This list of Kansas City Monarchs seasons compiles games played by the Kansas City Monarchs. Seasons in which the Monarchs were league members (or an associate team), only games that counted in official league standings are included. Seasons in which they had no league membership and played an independent/barnstorming schedule include games against primarily major-league-caliber teams.
Contemporary coverage of games and won-loss standings was spotty and inconsistent. On-going research continuously discovers unreported or misreported games, while some games are probably lost forever. Therefore, Negro league seasonal finishes will likely remain incomplete and subjective.
Colored/Negro World Series Champions (1924–1927 & 1942–1948) ‡ | League Champions † | Other playoff ^ |
Season | Level | League | Season finish | Games | Wins | Loses | Ties | Win% [a] | Postseason | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full [b] | Split [c] | ||||||||||
Kansas City Monarchs | |||||||||||
1920 | Major | NNL1 | 3 | — | 79 | 44 | 33 | 2 | .571 | [1] | |
1921 | Major | NNL1 | 3 | — | 95 | 54 | 41 | 0 | .568 | [2] | |
1922 | Major | NNL1 | 2 | — | 80 | 47 | 31 | 2 | .603 | [3] | |
1923† | Major | NNL1 | 1 | — | 86 | 54 | 32 | 0 | .628 | Won pennant outright | [4] |
1924‡ | Major | NNL1 | 1 | — | 79 | 57 | 22 | 0 | .722 | Won Colored World Series (Hilldale Club) 5–4–1 Won pennant outright | [5] |
1925† | Major | NNL1 | 1 | 1st | 84 | 59 | 23 | 2 | .720 | Lost Colored World Series (Hilldale Club) 5–1 Won NNL split-season playoff (St. Louis Stars 2) 5–3 | [6] |
1926^ | Major | NNL1 | 1 | 1st | 82 | 60 | 22 | 0 | .732 | Lost NNL split-season playoff (Chicago American Giants 2) 5–4 | [7] |
1927 | Major | NNL1 | 3 | DNQ | 88 | 55 | 33 | 0 | .625 | [8] | |
1928 | Major | NNL1 | 2 | DNQ | 80 | 50 | 29 | 1 | .633 | [9] | |
1929† | Major | NNL1 | 1 | 1st & 2nd | 80 | 63 | 17 | 0 | .788 | Won pennant outright | [10] |
1930 | Major | NNL1 | 2 | DNQ | 63 | 40 | 23 | 0 | .635 | [11] | |
1931 | Independent | — | — | — | 19 | 10 | 9 | 0 | .526 | [12] | |
1932 | Independent | — | — | — | 18 | 13 | 5 | 0 | .722 | [13] | |
1933 | Independent | — | — | — | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | .667 | [14] | |
1934 | Independent | — | — | — | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | .333 | [15] | |
1935 | Independent | — | — | — | 16 | 8 | 6 | 2 | .571 | [16] | |
1936 | Independent | — | — | — | 17 | 14 | 3 | 0 | .824 | [17] | |
1937† | Major | NAL | 1 | 1st | 72 | 52 | 19 | 1 | .732 | Won NAL split-season playoff (Chicago American Giants 2) 5–1–1 | [18] |
1938 | Major | NAL | 1 | DNQ | 73 | 45 | 27 | 1 | .625 | [19] | |
1939† | Major | NAL | 1 | 1st | 71 | 46 | 25 | 0 | .648 | Won NAL split-season playoff (St. Louis Stars 2) 4–1 | [20] |
1940† | Major | NAL | 1 | — | 50 | 36 | 11 | 3 | .766 | Won pennant outright | [21] |
1941† | Major | NAL | 1 | — | 48 | 31 | 16 | 1 | .660 | Won Pennant outright | [22] |
1942‡ | Major | NAL | 1 | — | 39 | 27 | 12 | 0 | .692 | Won Negro World Series (Washington Homestead Grays) 4–0 Won pennant outright | [23] |
1943 | Major | NAL | 1 | DNQ | 72 | 44 | 27 | 1 | .620 | [24] | |
1944 | Major | NAL | 4 | DNQ | 87 | 39 | 48 | 0 | .448 | [25] | |
1945 | Major | NAL | 3 | DNQ | 96 | 52 | 41 | 3 | .559 | [26] | |
1946† | Major | NAL | 1 | 1st & 2nd | 81 | 60 | 19 | 2 | .759 | Lost Negro World Series (Newark Eagles) 4–3 Won pennant outright | [27] |
1947 | Major | NAL | 2 | — | 98 | 62 | 36 | 0 | .633 | [28] | |
1948^ | Major | NAL | 2 | 2nd | 104 | 67 | 34 | 3 | .663 | Lost NAL split-season playoff (Birmingham Black Barons 1) 4–3–1 | [29] |
1949 | Minor | NAL | 1 (W) | — | 91 | 54 | 37 | 0 | .593 | Kansas City lost key players to the Majors and did not participate in the post-season | [30] |
1950^ | Minor | NAL | 1 (W) | 1st & 2nd | 73 | 52 | 21 | 0 | .712 | No divisional playoff (Indianapolis Clowns E) | [31] |
1951^ | Minor | NAL | 1 (W) | — | 70 | 42 | 28 | 0 | .600 | Lost NAL divisional playoff (Indianapolis Clowns E) ?–? | [32] |
1952 | Minor | NAL | 4 | DNQ | 49 | 23 | 26 | 0 | .469 | [33] | |
1953† | Minor | NAL | 1 | 1st & 2nd | 77 | 56 | 21 | 0 | .727 | Won pennant outright | [34] |
1954 | Minor | NAL | 6 | DNQ | 67 | 23 | 43 | 1 | .348 | [35] | |
1955† | Minor | NAL | 1 | 1st | 15 | 11 | 4 | 0 | .733 | No second-half played; declared champion | [36] |
Kansas City Monarchs (based in Grand Rapids, Michigan) | |||||||||||
1956 | Minor | NAL | 4 | DNQ | 15 | 6 | 9 | 0 | .400 | [37] | |
1957† | Minor | NAL | 1 | — | 43 | 34 | 9 | 0 | .791 | Won pennant outright | [38] |
1958^ | Minor | NAL | 1 | 1st | 56 | 3 | 24 | 2 | .556 | No split-season playoff (Birmingham Black Barons 2) | [39] |
1959 | Minor | NAL | — | — | [40] | ||||||
1960 | Minor | NAL | — | — | [41] | ||||||
1961 | Minor | NAL | — | — | [42] | ||||||
1962 | Minor | NAL | — | — | [43] | ||||||
1963 | Independent | — | — | — | |||||||
1964 | Independent | — | — | — | |||||||
1965 | Independent | — | — | — |