Running head: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE NEGRO BASEBALL LEAGUE The Rise and fall of the Negro Baseball League: Literature Review For the better part of the 20th century, African American baseball players played under unequal opportunity. On one side of the field, European descendants were given a license to play this children's game for money and national fame. While on the other side of the field, African slave descendants were also given a license to play - as long as they didn't encroach upon the leagues of the Caucasians. What was left over for African American player in terms of riches was meager at best. Though the fortune wasn't there, the love and fame within the African American communities made the players of the Negro Baseball League legends.I chose to explore the Negro Baseball League to form an understanding of how the league was formed, the league's economic and social impact on the African American communities, and on the United States of America. In this paper, I will explore this tremendous impact that has forever changed the American culture, views and attitudes. This exploration will consist of reviewing different documented sources from players, fans and historians. Through these documented resources, I will also research was caused the gradual decline and eventual fall of the Negro Baseball League.Literature ReviewIssue: Negro Baseball League.Pattern: What led to the development of Negro League Baseball.Theme: Discrimination within professional sports. As in all areas of social culture, African Americans denied of a shared walk through baseball history with whites turned to making their own history on the playing diamond of an ever-changing America. " African Americans recognized that they had the talent to throw and catch round horsehide objects almost as soon as the English game of Cricket mutated into baseball (Ribowsky, 1995). During the fledgling years of baseball, more than 70 blacks were playing alongside t...
