negro american league
NEGRO AMERICAN LEAGUE (NAL) 1937-1962
The Negro American League (NAL) was one of the several professional Negro Leagues that were created during the time in which organized professional baseball in the United States was strictly segregated.
The Negro American League was initially established in 1937 and survived for an astonishing 25 seasons, well past integration, before its official dissolution around 1962.
This league essentially became the place for the Negro Leagues to go before it died completely.
The collective known as the Negro Leagues had built large amounts of equity in each of these franchises, and it’s rather large and loyal fan bases continued patronizing the league for years, well past integrated professional baseball.
You can think of the Negro American League almost as a consolidation of the past Negro Leagues franchises, some that had either lost their leagues, due to the raiding of Major League Baseball’s talent from the Negro Leagues as a whole.
This created conditions that made the nature of the league and its schedule inherently unorthodox, and unpredictable.
At this point, team owners had very little incentive to enforce a uniform schedule or concrete league structure of any kind, and so teams frequently played uneven schedules in any given season.
From 1939 through 1942, and 1944 through 1947, the team in first place at the end of the season was declared the Pennant winner.
For example, the 1937 season ended with the Kansas City Monarchs in first place with a record of 52–19–1, and a winning percentage of .732, and they were declared league champions.
This led to some spirited disputed about championships, sometimes with two teams claiming the title.
Generally, the team with the best winning percentage (with some minimum number of games played) was awarded the Pennant, but at other times in the history of the league it was simply given to the team with the most wins on the season (which remained problematic with even schedules).
The "games behind" method of recording standings was uncommon in most black professional Negro Leagues.
For the duration of the remaining year the league was active, a formal Negro Leagues World Series occurred 7 times, from 1942 through 1948.
During these World Series encounters, the Negro American League (NAL) Pennant winner would meet the champion of the rival Negro National League I (NNLI).
The outcomes of the teams that participated in the Negro American League (NAL) World Series are listed below with the series winner in bold:
- 1942 – Kansas City Monarchs beat Washington Homestead Grays, 4-0.
- 1943 – Washington Homestead Grays beat Birmingham Black Barons, 4-3.
- 1944 – Washington Homestead Grays beat Birmingham Black Barons, 4-1.
- 1945 – Cleveland Buckeyes beat Washington Homestead Grays, 4-0.
- 1946 – Newark Eagles beat Kansas City Monarchs, 4-3.
- 1947 – New York Cubans beat Cleveland Buckeyes, 4-1.
- 1948 – Washington Homestead Grays beat Birmingham Black Barons, 4-1.
Teams in the Negro American League (NAL):
- Birmingham Black Barons (1937–1938; 1940–1962)
- Chicago American Giants (1937–1952)
- Detroit Stars (III) (1937)
- Indianapolis Athletics (1937)
- Kansas City Monarchs (1937–1962)
- Memphis Red Sox (1937–1959)
- St. Louis Stars (II) (1937)
- Atlanta Black Crackers (1938) / Indianapolis ABCs (IV) (1939)
- Jacksonville Red Caps (1938; 1941–1942) / Cleveland Bears (1939–1940)
- Indianapolis ABCs (III) (1938) / St. Louis Stars (III) (1939) / New Orleans–St. Louis Stars (1940–1941)
- Toledo Crawfords (1939) / Indianapolis Crawfords (1940)
- Cincinnati-Cleveland Buckeyes (1942) / Cleveland Buckeyes (1943–1948, 1950) / Louisville Buckeyes (1949)
- Cincinnati Clowns (1943) / Cincinnati–Indianapolis Clowns (1944–1945) / Indianapolis Clowns (1946–1954)
- Baltimore Elite Giants (1949–1951) from the Negro National League I.
- Houston Eagles (formerly Newark Eagles) (1949–1950) / New Orleans Eagles (1951) from the Negro National League I.
- Philadelphia Stars (1949–1952) from the Negro National League I.
- Detroit Stars (1954–1957; 1959) / Detroit Clowns (1958) / Detroit–New Orleans Stars (1960)
- Louisville Clippers (1954)
- Raleigh Tigers (1959–1962)
- New Orleans Crescent Stars (1957)
- Mobile Havana Cuban Giants (1957)
- Newark Indians (1959)
leagues
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the oldest major professional sports league in the world. Major League Baseball is composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League and the American League.
Negro National League
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
The Negro National League I was the first of two iterations of the NNL. The NNLI was founded by player/manager, Rube Foster, installing himself as League President and Commissioner.
Negro Southern League
Major League Baseball
Eastern Colored League
The Negro Southern League (NSL) was organized as a minor league for player development in service to the Negro National League I in 1920 and lasted until 1936.
Eastern Colored League
Eastern Colored League
Eastern Colored League
The Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Clubs, known as the Eastern Colored League (ECL) was one of the several Negro Leagues, operating during the time organized baseball in the United States was racially segregated.
Negro American League
Eastern Colored League
East-West Negro League
The American Negro League (ANL), not to be confused with the Negro American League was established as one of the several Negro Leagues during the period in which organized baseball was segregated. The ANL operated on the East Coast of the U.S., lasting for one season in 1929.
East-West Negro League
Eastern Colored League
East-West Negro League
The East–West League was a professional baseball league formed during the period when baseball in the U.S. was segregated. The league was conceived 0f by Cum Posey in 1932. However, it didn't last the full year and folded in June of that year.
Negro National League II
Negro National League II
Negro National League II
The second Negro National League II (NNLII) was founded in 1933 by Gus Greenlee as the second iteration to the former Negro National League I (NNLI), The Negro National League II (NNLII) enjoyed much broader success, lasting until integration.
Negro American League
Negro National League II
Negro National League II
The Negro American League was founded as a midwestern League in 1937, formed from clubs that had either played independently or in the Negro Southern League (NSL). It rivaled the Negro National League II, which had become the dominant eastern league in 1933.
LIGA MEXICANA DE BÉISBOL
Negro National League II
Federación Cubana de Béisbol
The Liga Mexicans de Beisbol is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country, with the league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South with member teams participating in 114 games each season.
Federación Cubana de Béisbol
Federación Cubana de Béisbol
Federación Cubana de Béisbol
The Federación Cubana de Béisbol is the governing body of the sport of baseball within Cuba. In 2018, a deal was struck between MLB and the Baseball Federation of Cuba, so that cuban baseball players no longer had to defect to play professionally in the United States.
United States League
Federación Cubana de Béisbol
Nippon Professional League
The United States Baseball League (USL), was one of the several leagues created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The USL was specifically organized as a minor league in 1945 by Branch Rickey to serve as a platform to scout African American players.
Nippon Professional League
Federación Cubana de Béisbol
Nippon Professional League
Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it's Puro Yakyū, (Professional Baseball). The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation of the "Greater Japan Tokyo Baseball Club" (大日本東京野球倶楽部) in Tokyo, founded in 1934,