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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".
The Memphis Redbirds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. They are located in Memphis, Tennessee, and are named for their Major League Baseball affiliate. The Redbirds play their home games at AutoZone Park, which opened in 2000 and is located in Downtown Memphis. The team previously played at Tim McCarver Stadium in 1998 and 1999.
The first Negro National League (NNL) 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 Cuban Giants were the first fully salaried African-American professional baseball club. The team was originally formed in 1885 at the Argyle Hotel, a summer resort in Babylon, New York. Initially an independent barnstorming team, they played games against opponents of all types: major and minor league clubs, semiprofessional teams, even college and amateur squads. They would go on to join various short-lived East Coast leagues, and in 1888 became the "World Colored Champions". Despite their name, no Cubans played on the team. The "Cubes" remained one of the premier Negro league teams for nearly 20 years, and served as a model that future black teams would emulate.
The National Colored Base Ball League, the National Colored League, or the League of Colored Baseball Clubs was the subsequent attempt, after the Southern League of Colored Base Ballists, to have a league consisting of all-black teams. It predated Rube Foster's Negro National League by over three decades.
Sports in Memphis, Tennessee are supported in the city by Memphis Park Services, which offers a wide range of public facilities, including 17 swimming pools, 8 public golf courses, 48 athletic fields hosting a range of 510 youth and 269 adult teams, 130 basketball courts, 7 tennis centers and a soccer complex.
The Nashville Americans were a minor league baseball team that played in the Class B Southern League from 1885 to 1886. They were located in Nashville, Tennessee, and played their home games at Sulphur Spring Park, later known as Sulphur Dell.
The Memphis Blues were a Minor League Baseball team that played in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1968 to 1976. They competed in the Double-A Texas League from 1968 to 1973 as an affiliate of the New York Mets. Memphis transferred to the Triple-A International League in 1974, where they were affiliated with the Montreal Expos from 1974 to 1975 and Houston Astros in 1976. Their home games were played at Blues Stadium
The Montgomery Grey Sox were a Negro Southern League (NSL) baseball team based in Montgomery, Alabama. While the NSL was regarded as a minor league throughout most of its existence, with the collapse of the first Negro National League in 1931, the league is considered a major league for that one season.
The Southern League of Colored Base Ballists was the first organized Negro baseball league. The league's only year of operation was 1886. Ten teams competed in the league which stretched from Jacksonville, Florida to Memphis, Tennessee with several other southern teams mentioned as possible members in newspaper articles from the period. The league appears to have collapsed in early July.
The Dallas Black Giants were professional and semi-professional baseball teams based in Dallas, Texas which played in the Negro leagues. They were active on and off from 1908 to 1949. Among the leagues that the Black Giants played for were the Texas Colored League (1916), the Negro Texas League, the Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana League (1929), the Colored Texas League (1931), and - after two years of inactivity in 1936 & 1937—the Texas-Oklahoma-Louisiana League (1938). They played their home games at the original Gardner Park prior to it burning down, Riverside Park and Steer Stadium. In the 1920s and 1930s, live jazz was featured during the games. Beauty contests became a feature in games during the 1930s. One of the best known players on the Black Giants was shortstop Ernie Banks who would go on to become a star in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs. An infamous player was left-handed pitching star Dave Brown who got into involved in a highway robbery. Reportedly a fugitive, Chicago American Giants' Rube Foster paid $20,000 for Brown's parole and he became a member of Foster's Chicago American Giants.
The Southern League was a Class B and Class C minor league baseball league which operated intermittently in the Southern United States from 1885 to 1899. Financial problems plagued the league and its member teams throughout their existence. It was not unusual for teams to depart the league during the season or for the league to cease operations without completing the season. It was this lack of financial support which ultimately caused the league to permanently disband in 1889. In 1901, a new league, called the Southern Association, was created from its remnants.
The Memphis Grays were a minor league baseball team from Memphis, Tennessee, that played in the Class B Southern League in 1886 and 1888. The team finished the 1886 season in fourth place with a 43–46 (.483) record. In 1888, the team finished second with a 26–24 (.520) record.
The Memphis Red Sox were an American Negro league baseball team that was active from 1920 to 1959. Originally named the Barber College Baseball Club, the team was initially owned and operated by Arthur P. Martin, a local Memphis barber. In the late 1920s the Martin brothers, all three Memphis doctors and businessmen, purchased the Red Sox. J. B. Martin, W. S. Martin, and B. B. Martin, would retain control of the club till its dissolution in 1959. The Red Sox played as members, at various times, of the Negro Southern League, Negro National League, and Negro American League. The team was never a titan of the Negro leagues like wealthier teams in northern cities of the United States, but sound management lead to a continuous thirty-nine years of operation, a span that was exceeded by very few other teams. Following integration the team had five players that would eventually make the rosters of Major League Baseball teams and two players that were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Memphis Eurekas were a Negro league baseball team that played in the Southern League of Colored Base Ballists in 1886. They were located in Memphis, Tennessee, and, along with the Memphis Eclipses, were one of two Memphis teams in the league.
The Fulton Base Ball Club was a pre-Negro league baseball team that played out of Charleston, South Carolina. The team was formed in the mid 1870s and operated in some form through the 1880s. In 1886 it became a member of the Southern League of Colored Base Ballists, the first African American baseball league. The team, suffering from financial difficulties, dropped out of the league in early July.
The Memphis Chicks were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the Southern League from 1978 to 1997. They were located in Memphis, Tennessee, and played their home games at Tim McCarver Stadium. They served as a farm club for four Major League Baseball teams: the Montreal Expos (1978–1983), Kansas City Royals (1984–1994), San Diego Padres (1995–1996), and Seattle Mariners (1997). The Chicks were named for the Memphis Chickasaws, who were charter members of the Southern Association that played in Memphis from 1901 to 1960.
The Memphis Chicks were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the Southern Association from 1901 to 1960. They were located in Memphis, Tennessee, and played their home games at Russwood Park. Known originally as the Memphis Egyptians and Memphis Turtles before becoming the Memphis Chickasaws, often shortened to Chicks, they were charter members of the Southern Association.
The Savannah Electrics were a minor league baseball team based in Savannah, Georgia. Savannah teams played exclusively as members of the Southern League in the 1886–1887, 1893–1894 and 1898 seasons, before folding during the 1898 season. Savannah teams of 1886 and 1887 preceded the Electrics in Southern League play. Savannah hosted home minor league games at the Bolton Street Park. Baseball Hall of Fame members Hank O'Day played for Savannah in 1886 and Fred Clarke for the 1894 Savanna Modocs.
References
- ↑ "1886 Southern League Of Colored Base Ballists". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
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