Today in Black History [February 3] the first substantial Negro Baseball League was founded in 1920. The league was founded that year by Rube Foster, known as the father of Black baseball. The league he founded was called the Negro National League.
The Negro National League was one of several Black baseball leagues in the country and consisted of 24 teams including: Chicago American Giants, Chicago Giants, Cuban Stars, Dayton Marcos, Detroit Stars, Indianapolis ABCs, Kansas City Monarchs, St. Louis Giants, Columbus Buckeyes, Cleveland Tate Stars, Pittsburgh Keystones, Milwaukee Bears, Birmingham Black Barons, Cleveland Browns, Memphis Red Sox, Cleveland Elites, Cleveland Hornets, Cleveland Tigers, Nashville Elite Giants, and the Louisville White Sox.
Rube Foster was also the manager of the Chicago American Giants. The league itself was founded by a group of league owners at a meeting at a YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri. This new league was the first African American baseball league to remain stable and active for more than one year.
The league originally operated mostly in the Midwest and spread to the south adding a few teams in 1924.
This league was a breakthrough for negro baseball leagues across the country and helped to facilitate the creation of the much more known Negro American League that birth players such as Jackie Robinson and Satchel Page.