1920—The legendary National Negro Baseball League

is organized in Kansas City, Kan., by the “father of Black base­ball,” Rube Foster. It is not widely known that under the 6’4” Foster’s leadership, not only did more than 4,000 Blacks get a chance to play professional baseball during the days when they were not al­lowed to play in the White-controlled major leagues but the Negro Baseball League became one of the largest Black-owned businesses in America. The teams represented Black communities and had major followings. They had names like the Pittsburgh Crawfords, the New York Black Yankees, the Birmingham Black Barons, the Chicago American Giants and the Atlanta Black Crackers. One of the unfortunate side effects of integration was the destruction of many Black busi­nesses. Thus, when the White leagues broke the color barrier and hired Jack­ie Robinson in 1947, the Negro Baseball League gradually began to decline. Most of the teams were gone by 1960.