Greenlee Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, USA, was the first black-built and black-owned major league baseball field in the United States.

The field was the dream of Gus Greenlee

Gus Greenlee

William Augustus "Gus" Greenlee was a Negro League baseball owner and an African American businessman....

, owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords

Pittsburgh Crawfords

The Pittsburgh Crawfords, popularly known as the Craws, were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Named after the Crawford Grill, a club in the Hill District of Pittsburgh owned by Gus Greenlee, the Crawfords were originally a youth semipro team sponsored by...

. In 1931, construction started on Bedford Avenue between Chauncy and Duff in Pittsburgh's Hill District. The park opened on April 29, 1932, and reportedly cost $100,000. The first game was the next day, April 30, 1932 and had hall of famers Satchel Paige

Satchel Paige

Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige was an American baseball player whose pitching in the Negro leagues and in Major League Baseball made him a legend in his own lifetime...

 pitching to catcher Josh Gibson

Josh Gibson

Joshua Gibson was an American catcher in baseball's Negro leagues. He played for the Homestead Grays from 1930 to 1931, moved to the Pittsburgh Crawfords from 1932 to 1936, and returned to the Grays from 1937 to 1939 and 1942 to 1946...

. Greenlee Field held 7500 spectators and it was the home field for the Crawfords throughout the Depression era. The Homestead Grays

Homestead Grays

The Homestead Grays were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 by Cumberland Posey, and would remain in continuous operation for 38 seasons. The team was based in Homestead, Pennsylvania, adjacent to Pittsburgh.-Franchise...

 also played there for a time. It was located a few blocks up Bedford Avenue from Ammon Field

Ammon Field

Josh Gibson Field is a baseball venue located in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Until 2008 the field was known as Ammon Field, which served as the home of the Pittsburgh Keystones of the Negro National League in 1922, their only season in the NNL...

, home to the Pittsburgh Keystones.

Greenlee was forced to shut out blacks from ballpark jobs during the 1938 season. This angered the team's fans, and they stayed away in droves. After the season, the Crawfords disbanded and Greenlee Field was torn down.