Series 2: National Negro League, 1938 - 1946

This series consists largely of minutes from meetings of the Negro National League (NNL) and joint meetings of the NNL and the Negro American League (NAL), as well a few statements and a small amount of correspondence related to the work of the NNL.

The second Negro National League (NNL) was founded in 1933 by Gus Greenlee, then owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords. In 1934 the NNL voted the Newark Eagles into the league. The teams comprising the NNL shifted throughout the 1930s, but six teams overlapped with the Eagles and were still extant in 1948 when the NNL folded: the Baltimore Elite Giants (Tom Wilson), Philadelphia Stars (Ed Bolden and Ed Gottlieb), Pittsburgh Crawfords (Gus Greenlee), New York Black Yankees (James Semler), New York Cubans (Alex Pompez), and [Washington] Homestead Grays (Cumberland Posey). Abe Manley served as vice president and treasurer of the NNL.

The Negro American League (NAL), founded in 1937, consisted of teams based in the midwest and the south. Among the teams in the NAL were the Birmingham Black Barons (Abe Saperstein and Tom Hayes), Chicago American Giants (Dr. J. B. Martin), Kansas City Monarchs (J.L. Wilkinson and T. Y. Baird), Memphis Red Sox (Dr. B.B. Martin and Dr. J. B. Martin), Cleveland Buckeyes (Ernest Wright), and the Jacksonville Red Caps (J. B. Greer).

The two leagues competed in an annual East-West [All-Star] Game in Chicago’s Comiskey Park and in the Negro World Series (1942-1948). The entire proceeds of the 1942 East-West game, $8,000, were donated to the Army-Navy Relief Fund. National Negro League (NNL) material includes minutes of meetings of the NNL, minutes of joint meetings between the NNL and the NAL, and a small amount of related correspondence. Perennial concerns of the two leagues included Mexican and other Latin American teams who “poached” NNL and NAL players, disputes over player contracts, payment of umpires, organizing the annual East-West [All-Star] Game, standardizing player contracts, dues, election of officers, discussions regarding the recruitment of a commissioner, etc.

By 1945 the primary concern of the leagues was the integration of Major League Baseball. Included in the 1945 records is the draft of a letter from the leaders of the NNL and NAL to MLB Commissioner Albert B. Chandler, with hand written edits and comments by Effa Manley including: “We are glad to see our players get the opportunity to play in white leagues we are protesting the way it was done. We feel that the clubs or Organized Negro Baseball who have gone to so much expense to develop players and establish teams and leagues, should be approached, and deals made between clubs involved, even though Negro Organized Baseball is not a part of white Organized Baseball” (November 1945).