Negro Baseball League
The Negro Baseball league is generally an American professional baseball league that is composed predominantly of African-American teams. The term Negro Baseball League may be broadly referred to as those professional black baseball teams that are outside the leagues. This term can also be narrowly used for those seven successful leagues that began in the 1920s. These seven leagues include: the Negro National League from 1920-1931, the Eastern Colored League from 1923-1928, the American Negro League in 1929 that was created from the Eastern Colored League, the East-West League in 1932, the Negro Southern League from 1920-1940’s, the Negro National League II from 1933-1948, and the Negro American League from 1937-1960. Generally, these leagues are called the Negro Major Leagues.
Below are some of the famous Negro League Baseball Players from the Negro baseball league.
Hank Aaron- This Negro baseball league player was born February 5,1934 in Mobile, Alabama. His real name is Henry Louis Aaron, but popularly, he was called “Hammer”, “Bad Henry”, or “Hammerin’ Hank” and he played for the Major League Baseball from the 1950’s to the 1970’s. He played for the Negro American League, under the Negro League Baseball team the Indianapolis Clowns. After playing for the Negro Baseball League, he started his Major Baseball League career playing for the Milwaukee and the Atlanta Braves for twenty-one seasons, before moving to the Milwaukee Brewers for his last two years in the baseball industry. Throughout his career as a professional baseball player, he had accomplished a number of records, and his most popular achievement was setting a record for the most number of home runs, summing up to seven-hundred and fifty-five homeruns.
Newton Henry “Newt” Allen- Born on the 19th of May 1901. Newt was not only a second baseman for an American Baseball league, but he was also a manager in a Negro Baseball League. Hailed in Texas, he started hi Negro League career sometime in 1922 for the Kansas City Monarchs. Though he has brief stints with some other teams from 1931 to 1932, he stayed with the Kansas Monarchs until he retired in 1948. Because of his dedication and his leadership, he was able to lead the team into five Negro American League pennants, which also included four in a row in 1939 to 1942.
Ernie Banks- Born on January 31, 1931, Texas-born Ernest Banks, or Ernie, is a Major League baseball player that played his whole entire career with the Chicago cubs from 1953-1971. But before joining the American Major baseball league, he played for the Negro American League, playing for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1950. Aside from his Most Valuable Player citations in 1958 and in 1959, he was also part of the Baseball Hall of Fame. On December 1, 1971, banks decided to retire from playing baseball. But his passion for the sport has not stopped there. After retiring, he signed for the Chicago Cubs again, this time as a coach. On May 8,1973, the manager of the Chicago Cubs was ejected from the certain game, which prompted banks to fill in for the position. Officially, Banks was officially considered as the very first Major League Baseball black manager.
Cool Papa Bell- This baseball player’s real name is James Thomas Bell. Born on May 17, 1903, he was an American baseball center fielder from the Negro League Baseball. He was considered by a lot of baseball players, as the fastest man to play baseball. Because of his contribution to the sport, he was also elected on the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974. When he died in 1991, Dickson Street, his hometown in St. Louis, Missouri, was renamed James ‘Cool Papa’ Bell Avenue.
It is indeed obvious that baseball chooses neither race nor color. With the Negro Baseball League, African-American baseball players have contributed a lot of the sport. And so far, they have been one of the best baseball players ever recorded.