Negro League

Black Americans have played the National Pastime since it first spread across the country like wildfire during the Civil War, but they were barred from the highest levels of organized baseball by unwritten rules and “gentleman’s agreements” as the 1800s came to a close. Black players still organized teams and barnstormed across the country, but it wasn’t in the organized forum fans have come to know today until one of those barnstorming players, a dominant pitcher named Rube Foster, envisioned a league where those Black stars could properly showcase their talents.  

Negro League Baseball remained wildly popular through the 1930s and early 1940s, with an estimated 3 million fans coming to ballparks during the ’42 season.  In 1944 opened a new chapter, with Negro Leagues star Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier and making Fellow Black stars Larry Doby and Satchel Paige quickly followed Robinson into the Majors, and the Negro Leagues dissolved soon after once more and more of its most talented stars were finally admitted into MLB.