In 1937 the Negro American League was constituted, consisting of teams from the Midwest and the South. A corresponding change in the Negro National League’s composition resulted in its realignment as an eastern league. This structure, patterned along the lines of the white major leagues, lasted for a dozen seasons, until the Negro National League disbanded after the 1948 season. During this time the Negro World Series was reinstated and seven World Series (1942-48) were played between the champions of the two leagues.
After the demise of the Negro National League, the Negro American League absorbed some of the surviving franchises and divided into two divisions in an effort to resuscitate black baseball. Although the league struggled on through 1960, most historians agree that the 1948 season was the last year that the Negro Leagues were of major-league quality.
Once the color line in organized baseball was eradicated, the end of black baseball was inevitable. For all practical purposes, the end of the Negro Leagues came with the stroke of a pen when Jackie Robinson signed a Brooklyn Dodgers contract.
Logic suggests that baseball expansion was a natural outgrowth of integration and that a measure of the essence of black baseball still lives through the assimilation of black players into the major leagues.
–James A. Riley
(Reprinted from The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, by James A. Riley. Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York, 1994, by permission of Carroll & Graf.)
The World of the
Negro Baseball Leagues
Black Baseball’s Negro Baseball Leagues
www.blackbaseball.com Billed as “the most comprehensive resource on the web for information about the Negro Baseball Leagues,” this site includes reprints of magazine articles, a history section, profiles of players (with photos and audio clips), team listings, a store offering books and other merchandise, and much more. Edited by Negro baseball historian James A. Riley.
Negro League Baseball
www.negroleaguebaseball.com A comprehensive site with news, player profiles, feature articles, team profiles, discussion groups, products for sale, a trivia quiz, etc.
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
www.nlbm.com This site takes you on a tour through the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, in Kansas City, featuring historical background, information about the museum and its exhibits, a museum story, etc.
SABR’s Web Page
www.sabr.org This is the site of the Society for American Baseball Research, whose motto is “Bringing the History of Baseball to Life.” It is a non-profit organization founded in Cooperstown in 1971, which now has over 6,700 members. Great for research and sources.
Opening Day: Or, the Return of Satchel Paige Page 7