Jersey worn by outfielder James “Cool Papa” Bell, who played for the St. Louis Stars from Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum 1922 to 1931 Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum 3A 3B Ball autographed by the Kansas City Monarchs, winners 3C 3D 3E of the 1924 World’s Colored Championship Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

A f r i c a n -American History Baseball History

1 9 2 0 s 1 9 2 0

HARLEM RENAISSANCE Kenesaw Mountain Landis Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library AGE OF THE “NEW NEGRO” African-American music, art and literature flourish in New York City. Bandleader Duke Ellington, stage actor Paul Robeson, and poets Langston Hughes S E PA R ATE LEAGUES, PARALLEL LIVES 1920 – 1932 and Claude McKay figure prominently. Kansas City Monarchs BASEBALL’S FIRST COMMISSIONER The first of the Negro leagues, the Negro National League, was formed in Take to the Road Following the Black Sox Scandal of 1919, the National and American The Indianapolis ABCs INDIANAPOLIS ABCS leagues agree to appoint one person, federal judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, to oversee the major leagues. 1920 by black owner-managers Rube Foster of the Chicago American NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE Charles Isham Taylor, known as C.I., began his baseball In the 1920s, the Kansas City Monarchs were among the first to travel in team owned vehicles instead of by rail. Eight team owners create the first successful league of African-American Giants and C.I. Taylor of the Indianapolis ABCs. They hoped to lessen the career in college like a number of other black players. teams. As president and booking secretary, Rube Foster is its most He and his two brothers, Jim (Candy) and Ben, all became The Monarchs' white owner, Hall of Fame executive J.L. powerful individual owner. His Chicago American Giants win the first three pennants. The NNL folds in 1931. effects of discriminatory practices of white-run booking agencies and to important leaders and players in black baseball during Wilkinson, traveled with them in “Dr. Yak,” the team bus. In the South, many restaurants often refused to serve black the early 20th century. C.I. organized several teams Rube Foster enhance opportunities for black players. A second league, the Eastern Courtesy of National Baseball 1 9 2 3 before finally settling with the ABCs in Indianapolis. He patrons. If the players could not find black restaurants, they Hall of Fame Library EASTERN COLORED LEAGUE was known for gentle, persuasive leadership, a style very had to locate grocery stores. Sometimes they did not eat Colored League, formed for the 1923 season. These leagues prospered in The Eastern Colored League forms an eastern circuit of teams different from the bluster and force of Rube Foster. After at all. In big cities, they could find housing in segregated to compete with the Negro National League. The ECL folds in 1928. hotels, but in small towns they slept in people’s homes, the boom years of the 1920s, as many southern rural African Americans C.I. Taylor's death in 1922, the Indianapolis team lost Kansas City Monarchs team members with their first bus and team owner J.L Wilkinson (standing, second from left), c. 1930 barns, under the stars or on their bus. several of its best players and faded from its earlier glory. Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library 1 9 2 4 migrated to northern and midwestern industrial cities. FIRST WORLD’S COLORED CHAMPIONSHIP Indianapolis ABCs team featuring Hall of Fame outfielder Oscar Charleston (back row, center), early 1920s With two African-American leagues, the first “World’s Colored Championship” is Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library played between Kansas City and Hilldale (Philadelphia), with Kansas City winning five of nine games. The series is played irregularly until 1948.

Rube Foster (back row, far left) and the Chicago American Giants, 1920, also featuring Hall of Famer Cristóbal Torriente (top left). Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library 1 9 2 5

BROTHERHOOD OF SLEEPING CAR PORTERS CHICAGO AMERICAN GIANTS A. Philip Randolph organizes this influential African-American labor union, the first of its kind.

