united states league
United States League (USL) 1945
The United States League (USL), alternately called the United States Baseball League, was one of the several professional Negro Leagues created during the time organized baseball was segregated.
The United States Baseball League was organized as an experimental league of sorts by Major League Baseball executive Branch Rickey in 1945.
The USL was created with the sole purpose of serving as a platform for talented African-American baseball players to be scouted for impending integration with Major League Baseball.
It was in 1945 that Branch Rickey rallied several prominent Major League Baseball executives in anticipating of full integration.
Branch Rickey teamed up Negro Leagues veteran, and Pittsburg area businessman, Gus Greenlee, who was the creator of the Negro National League II and owner of the original Pittsburgh Crawfords.
Together they created the United States League as a method for scouting specifically black players that would soon break segregation in MLB.
It is unclear if the league actually played a season in 1945 or if it was only used as a method to put pressure on the Major Leagues for integration.
However, when Rickey signed Jackie Robinson, he completely skipped playing in the USL, in October of that 1945.
The 1946 season for the USL lasted only a few weeks before the league folded. Robinson went on the break Major League Baseball's color line in 1947 with Rickey's Brooklyn Dodgers.
Conflicting sources list the Boston Blues as fielding a team in 1945, others list only 1946.
No standings or accounts have been found for the 1945 season.
- Pittsburgh/Montreal Crawfords (1945–1946)
- Toledo Rays (Cubs) (1945)
- Brooklyn Brown Dodgers (1945–1946)
- Chicago Brown Bombers (1945, Associate Member 1946)
- Detroit Motor City Giants (1945)
- Philadelphia Hilldales (1945)
- St. Louis Stars (Associate Member 1945)
- Boston Blues (1946) – may have fielded a team in 1945
- Cleveland Clippers (1946) – merged with the Brown Dodgers mid-season
- Milwaukee Tigers (1946) – replaced the Clippers mid-season
- Cincinnati Crescents (Founding Member Member 1946)
- Louisville Black Colonels (Founding Member 1946)
- Newark Buffaloes (Founding Member 1946)
- Trenton Stars (Founding Member 1946)
The Pittsburgh Crawfords, Philadelphia Hilldales and St. Louis Stars assumed the nicknames of successful defunct teams and have no relation to those teams.
The Brooklyn Brown Dodgers merged with the Clippers mid-season, just before the league reportedly folded. [2]
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 a professional baseball league 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.
American Negro League
Eastern Colored League
East-West Negro League
The American Negro League, (ANL) not to be confused with the Negro American League (NAL) was one of several Negro leagues established during segregation, operating on the East Coast of the United States 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
Liga Mexicana de Béisbol
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
Liga Mexicana de Béisbol
Negro National League II
The American Negro League, (ANL) not to be confused with the Negro American League (NAL) was one of several Negro leagues established during segregation, operating on the East Coast of the United States for one season in 1929.
Liga Mexicana de Béisbol
Liga Mexicana de Béisbol
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 profesional League
The United States Baseball League (USL), was one of the several leagues created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The league was specifically organized as a minor league by Branch Rickey to serve as a platform for outstanding African American talent.
Nippon profesional League
Federación Cubana de Béisbol
Nippon profesional 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,