Global InformationList of minor Negro league baseball teams information
This list of minor Negro league baseball teams consists of teams that played in the various minor Negro baseball leagues, as well as the independent teams, teams that played in proto-leagues and teams that played after integration.
In Negro league baseball, organized major league play began in 1920, however informal "proto" leagues arose in the 1880s. Most teams up to about 1920 were able to survive, and even profit, by barnstorming small towns and playing local semi-pro teams. After 1920, most teams found financial security by forming leagues, but it was common for teams each season to play as many games outside of the league's schedule. Generally, leagues in the north were major while leagues in the south were minor.
With the integration of Organized Baseball beginning 1946, Negro leagues lost elite players to white leagues causing former major Negro leagues to slip to minor league status, and historians do not consider any Negro league "major" after 1950. By default, leagues established after integration are considered minor league, as is the one of two 1940s majors that continued after 1950. Also at this time, Negro leagues began to appear in the west.
Below are some of the better-documented leagues:
- Proto-leagues
- Southern League of Colored Base Ballists, 1886
- National Colored Baseball League, 1887
- International League of Independent Professional Base Ball Clubs, 1906.
- National Association of Colored Baseball Clubs of the United States and Cuba, 1907–1909.
- Minor leagues
- Texas Colored League/Texas–Oklahoma–Louisiana League/Texas–Louisiana Negro League, 1919–1931
- Negro Southern League (I), 1920–1936 – considered a de facto major league in 1932 because it was the only league to play a full season schedule due to the Great Depression
- Negro Southeastern League, 1921
- Interstate League, 1926 and 1940 (mixed-race league)
- Tri State League, 1935
- Negro American Association, 1939 and 1948–1949
- Negro Major League, 1942
- Post-integration
- Negro Southern League (II), 1945–1951
- United States League, 1945–1946
- West Coast Negro Baseball Association, 1946
- East Texas Negro League, 1946
- Negro Texas League, 1949
- Negro American League, 1951–1960 – considered a major league from 1937 until integration diminished the quality of play around 1950/51
- Arkansas–Louisiana–Texas League, 1951
- Eastern Negro League, 1954
- Negro National Baseball Association, 1954
Below is the list of minor Negro league teams. Teams in bold are considered to have been of major league caliber for at least one season of their existence. Other teams included in this list were either a semi-pro, barnstorming or traveling team and not necessarily a member of a league.