The National Colored Base Ball League, the National Colored League, or the League of Colored Baseball Clubs was the subsequent attempt, after the

Southern League of Colored Base Ballists The Southern League of Colored Base Ballists was the first organized Negro baseball league. The league's only year of operation was . Ten teams competed in the league which stretched from Jacksonville, Florida to Memphis, Tennessee with several o ...

, to have a league consisting of all-black teams. It predated

Rube Foster Andrew "Rube" Foster (September 17, 1879 – December 9, 1930) was an American baseball player, manager, and executive in the Negro leagues. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981. Foster, considered by historians to have been per ...

's Negro National League by over three decades.

History

The league was organized by Walter S. Brown, a newspaperman with the ''

Cleveland Gazette ''The Cleveland Gazette'' was a weekly newspaper published in Cleveland, Ohio, from August 25, 1883, to May 20, 1945. It was an African-American newspaper owned and edited by Harry Clay Smith, initially with a group of partners. Circulation was ...

''. Brown served as the league president and secretary, he was also the owner of the Pittsburgh club. On March 14 and 15, 1887, after a series of meetings throughout the winter, team representatives met at the Douglass Institute in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

to finalize the schedule. Acknowledging the experimental nature of the new league, the various delegates kept the schedule short leaving "plenty of open dates between championship games, so as to permit the clubs to take advantage of every opportunity for exhibition games." "Player salaries were to range from $10 to $75 per month; each club was to hire a local umpire; visiting teams were guaranteed $50 plus half the gate receipts, and were to receive $25 from the home team in case of rainout." They adopted the Reach brand baseball, and in return the company would supply the league with two gold medals: one for highest batting average and the other for highest fielding percentage at the end of the season. The league consisted of eight teams: The

Baltimore Lord Baltimores The Baltimore Lord Baltimores were a professional pre-Negro league baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in 1887. The Lord Baltimores played as charter members of the short–lived 1887 National Colored Base Ball League, hosting home games at ...

Boston Resolutes The Boston Resolutes were a Negro league baseball team affiliated with the National Colored Base Ball League in 1887. The team had come into play in early May of that year only to run out of money and have to fold on the spot. The National Leagu ...

, Louisville Falls Citys,

New York Gorhams The New York Gorhams were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1886 to 1892. During their short existence the Gorhams grew to be one of the most successful black professional clubs in the country and challenged the supremacy of the Cuban ...

Philadelphia Pythians The Philadelphia Pythians (also Pythian Base Ball Club, Pythian Baseball Club, or the "Pyths") was one of the earliest Negro league baseball clubs, founded in 1865. African-American leaders Jacob C. White Jr. and Octavius V. Catto established th ...

, Pittsburgh Keystones, Washington Capital Citys, and

Cincinnati Browns The Cincinnati Browns were a professional baseball team in the National Colored Base Ball League, the first attempt at a professional Negro league The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Ame ...

. Neither Washington nor Cincinnati would play a game as they "failed to put up their bonds" at the beginning of the season. The

Cuban Giants The Cuban Giants were the first fully salaried African-American professional baseball club. The team was originally formed in 1885 at the Argyle Hotel, a summer resort in Babylon, New York. Initially an independent barnstorming team, they played ...

declined Brown's invitation to join the league as they were unwilling to sacrifice more lucrative Sunday bookings in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. On opening day, May 5, 1887, the Lord Baltimores beat the Pythians 15–12. The league quickly experienced financial problems. Due to the passage of the

Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 is a United States federal law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopoly, monopolistic practices. The Act required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but did no ...

, railways revoked the reduced "group rates" normally enjoyed by traveling baseball teams. Fares fluctuated wildly and could double or triple overnight, wreaking havoc on the budgets of baseball teams throughout the country (even those in the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

and the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

). A storm from the west, coupled with the rate hikes, led to disaster for the traveling Boston Resolutes on their way to

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. The storm caused the Resolutes to cancel several exhibition games they had planned along the way to help them pay for their trip. They missed their first scheduled game with the Louisville Falls City, and barely arrived for the second on May 7. Despite all the turmoil, the Resolutes beat the Falls City 10–3. Unfortunately, the revenue from the sparsely attended game was not enough to cover the cost of the trip to their next game in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, as a result the Resolutes were stranded in Louisville. The Philadelphia Pythians withdrew from the league after their May 16 game with the Gorhams failed to take in enough money to pay for the use of the Athletics ball park. By May 28, the league had folded.

Season standings

Notable players

Sol White King Solomon "Sol" White (June 12, 1868 – August 26, 1955) was an American professional baseball infielder, manager and executive, and one of the pioneers of the Negro leagues. An active sportswriter for many years, he wrote the first definit ...

* Frank Grant * Oscar Jackson *

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

* Robert Jackson * William Malone * John Nelson *

William Selden William Selden (January 31, 1791 – April 7, 1874) served as Treasurer of the United States The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as custodian and trustee of the fede ...

Windsor Terrill Windsor may refer to: Places Australia *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area *Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Win ...

* John Vactor *

Weldy Walker Weldy Wilberforce Walker (July 27, 1860 – November 23, 1937), sometimes known as Welday Walker and W. W. Walker, was an American baseball player. In 1884, he became the third African American to play Major League Baseball. Walker played ...

* Arthur Thomas *

James W. Wilson Thom & Wilson, the New York City-based architectural office of Arthur M. Thom and James W. Wilson, was a prolific partnership that turned out numerous brownstones in somewhat generic Romanesque Revival and Renaissance Revival styles. The firm's ...

References

{{Authority control Negro baseball leagues

Colored ''Colored'' (or ''coloured'') is a racial descriptor historically used in the United States during the Jim Crow, Jim Crow Era to refer to an African Americans, African American. In many places, it may be considered a Pejorative, slur, though it ...

1887 in baseball Sports leagues established in 1887 Organizations disestablished in 1887

History

Season standings

Notable players

See also

References