KANSAS CITY MONARCHS Kansas City Monarchs, c. 1920 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library INDIANAPOLIS ABCS Chicago American Giants with Dave Malarcher The Chicago American Giants (front row, third from left), 1927 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Indianapolis ABCs, 1915, with team leader C.I. Taylor The Eastern Colored League (middle row, center) and Hall of Famers Ben Taylor (top row, second from left) and Oscar Charleston The Chicago American Giants enjoyed one of the longest 1929 – 1939 1 9 2 9 (back row, center). AMERICAN NEGRO Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Seeing the success of histories of any African-American baseball team. Organized GREAT DEPRESSION LEAGUE the Negro National by Rube Foster and John Schorling in 1911, the American The stock market crashes; many banks, farms and businesses fail; and the unemployment rate soars. The Eastern Colored League League, Ed Bolden, Giants were a dominant team throughout the teens and revives itself as the American manager and part the Negro league era from 1920 onward. “Gentleman” Negro League, owner of the Hilldale Dave Malarcher was the soft-spoken and fleet-footed third 1 9 2 9 club of suburban baseman, who later became manager of the club. EAST-WEST LEAGUE Philadelphia, joined 3F 3G 3H 3i After both the Negro 3J Nat Strong, a powerful National League and the Eastern Colored League fold, white booking agent some owners start the East- who controlled two New York black baseball teams, to Chicago American Giants jersey belonging to “Gentleman” Soup kitchen for the unemployed, 1930 Courtesy of Chicago History Museum

H I L L D A L E S Rube Foster and the First Successful Pro League The Hilldales World’s Colored Championship The St. Louis Stars

Andrew “Rube” Foster played for numerous teams in the 1890s and Ed Bolden's Hilldales, already a professional club In 1924, the Kansas City Monarchs, champions of the The St. Louis Stars were one of the most early 1900s. By the 1910s, he had shifted to managing, first with for six seasons, won the Eastern Colored League Negro National League, and Hilldale of suburban consistent teams in the Negro National

Chicago’s Leland Giants and then the Chicago American Giants. pennant three straight years from 1923 to 1925. Philadelphia, champions of the Eastern Colored League, Baseball watch fobs given to Hilldale’s Judy Johnson and the League during the 1920s. They almost In 1920, he pioneered the first successful professional black league, the Typical of professional black teams, the Hilldales, played the first World’s Colored Championship, with Kansas City Monarchs’ Newt Joseph for the 1925 and 1924 always finished in the first division and World’s Colored Championships, respectively. Negro National League. This league had teams from the midwestern based in Darby, Pennsylvania, played a variety of games in four different cities to increase attendance. Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame sometimes took the championship. and Museum cities of Chicago, Dayton, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Detroit and St. clubs, including other league teams, white semi The Monarchs won in 1924; the following year Hilldale Lightning fast James “Cool Papa” Bell was Louis, as well as the Cuban Stars. Sadly, no matter how successful the pros and local teams. During the peak season, captured the series. among the best-known ballplayers. Black Negro leagues became, they were never considered equal to the white one or two games a day, seven days a week, was teams tended to play a very fast running The Hilldale club, featuring Hall of Famers Louis Santop major and minor leagues as Foster had hoped. not unusual. By the mid-1930s, three games a (back row, far right) and Biz Mackey (back row, game, a strategy they kept while adding thrid from left), 1924 day on weekends and holidays became common. Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library power hitting in the 1920s. In contrast, St. Louis Stars with Cool Papa Bell white major league teams began to adopt (sitting, third from left), 1928 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library “Organization is [black baseball’s] only a slower-paced, slugging brand of ball during the same era. hope. With the proper organization

patterned after the men who have made Belt buckle celebrating Hilldale’s Eastern Colored League championship, 1923 Ed Bolden Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Courtesy of Cash-Thompson Collection, Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum, baseball a success, we will in three years Philadelphia This broadside from 1925 advertises the Kansas City Monarchs’ victory in the 1924 World’s Colored Championship Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library be rated as other leagues.” Rube Foster quoted in the Indianapolis Freeman, 1913

Jersey, cap, bat and sunglasses belonging to outfielder James “Cool Papa” Bell, who played for the St. Louis Stars from 1922 to 1931 Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Program from the first “World’s Colored Championship,” played in 1924 between the Negro National League’s Kansas City Monarchs and the Eastern Colored League champion Hilldales of Philadelphia PRIDE & Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library The African-American Baseball Experience

3K 3L 3M 3N Ball autographed by the Kansas City Monarchs, winners of the 3o 1924 World’s Colored Championship Photo by Milo Stewart, Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum