Negro Leagues

Early History of Black Baseball

While organized baseball dates back to the 1840s, the African American employees of the Argyle Hotel in Babylon, New York, organized the first professional black team in 1885. Calling themselves the Cuban Giants, the team dominated black baseball in the early years. The Cuban Giants toured the country, competing against other black semiprofessional and amateur teams.

The Giants sometimes faced white professional teams as well, as when they played the Philadelphia [Page 592]Athletics of the American Baseball Association in 1885. To receive acceptance from white spectators and teams, the black players on the Giants pretended to be Cuban, speaking in a gibberish on the field that they hoped might pass for Spanish. The great popularity of the Cuban Giants spawned many imitators, including the Cuban X-Giants, the St. Louis Black Stockings, and the Lincoln Giants.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, Negro league baseball was well established throughout the United States. Teams such as the Cuban Giants, the Chicago American Giants, the Philadelphia Hilldales, the Kansas City Monarchs, and the Indianapolis ABCs became household names in black communities across the country.

The African American teams toured throughout the United States, playing each other as well as local teams. The players on the Negro league teams became stars in the African American community. Still, little organization existed, and the practice of top players jumping teams for higher salaries elsewhere proved commonplace.

Professional Leagues

Organized play came to black baseball in 1920, when Andrew “Rube” Foster created the Negro National League (NNL). The NNL was the first true professional baseball league for African American teams. The league featured ball clubs in Kansas City, Indianapolis, Chicago, Saint Louis, Detroit, New York, and Dayton, Ohio.

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