The Toledo Blue Stockings formed as a minor league

Minor league baseball

Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

 baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 team in Toledo, Ohio

Toledo, Ohio

Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...

 in 1883. They won the Northwestern League

Northwestern League

The Northwestern League was a minor league baseball league that operated from 1883–1884, and again from 1886-1887. It was founded by Elias Matter in 1883.-1883-1884:...

 championship in 1883. Their home ballpark was League Park

League Park (Toledo)

League Park is a former baseball ground located in Toledo, Ohio, USA. The ground was home to the Toledo Blue Stockings baseball club of the then-major American Association from May 14, 1884 to September 23, 1884...

.

The following year, they joined the major league

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 American Association

American Association (19th century)

The American Association was a Major League Baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from to . During that time, it challenged the National League for dominance of professional baseball...

. That year, they finished 8th with a 46-58 record. The team returned to the minors the next year and disbanded after the 1885

1885 in baseball

-Champions:*Post-season playoff: Chicago White Stockings played St. Louis Browns. Series ended with both teams going 3-3-1 in a best-of-7 series. Game 1 ended in a tie called after 8 inning due to darkness; Game 2 was awarded to Chicago by forfeit after 6 innings because St. Louis refused to...

 season.

Historically, the team is best known for being the only major league team with black players (Moses Fleetwood Walker

Moses Fleetwood Walker

Moses Fleetwood Walker [″Fleet″] was an American Major League Baseball player and author who is credited with being the first African American to play professional baseball.-Baseball career:...

 and his brother, Welday Walker

Welday Walker

Welday Wilberforce Walker was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball, born in Steubenville, Ohio. He, along with his brother Moses Fleetwood Walker, became the first black baseball players to play in the major leagues when they played for the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American...

) prior to Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson

Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...

's appearance with the Brooklyn Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...

 in 1947

1947 in baseball

-Major League Baseball:*World Series: New York Yankees over Brooklyn Dodgers *All-Star Game, July 8 at Wrigley Field: American League, 2-1-Other champions:*First College World Series: California...

.