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Source: The Sporting News
Date: August 7, 1957
Page: 33
Dimensions: 3.25" * 6.125" (full article)
Description: Article titled "Negro Ball Fights
Bravely for Life Against Big Odds" published in
The Sporting News, August 7, 1957. The article chronicles
the rapidly approaching demise of the Negro American
League.
Return to Civil Rights:
Before You Could Say "Jackie Robinson"
Negro Ball Fights Bravely for
Life Against Big Odds
O. B. Integration Chief Factor, But Not Only One;
Remaining 'Major' Loop Plays Nomadic Schedule
BY A. S. (DOC) YOUNG
CHICAGO, Ill.
Suffering from atrophy of the box office, owners of
Negro American League teams, the sole surviving group
of such clubs operating on an organized, interstate
basis, now realize their days are numbered. Like General
Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn, the men who
carry on in Negro American League ball today are making
a gallant last stand against forces they cannot control.
"We're having a tough time," League President
J. B. Martin of Chicago admitted recently. "It
is my ambition to keep the league going to develop players
for Organized Ball. But it's a struggle."
The nature of the struggle is amply illustrated by these
facts: Martin, league president for 18 years, receives
no salary for his services. Furthermore, Martin, a wealthy
businessman and trustee of the Metropolitan Chicago
Sanitary District, maintains an office and staff for
league business at no cost to the loop.
The Negro American League is composed of six clubs:
Detroit, Mobile, Birmingham, Memphis, New Orleans and
Kansas City. Unlike teams in Organized Ball, they do
not play fixed schedules, with a designated number of
home games and games in member cities. Instead they
play a nomadic schedule which takes them into non-member,
as well as member cities in the East, South and Midwest.
"We have to pick and play where we can," Martin
said.
During a recent meeting of club officials, it was revealed
that every team in the league was losing money. Some
clubs have lost players because the athletes were unable
to maintain themselves on the salaries N.A.L. teams
pay these days. Unlike the World War II and post-war
era, the league cannot boast a single player who commands
more than local interest.
Established Stars Gone
In other words, while there are several young players
in the league who may become stars, the Jackie Robinsons,
Satchel Paiges, Larry Dobys and Roy Campanellas, who
used to excite interest among fans wherever they played,
are gone forever.
What is the story behind the decline of Negro baseball?
The answer is composed of several parts. Obviously,
integration in Organized Ball, which was begun on October
23, 1945, when Branch Rickey signed Robinson for the
Brooklyn organization, is a primary contributing factor.
When Rickey plucked Robinson from the Kansas City Monarchs'
roster, he aroused the ire of Negro team owners, both
Negro and white men. At the same time, they were experiencing
one of several periods of prosperity which Negro ball
had enjoyed since its founding in New York in 1885.
After Robinson and other colored stars established themselves
in major league ball, fans deserted Negro baseball in
droves. Because of the public's favorable reaction,
Negro league owners could not publicly voice their enmity
toward Organized Ball, but they privately blamed their
unhappy situation on Rickey and fellow major league
officials.
Negro Ball Squeezed Dodgers
"I've never been sure Rickey didn't do it (sign
Negro players) to knock us out," Frank Forbes said
recently.
When Robinson was signed, Forbes was promoting Negro
league games in the New York area and doing quite well.
"We were giving him (Rickey) fits at the gate,"
said Forbes, a former great player and lately associated
with the New York Giants as a sort of "guardian"
for Willie Mays. "Naturally, I'm glad our players
finally got their chance in Organized Ball, but I still
wonder about the motive."
According to Forbes, in the mid-'40's, Negro teams were
squeezing the Dodger market from two directions. When
the Dodgers were at home for Sunday games, four-team
Negro league double-headers were attracting 15,000 to
20,000 fans to the Polo Grounds or the Yankee Stadium.
Meanwhile, a few miles east of Ebbets Field, the Bushwicks,
an independent white club, were attracting upwards of
15,000 fans to games played against Negro clubs.
One of the major faults of Negro baseball, as it existed
prior to 1945, was its lack of a sound structure. The
leagues (there were two "major" Negro leagues
then, the National and the American) owned truly great
players; teams made huge profits and paid good salaries
to the top stars. But in recent years, only one club,
the Memphis Red Sox, has owned its park. The rest were
tenants, at high rentals, in parks owned by Organized
Ball clubs. None of them controlled concessions sales,
an important profit-and-loss operation.
Travel Conditions Were Tough
The players welcomed integration because, in spite of
good salaries drawn by top stars in the Negro leagues,
they were punished by the nomadic schedules.
It was not unusual for a team to play a double-header
in Memphis on a Saturday, another double-header in Cleveland
on Sunday, and a game in Buffalo on Monday. And they
traveled by bus.
For several years following Robinson's advent in Organized
Ball, Negro teams realized substantial income from the
sale of players. For example, Bill Veeck reportedly
paid the late Newark Eagles $15,000 for Larry Doby's
contract. The Kansas City Monarchs, operated profitably
by Tom Baird, a white promoter, until the coming of
the Kansas City Athletics, sent upwards of 30 Negroes
into Organized Ball. But last year, according to Martin,
the entire Negro American League sold only eight players,
and none of them was immediately useful to major league
clubs.
"We get a price for our players," say Dr.
W.S. Martin of Memphis, brother of the league president,
"but it's never more than $5,000, and they don't
buy many."
Other Factors Besides Integration
According to Dr. W.S. Martin, who operates the Red Sox,
who own their park, "We haven't been doing too
hot. We used to make $25,000 a year, maybe $30,000 to
$40,000. Now we're losing $10,000 a year and we won't
last more than another couple of years."
Behind the mentioned factors leading to the decline
of Negro baseball, you can add: A general improvement
in the economic status of American Negroes, television,
the attraction of other sports and recreational facilities,
including integration of Southern golf courses, steady
migration of fans to the North, Midwest and West, increased
home ownership and the attendant responsibilities.
It all adds up to this: After 72 years, Negro baseball
is just about finished. In the minds of most Negro fans,
Negro baseball is a victim of progress. And far from
being sorry, as much as Negro club owners might hate
to hear it said, they are glad.
Return to Civil Rights:
Before You Could Say "Jackie Robinson"
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