Negro Southern League
Encyclopedia
The Negro Southern League was a Negro baseball league
organized in 1920 that lasted into the 1940s. Negro leagues
in Southern United States
were far less organized and lucrative than those in the north due to Jim Crow laws
. Tom Wilson organized the Negro Southern League in .
For most of its existence, the NSL was considered a minor league. However in it was the de facto Negro major league when it was the only organized league to complete the year after the East-West League
folded in mid-summer. With the creation of the second Negro National League the following year, the NSL slipped back into being regarded as having minor league status. Many of the teams left the league in later years, seeking the brighter pastures of the Negro American League
.
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
organized in 1920 that lasted into the 1940s. Negro leagues
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
in Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
were far less organized and lucrative than those in the north due to Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
. Tom Wilson organized the Negro Southern League in .
For most of its existence, the NSL was considered a minor league. However in it was the de facto Negro major league when it was the only organized league to complete the year after the East-West League
East-West League
The East-West League was an American Negro baseball league that operated during the period when professional baseball in the United States was segregated. Cum Posey organized the league in 1932, but it didn't last the full year and folded in June of that year...
folded in mid-summer. With the creation of the second Negro National League the following year, the NSL slipped back into being regarded as having minor league status. Many of the teams left the league in later years, seeking the brighter pastures of the Negro American League
Negro American League
The Negro American League was one of the several Negro leagues which were created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937, and continued to exist until 1960...
.
Franchises
- Atlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
- Atlanta Black CrackersAtlanta Black CrackersThe Atlanta Black Crackers were a professional Negro league baseball team which played during the early to mid 20th century.- Founding :The Crackers were founded in 1919...
(1920-1937), team joined the Negro American LeagueNegro American LeagueThe Negro American League was one of the several Negro leagues which were created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937, and continued to exist until 1960...
in 1938
- Atlanta Black Crackers
- Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
- Birmingham Black BaronsBirmingham Black BaronsThe Birmingham Black Barons played professional baseball for Birmingham, Alabama, in the Negro Leagues from 1920 to 1960 when the Major Leagues successfully integrated...
(1920-1922), team joined the Negro National League then left to rejoin the NSL before moving on to other leagues
- Birmingham Black Barons
- Chattanooga, TennesseeChattanooga, TennesseeChattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
- Chattanooga Black LookoutsChattanooga Black LookoutsThe Chattanooga Black Lookouts was a professional baseball team based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which played in the Negro Leagues. They were established in 1920, only to play for one season. They were reestablished in 1926 to play for two seasons, serving as a farm team of the Homestead Grays of...
(1920, 1926-27) - Chattanooga Choo-ChoosChattanooga Choo-ChoosThe Chattanooga Choo-Choos were a professional baseball team based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The organization operated in the Negro Southern League, a minor league division of the Negro Major Leagues and fielded a team from until . The Choo-Choos played their home games at Engel Stadium...
(1940-46)
- Chattanooga Black Lookouts
- Chicago, Illinois
- Cole's American GiantsChicago American GiantsChicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team, owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" Foster. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball...
- Cole's American Giants
- Cleveland, OhioCleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
- Cleveland Cubs (1932)
- Columbus, OhioColumbus, OhioColumbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
- Columbus Turfs; the Louisville Black CapsLouisville Black CapsLouisville Black Caps was a professional baseball team based in Louisville, Kentucky which played in the Negro Leagues, specifically in the Negro Southern League. The Black Caps played in 1932, then departed Louisville to play as the Columbus Turfs....
moved to Columbus during the 1933 season
- Columbus Turfs; the Louisville Black Caps
- Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
- Indianapolis ABC's
- Little Rock, ArkansasLittle Rock, ArkansasLittle Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
- Little Rock Greys
- Louisville, KentuckyLouisville, KentuckyLouisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
- Louisville Black CapsLouisville Black CapsLouisville Black Caps was a professional baseball team based in Louisville, Kentucky which played in the Negro Leagues, specifically in the Negro Southern League. The Black Caps played in 1932, then departed Louisville to play as the Columbus Turfs....
; moved to Columbus and became the Columbus Turfs during the 1932 season
- Louisville Black Caps
- Memphis, TennesseeMemphis, TennesseeMemphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
- Memphis Red SoxMemphis Red SoxThe Memphis Red Sox were a professional Negro League baseball team based in Memphis, Tennessee from the 1920s until the end of segregated baseball....
- Memphis Red Sox
- Monroe, LouisianaMonroe, LouisianaMonroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
- Monroe MonarchsMonroe MonarchsThe Monroe Monarchs were a professional baseball team based in Monroe, Louisiana, which played in the Negro Leagues from the late 1920s to 1935. The team was created by Fred Stovall, a Texan oil drilling millionaire, who later financed the Negro Southern League. In the 1930s, a time of acute...
- Monroe Monarchs
- Montgomery, AlabamaMontgomery, AlabamaMontgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
- Montgomery Grey SoxMontgomery Grey SoxThe Montgomery Grey Sox were a Negro Southern League baseball team based in Montgomery, Alabama. While the NSL was regarded as a minor league throughout most of its existence, with the collapse of the first Negro National League in 1932, the league is considered a major league for that one...
- Montgomery Grey Sox
- Nashville, TennesseeNashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
- Nashville Elite Giants