May 2 - BlackFacts.com Black History Minute

BlackFacts.com: Learn/Teach/Create Black History

BlackFacts.com presents the black fact of the day for May 2.

First game of the Negro National Baseball League.

The first viable Black league was formed in 1920 under the leadership of Rube Foster, manager of the Chicago American Giants. He had been Negro baseball’s best pitcher in the early years of the 20th century and then its best-known manager and promoter.

Foster wanted black players to be ready when integration finally came.

He routinely spoke to players, telling them to always play at the highest level of excellence.

The first game of this new league was held on May 2, 1920, in Indiana. It was between Foster’s team, the American Giants, and the Indianapolis ABCs.

Negro Leagues baseball became the largest black-owned organization in America, and the

league did its part to aid a community living with segregation. Owners raised money to support anti-lynching campaigns, the United Negro College Fund, and the NAACP.

In 1947, the color barrier was broken when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.Within five years, more than 150 Negro Leagues players joined Major League teams.

Without its greatest stars, and struggling with low attendance, the era of Negro Leagues baseball came to a close.

Most importantly, the creation of the Negro Leagues proved that Black players could play on even terms with their white counterparts – and draw just as much interest from baseball fans.

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