Warm-up jacket worn Glove used by Dave Barnhill, a pitcher for Glove Jersey by pitcher Chet the New York Cubans from 1941 to 1948 belonging to from the Brewer for the Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball outfielder Pittsburgh 4A 4B 4C Jimmy 4D 4E Hall of Fame and Museum Crawfords, Crutchfield, who played A f r i c a n -American History Baseball History Estrellas Importadas jersey worn by Hall of Famer Buck Leonard The Pittsburgh Crawfords PAVING THE WAY 1933–1946 Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Gus Greenlee created the professional Pittsburgh Crawfords team from an amateur President Rafael Trujillo’s team poses in the Dominican Republic in 1937. 1 9 3 3 1 9 3 3 The Great Depression of the 1930s hit hard in the many new and Among the players who left the Pittsburgh Crawfords to play for Trujillo’s club, first fielding the pro team in 1932. He team were Satchel Paige (middle row, far right), Josh Gibson (back row, NEW DEAL THE SECOND NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE far left), and James “Cool Papa” Bell (front row, center). built Greenlee Field, making the Crawfords President Franklin Roosevelt designs far-reaching programs to With teams from Chicago, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cleveland, Nashville, vibrant, but relatively poor, black neighborhoods of industrialized All-Stars Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library improve the economy and provide publicly-funded jobs Detroit and Columbus (Ohio), a new NNL is formed. It lasts until 1948. one of the few Negro league teams of the during the Great Depression. EAST-WEST GAME America, where spending power was already limited. Attendance 1930s to own its home field. The new club Pioneered in 1933, the East-West Game put the best players Beginning the same year as the first major league All-Star Game, the provided strong competition for the powerful East-West All-Star Game in Chicago is the highlight of the African- of the Negro leagues in the spotlight at Chicago’s Comiskey American baseball year. Played until 1950, it frequently outdraws the at black baseball games plummeted. By 1931, both the Negro Homestead Grays, another Pittsburgh team. majors’ Midsummer Classic. Park. It drew as many as 50,000 fans for one of the most This rivalry lasted until 1937, when the National and Eastern Colored leagues had folded. But black baseball important events in the African-American community. Some Crawfords were weakened as their best fans came on specially chartered trains from all over the Ticket to the East-West All-Star Game, 1948 re o rg a n i z e d with two new leagues, the second Negro National players jumped their contracts to play for Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library country. The East-West Game also provided the venue Marian Anderson at the Rafael Trujillo, president-dictator of the Lincoln Memorial, 1939 where major league scouts and the white press saw many Bettmann/CORBIS League and the Negro American League, forming in 1933 and The East squad from the 1939 East-West All-Star Game, featuring baseball-mad Dominican Republic. Buck Leonard (back row, far left), Willie Wells (back row, second from left) of the best black players for the first time. Chicago hosted and Josh Gibson (back row, third from right) 1 9 3 7 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library the last East-West contest in 1953. 1937, respectively. Eventually Negro league baseball grew into a The Latin Beat NEGRO AMERICAN LEAGUE The new Negro American League brings several midwestern and southern multi-million dollar enterprise, one of the largest in the African- 1 9 3 9 barnstorming teams, such as the Kansas City Monarchs and the Memphis From the early 1900s, African-American Red Sox, back into league baseball. MARIAN ANDERSON AT LINCOLN MEMORIAL players and teams had strong ties with American community and a focus of pride. The teams of these Negro Baseball Pictorial Yearbook, 1945 Denied permission by the Daughters of the American Revolution Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Latin America. The best American players (DAR) to sing in Constitution Hall, Marian Anderson is revived leagues paved the way to major league integration. often played in winter leagues in invited to perform at the Lincoln Memorial. Puerto Rico, Cuba and Mexico, where 1939 – 1945 they were treated like princes. A few, Night Games WORLD WAR II President Franklin Roosevelt, Opening Day, like Ray Dandridge, Josh Gibson and Willie Wells, Washington, D.C., 1937 Over one million black soldiers serve and fight in segregated units. Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library ended up playing several summer seasons Playing under lights helped preserve black baseball there too. during the Depression. The Negro leagues and the minors pioneered night games in the early 1930s, The flow of players also went in the other 1 9 4 0 FIRST BLACK GENERAL before they taken up by major league teams. Among direction. Unable to play in the majors because Colonel Benjamin Davis Sr. becomes the first African-American officer of the color of their skin, many great Latino the first to hold night games were the Kansas City promoted to a general’s rank in the American military. 1 9 4 2 Monarchs and their innovative owner J.L. Wilkinson, ballplayers came north to barnstorm and play GREEN LIGHT LETTER who traveled with their own generators and light with black teams in the U.S. Early Latino stars In a letter to President Roosevelt, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis offers stands. By moving contests to hours when more included Cuban natives José Méndez, the to cancel the 1942 season to help with the war effort. President Roosevelt says baseball is important for national morale and should continue. people could go to games, management improved Ball signed by participants in the first East-West Kansas City Monarchs’ pitching hero in the 1924 game, including Josh Gibson, James “Cool gate receipts many times over. Papa” Bell and Bingo DeMoss, 1933 World’s Colored Championship, Cristóbal Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball 1 9 4 3 Hall of Fame and Museum Torriente, the power-hitting outfielder who ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS helped lead the Chicago American Giants to PROFESSIONAL Broadside advertising the Kansas City Monarchs’ three straight pennants (1920-1922), and Colonel Benjamin Davis inspects troops, c. 1942 Courtesy of Library of Congress BASEBALL LEAGUE portable lighting system, c. 1930 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Martín Dihigo, who played all nine positions Philip K. Wrigley founds the All- The with skill during a distinguished Negro Rockford Peaches league career. girls’ profes- sional 4F 4H baseball 1 9 4 5 team at the A 1949 program for the East-West Game, 4G 4J Savanna, black baseball’s all-star game 4i Illinois, EBONY MAGAZINE Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Ordinance Publisher John Johnson begins this popular and enduring magazine Depot, 1945 Courtesy of National Baseball geared towards African Americans. Shoes belonging to pitcher Theolic “Fireball” The first cover of Ebony magazine Smith, who played for several teams, Courtesy of Johnson Publishing 1 9 4 6 including the Pittsburgh Crawfords and St. Louis Stars, from 1936 to 1951 ROBINSON BREAKS COLOR BARRIER Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Tools of the Game Ballparks for Rent The Homestead Grays Hall of Fame and Museum Jackie Robinson breaks the minor league color barrier when he debuts with the Montreal Royals, a Brooklyn Dodgers farm club, on April 18. Equipment used by Negro leaguers is scarce today As Negro league crowds grew, team owners sometimes Travel was the way of life in the Negro leagues of the because players used their equipment until it was rented major league ballparks to increase their gate 1930s. Beyond playing a league schedule, many teams Mexico City team jersey worn by Ray Dandridge, c. 1946 beyond repair. Most Negro leaguers were outfitted receipts. Around New York City, black teams occasionally Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum also barnstormed continuously, sometimes playing at the beginning of the season with two uniforms, rented mammoth Yankee Stadium for Sunday. The three games a day. Nearly all teams kept their own sometimes second-hand, meant to survive a season Homestead Grays split their home schedule between vehicles, racking up thousands of miles criss-crossing of 200 to 300 games. Most players bought the rest of Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field and Washington’s Griffith Stadium, North America. Led by Cumberland “Cum” Posey, their equipment. If a player returned to spring training which stood in a largely black neighborhood. The Brooklyn the Homestead Grays began as barnstormers before without a glove or shoes or ready cash, he could Eagles rented Ebbets Field for homestands in 1935. joining the short-lived American Negro League in Bacardi Trophy awarded to the Brooklyn Eagles borrow against his first paycheck to buy equipment. for winning the Puerto Rican winter league, 1936 1929. They returned to barnstorming, but by 1937 this Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Jackie Robinson slides into base as a minor-leaguer with Montreal, 1946 The Negro leagues came to an end before the idea Hall of Fame and Museum legendary team was a dominant power in the second Traveling bag used by Buck Leonard, backbone of the Homestead Grays for 17 seasons Courtesy of the Photographs and Prints Division, The Schomburg Center of a baseball memorabilia market took hold, meaning Negro National League. Loaned by the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.