The Negro Leagues 1869-1960

<p> At his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame former Negro League player Buck Leonard said Now we in the Negro Leagues felt like we were contributing something to baseball too when we were playing.... We loved the game.... But we thought that we should have and could have made the major leagues. The Negro Leagues had some of the best talent in baseball but from their earliest days the players were segregated from those leagues that received all the recognition.</p><p> This history of the Negro Leagues begins with the second half of the 19th century and the early attempts by African American players to be allowed to play with white teammates and progresses through the Gentleman's Agreement in the 1890s which kept baseball segregated.</p><p> The establishment of the first successful Negro League in 1920 is covered and various aspects of the game for the players discussed (lodgings travel accommodations families difficulties because of race off-season jobs play and life in Latin America). In 1960 the Birmingham Black Barons went out of business and took the Negro Leagues with them.</p><p> There are many stories of individual players owners umpires and others involved with the Negro Leagues in the U.S. and Latin America along with photos appendices notes bibliography and index.</p>