The Atlanta Black Crackers were a professional

Negro league baseball The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

team which played during the mid-20th century. They were a minor Negro league team and were named after the original

Atlanta Black Crackers The Atlanta Black Crackers (originally known as the Atlanta Cubs and later briefly the Indianapolis ABCs) were a professional Negro league baseball team which played during the early to mid-20th century. They were primarily a minor Negro league ...

Beginnings

In 1943, four years after the original Black Crackers ceased operations, a new team formed to determine if the Atlanta area could support a profitable black team. John H. Harden, the owner at the time the original Black Crackers disbanded, was again financing the team. After two financially successful years barnstorming, Atlanta returned to league play in the newly rebooted Negro Southern League.

League play

United States League

Owner John Harden represented the Black Crackers at the meeting that founded the

United States League The United States League (USL), alternately called the United States Baseball League, was one of the several Negro baseball leagues created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The USL was organized as a minor league in 1945 by Bra ...

in January 1945. By the time the season began however, the Black Crackers had moved to the rebooted Negro Southern League.

Negro Southern League

After decades of mediocrity, Atlanta finally had an undisputed league championship. The Black Crackers dominated play in 1945 and won both halves of the Negro Southern League (NSL) season making any play-off unnecessary. Even after winning the NSL Pennant in 1945, the Black Crackers were still struggling financially. For the 1946 season, they split their time between barnstorming and playing league games as an associate team. Being an associate team allowed games played against NSL teams to count for the league team in the standings, without requiring the associate team to play a committed schedule, while still being able to play non-league games. New owners in 1947 put them back as full league members without much success. By now,

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...

had broken the Major League Baseball color line and interest in Negro league games waned dramatically. The Black Crackers were slated to play the 1948 season in the NSL, but no season appears to have been played. Instead, Atlanta left to compete in the newly formed

Negro American Association The Negro American Association was the name of two different minor league Negro baseball leagues. Negro American Association (1939) The first Negro American Association was organized in 1939, lasting one season. This league was to be a farm sy ...

Negro American Association

In 1948, the newly formed

(NAA) invited several NSL teams to

abscond Absconding may refer to: * Escaping from incarceration or bail * A form of swarming (honey bee) Swarming is a honey bee colony's natural means of reproduction. In the process of swarming, a single colony splits into two or more distinct colonies. ...

. The Atlanta Black Crackers accepted the offer to replace the Danville Aces, who had dropped out. However, it soon turned unprofitable and Atlanta continued to also play an independent schedule. The same proved true for the 1949 season, and the Atlanta Black Crackers quietly disappeared.

References

External links

Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Atlanta Black Crackers oral history interviews, 1973-1974
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atlanta Black Crackers (1943-1949) 1943 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 1949 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Negro league baseball teams Sports clubs and teams in Atlanta Baseball teams disestablished in 1949 Defunct baseball teams in Georgia (U.S. state) Baseball teams established in 1943