The Toledo Base Ball Club signs the first Afro-American
player in the American Association, Moses Fleetwood Walker.
Walker was a catcher at Oberlin College.
1885:
The Cuban Giants were established in Babylon, New York.
They were the first all Afro-American baseball team in the
United States.
1887:
The first formal Afro-American baseball league was established,
the National Colored Base Ball League.
The following teams were inaugural members of the league:
Lord Baltimores, Boston Resolutes, Cincinnati Browns, Louisville
Falls City, New York Gorhams, Philadelphia Pythians, Pittsburgh
Keystones, and the Washington Capital City Club.
The league disbanded after a mere two weeks.
1890:
The International League proclaimed that all Afro-American
players were banned. (This continued, sadly, until 1946.)
1895:
The Page Fence Giants Base Ball Club was formed I Adrian,
Michigan by Bud Fowler.
1896:
The Cuban Giants and the Page Fence
Giants competed in a lengthy 15-game national championship
series. The Page Fence Giants won 10 games & the title.
1920:
Andrew Rube Foster established the Negro National League.
It began on May 2.
The following teams were the inaugural members of the league:
the Chicago American Giants, Chicago Giants, Dayton Marcos,
Detroit Stars, Indianapolis ABCs, Kansas City Monarchs, and
the Cuban Stars.
The Negro Southern League was established. Members included:
Atlanta, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Memphis, Nashville and
New Orleans.
1923:
The Eastern Colored League was established by Ed Bolden
and Nat Strong. Bolden owned the Hilldale Club; Strong was
the owner of the Brooklyn Royal Giants.
The following teams were members of the Eastern Colored
League: the Brooklyn Royal Giants, Hilldale Club, Bacharach
Giants, Lincoln Giants, Baltimore Black Sox, and the Cuban
East Stars.
1924:
The Kansas City Monarchs and the Hilldale Club competed
in the first Negro World Series. The Monarchs represented
the Negro National League; the Hilldale Club was the champs
of the Eastern Colored League.
The Kansas City Monarchs won the series 5-4.
1928:
The Eastern Colored League broke up.
The American Negro League was established and disbanded
all within the same year.
The following teams were members of the newly formed league:
the Bacharach Giants, Baltimore Black Sox, Cuban East Stars,
Hilldale Club, Homestead Grays, and the Lincoln Giants.
