100 years ago, the Negro Leagues offered opportunities
New Jersey may seem far away, but it is worth it to baseball fams who want to visit the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in New Jersey.
The Negro Leagues was an association of American baseball teams active largely between 1920 and the late 1948.
The Negro National League (NNL) was first established on February 13,1920, with the help and support of African-American pitcher Andrew “Rube” Foster. According to www.bleacherreport.com, there were eight teams: “the Chicago American Giants, Chicago Giants, Dayton Marcos, Detroit Stars, Indianapolis ABCs, Kansas City Monarchs, St. Louis Giants and Cuban Stars,” which played consistently until 1931.
The NNL came back after the Depression from 1933 to 1948. Other Negro Leagues, including the Negro American League (NAL) and the Eastern Colored League (ECL) provided competition for the NNL teams, but all Negro Leagues had been disbanded after 1958.
The reason why these teams were part of what was called the Negro Leagues is because, at the time, Black players were not being accepted into the minor or the major baseball leagues due to racism, so they formed their own teams “I only heard of the Negro League once,” said Jose Lopez, “but I heard that they were a really good teams in that league.”
Some of the legends in 20th Century baseball had their start in the Negro Leagues, including Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn Dodgers) and Satchel Paige (Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns).
“I wish they had a softball team for girls in the Negro League so the league could have more sports,” said Erika Villa .
