Magnet Story Board
Storyboard Text
- Slide: 1
- Baseball began in the 1800s. The sport is said to have been created by Abner Doubleday in Copperstown, New York way back in the mid 1800s. Soon after, there would be baseball games played just about everywhere in the country.
- Slide: 2
- Most professional teams had only white ballplayers in the mid-1860s. Although the treatment professional Negro ball players received was cruel. The first Negro to play professional baseball was Bud Fowler. He created the first shin guards in baseball because of the treatment he was receiving.
- Slide: 3
- By the late 1800s Negroes were completely disappearing from professional baseball teams. Soon after 1887, due to an agreement called the “gentleman’s agreement” that was created by white owners, Negroes could not get on professional baseball. The white pro-ball-club owners held this agreement for almost 60 years.
- Slide: 4
- The Negroes began their own leagues that were growing successfully. Their attempts at creating professional leagues failed due to funding and leadership. That was until a baseball expert named Rube came along organizing an entire Negro baseball league which was named the Negro National League.
- Slide: 5
- The success of the Negro National League caused the creation of a rival league called the Eastern Colored League. This league was created by white owners of independent Negro teams. The top team from each league met in the Colored World Series at the end of the season.
- Slide: 6
- Traveling in the Negro leagues was rough. The heavy discrimination they received in many of the places they went to play made it hard to find food, water, or a place to stay. They didn’t have much money either, they were in pretty rough conditions when traveling.
- Slide: 7
- The U.S. stock market crashed in October 1929. White baseball fell and Negro baseball fell even harder. The Eastern Colored League and the Negro National League fell apart. During this time, Rube was placed in a mental institution and not long after, he passed away.
- Slide: 8
- In 1930, Gus Greenlee, the king of the illegal numbers game, reorganized the entire Negro National League and bought a team for himself. His team was full of all stars and they were unbeatable. Until Greenlee got into legal trouble because of his numbers business. Then, his team fell apart.
- Slide: 9
- J.L. Wilkinson was one of the few white owners in Negro baseball. He ran his team similar to the way Rube had run his. In 1930, Wilkinson’s team became the first to play night games in professional ball. They had the first portable lighting system in organized baseball.
- Slide: 10
- Due to the Second World War in 1941, plenty of Negro league players were lost, but Negro baseball was still good business and the leagues still thrived. Closer to the end of the war, when the players came back, crowds grew drastically. This caused attention from major league owners.
- Slide: 11
- For many long years, Negroes were not able to play in the major leagues. All because people could not accept the integration of baseball. In 1944, after nearly 25 years of being the Major League Baseball Commissioner, Judge Landis died.
- Slide: 12
- When A.B. “Happy” Chandler was elected as commissioner, his stance on integrating baseball was not popularly supported by major league owners. Despite his short time as commissioner, he still made it possible for Negroes to play major league baseball. When Jackie crossed into the majors, it was a real breakthrough.
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