On the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues, a look back at what was lost
During the half century that baseball was divided by a color line, black America created a sporting world of its own.
Black teams played on city sandlots and country fields, with the best barnstorming their way across the country and throughout the Caribbean.
A century ago, on Feb. 13, 1920, teams from eight cities formally created the Negro National League. Three decades of stellar play followed, as the league affirmed black competence and grace on the field, while forging a collective identity that brought together Northern-born blacks and their Southern brethren. And though Major League Baseball was segregated from the 1890s until 1947, these teams played countless interracial games in communities across the nation.
After World War II, Jackie Robinson hurdled baseball’s racial divi...