The Color of Baseball

Jackie Robinson wasn’t the first black man to play professional baseball. That honor actually goes to Bud Fowler.

Fowler joined a white professional team in 1878. He was the only black player in the league. By the late 1800s, as many as fifty blacks played on white teams.

Yet by 1900, these players were banned from white teams. Segregation kept them from playing baseball with whites. Where did the players go? They played on all-black teams.

Andrew “Rube” Foster founded the Negro National League in 1920. It had eight teams. Soon other black leagues formed.

Life in the Leagues

The Negro leagues were a big success. Black teams barnstormed. This means they traveled around the country in buses and on trains. The players were heroes in many black communities. People dropped everything to see a famous team play when they came to town.

Andrew “Rube” Foster founded the first black baseball league in 1920.