of catcher, and often was the starting second baseman or center fielder when he was not on the mound. A right-handed pitcher with a trademark no wind-up delivery, Day excelled at striking batters out, especially with his high-speed fastball. At the same time, he was an above-average contact hitter, which, combined with his effectiveness as a baserunner and his tenacious fielding, helped cement Day as one of the most dynamic players of the era.
William Hendrick Foster was an American left-handed pitcher in baseball's Negro leagues in the 1920s and 1930s. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. Foster was the much-younger half-brother of Rube Foster, a Negro league player, pioneer, and fellow Hall of Famer.
The first Negro National League was one of the several Negro leagues that were established during the period in the United States when organized baseball was segregated. The league was formed in 1920 with former player Rube Foster as its president.
The Negro World Series was a post-season baseball tournament that was held from 1924 to 1927 and from 1942 to 1948 between the champions of the Negro leagues, matching the mid-western winners against their east-coast counterparts. The series was also known as the Colored World Series, especially during the 1920s, and as the Negro League World Series, in more recent books, though contemporary black newspapers usually called it simply, the "World Series", without any modification. A total of eleven Series were contested in its prime, which ultimately saw nine teams compete for a championship and seven who won at least one. The Homestead Grays were the winningest and most present team in the tournament, winning three times in five appearances, while Dave Malarcher and Candy Jim Taylor won the most titles as manager with two each.
The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930. Wilkinson was the first white owner at the time of the establishment of the team. In 1930, the Monarchs became the first professional baseball team to use a portable lighting system which was transported from game to game in trucks to play games at night, five years before any Major League Baseball team did. The Monarchs won ten league championships before integration, and triumphed in the first Negro World Series in 1924. The Monarchs had only one season in which they did not have a winning record and produced more major league players than any other Negro league franchise. It was disbanded in 1965.
Charles Wilber Rogan, also known as "Bullet Joe", was an American pitcher, outfielder, and manager for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro baseball leagues from 1920 to 1938. Renowned as a two-way player who could both hit and pitch successfully, one statistical compilation shows Rogan winning more games than any other pitcher in Negro leagues history and ranking fourth highest in career batting average. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.
Willard Jessie Brown was an American baseball player who played as an outfielder in the Negro Leagues for the Kansas City Monarchs and in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Browns, where he was one of the league's first African American players. Often called "Home Run" Brown for making history as the first Black ballplayer to hit a home run in the American League, Brown's other nicknames included "Sonny," due to his preference for crowded Sunday games, and "Ese Hombre", due to his offensive dominance playing in the Puerto Rican Winter League.
The Western League was the name of several minor league baseball leagues that operated between 1885 and 1900. These leagues were focused mainly in the Midwestern United States.
Andrew Lewis Cooper, nicknamed "Lefty", was an American left-handed pitcher in baseball's Negro leagues. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. An alumnus of Paul Quinn College, Cooper played nine seasons for the Detroit Stars and ten seasons for the Kansas City Monarchs, and briefly played for the Chicago American Giants. The Texan was 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm) tall and weighed 220 pounds.
The Hilldale Athletic Club were an American professional Negro league baseball team based in Darby, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia.
The Indianapolis ABCs were a Negro league baseball team that played both as an independent club and as a charter member of the first Negro National League (NNL). They claimed the western championship of black baseball in 1915 and 1916, and finished second in the 1922 NNL. Among their best players were Baseball Hall of Fame members Oscar Charleston, Biz Mackey, and Ben Taylor.
Bud Fowler, born "John W. Jackson", was an American baseball player, manager, and club organizer. He is the earliest known African-American player in organized professional baseball. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022.
Theodore M. "Bubbles" Anderson was an American baseball player in the Negro leagues. He played primarily second base for the Kansas City Monarchs, Washington Potomacs, Birmingham Black Barons, and the Indianapolis ABCs from 1922 until 1925. He played for the minor Negro league Denver White Elephants from 1920 through 1921 and again from 1932 to 1933.
Samuel Mitchell Holmes Sr., was an American baseball player. He played in the Negro leagues for the Monroe Monarchs, and the Denver White Elephants, a semi-professional team.
The Denver Post Tournament was organized in the 1920s to be "the World Series of semi-pro baseball." The event was sponsored by the Denver Post and featured ten invited teams. In 1934, Negro league players and Black players began to participate, starting with the Kansas City Monarchs and the Denver White Elephants.
The Rossonian Hotel is a historic building and former business located at 2650 Welton Street in the Five Points section of Denver, Colorado, United States. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places since in 1995, for ethnic heritage and social history. It has also been known as the Baxter Building and as the Baxter Hotel.
Albert Henderson Wade Ross (1884–1939), whose name is often abbreviated as A. H. W. Ross, was an American businessman, lawyer, newspaper owner, and baseball team owner. Ross and the Denver Independent Publishing Company were owners from 1913 to 1963 of The Denver Star, an African-American newspaper. He owned and led the African American baseball team the Denver White Elephants, active from 1915 to 1935. Ross had also been the manager of the Rossonian Hotel in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver, which was renamed after him in 1929. Some sources state that Ross owned the Rossonian starting in either 1928 or 1929, and others state he owned it in the mid-1930s. He had also worked in real estate and owned the Metropolitan Realty Co., and was a member of the Denver NAACP.
Cary Blackburn Lewis Sr. (1888–1946) was an American sportswriter, newspaper editor, and publicist. He was instrumental in the formation of the Negro National Baseball League (NNL) in the 1920s. Lewis worked at TheChicago Defender, the Courier-Journal, and the Indianapolis Freeman newspapers.
References
- 1 2 Epting, Chris (2019-06-04). Roadside Baseball: The Locations of America's Baseball Landmarks. Santa Monica Press. p. 406. ISBN 978-1-59580-791-5.
- ↑ Sanford, Jay (November 3, 2019). "The Negro Leagues". National Ballpark Museum.
- 1 2 3 Newman, Kyle (July 5, 2020). "As the Negro Leagues celebrates its centenary, a look at how Denver was integral in erasing baseball's color line". Denver Post .
- ↑ "Go Behind Colorado's Rich History Of African-American Baseball". CBS News. 2019-09-15. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
- ↑ London, Nell (28 February 2018). "The White Elephants, An All-Black Team, Once Ruled Denver Baseball". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
- 1 2 Young, William A. (2016-11-07). J.L. Wilkinson and the Kansas City Monarchs: Trailblazers in Black Baseball. McFarland. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-4766-6299-2.
- ↑ Reed, Byron (February 24, 2020). "History Colorado exhibit shows Denver's role in desegregating professional baseball". KUSA NBC. Retrieved 2023-02-11.
- ↑ Dragseth, P. J. (2021-08-21). Baseball and the House of David: The Legendary Barnstorming Teams, 1915-1956. McFarland. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-4766-7011-9.
- ↑ Repplinger, II, Matthew Kasper (2013-05-20). Baseball in Denver. Arcadia Publishing. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-4396-4221-4.
- ↑ "Former Negro Leagues player Sam Holmes dies at 94; managed Town Club in Denver". The Denver Post . 2010-11-11. Retrieved 2023-02-11.