The first recorded game of baseball in America occurred on June 19, 1846 in Hoboken, New Jersey. In its first two decades the sport was racially integrated but after the Civil War, African American baseball players were banned from the National Association of Amateur Baseball … Read MoreThe Negro Baseball Leagues (1920-1950)
Ted Rasberry was a player and team owner in the Negro Baseball Leagues. Rasberry was born on October 8, 1913, in West Point, Mississippi, and in his youth, played basketball, baseball and football. He attended Mississippi Industrial College and graduated with a degree in teaching … Read MoreTed Rasberry (1913-2001)
Minnie Forbes is one of a handful of women to own a Negro League Baseball Team. Forbes owned the Detroit Stars team from 1956 to 1958. Forbes was born in Mississippi in 1932, and in 1945, her family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan to live … Read MoreMinnie Forbes (1932- )
The Cleveland Buckeyes were a Negro League baseball team established initially as the Buckeyes Baseball Club, in Cincinnati, Ohio. On the eve of World War II, a white Cleveland sports promoter, Wilbur Hayes, approached Erie, Pennsylvania black businessman Ernest Wright about financially backing a Cleveland-based … Read MoreThe Cleveland Buckeyes (1941-1950)
The Lincoln Giants were a Negro baseball team based out of Harlem, New York. Two white brothers, Edward and Jess McMahon, established the team in 1911, and employed player, Sol White as their manager. White in turn signed pitchers Joe “Cyclone” Williams and Dick “Cannonball” … Read MoreThe Lincoln Giants (1911-1930)
The Philadelphia Giants were a Negro baseball team that played from 1902 to 1911. From 1904 to 1909 they were one of the strongest pre-Negro League teams in black baseball, winning five eastern championships in six years 1904-07. In 1902, Harry A. Smith, a former baseball player and writer … Read MorePhiladelphia Giants (1902-1911)
The Detroit Stars were a Negro League baseball team founded in 1919 by Rube Foster, owner of the Chicago American Giants. They were co-owned by Tenny Blount. Their first season was played as an independent team, not affiliated with any league, and their first game … Read MoreDetroit Stars (1919-1931)
The Philadelphia Pythians were one of the earliest Black baseball clubs formed in the United States. They were founded in 1865 by childhood friends and civil rights activists Jacob C. White Jr. and Octavius V. Catto. A third lesser-known founder was William Still, known as … Read MoreThe Philadelphia Pythians (1856-1871)
Edward Bolden was a domestic servant, postal worker, and one of the top baseball executives in the history of Negro League baseball. Bolden was born in Concordville, Pennsylvania on January 17, 1881. He got his start in baseball at the age of 28 as a … Read MoreEdward W. Bolden (1881-1950)
