"Over the decades, African American teams played 445-recorded games against white teams, winning sixty-one percent of them." (Conrads, pg.8) The Negro Leagues were an alternative baseball group for African American baseball player that were denied the right to ay with the white baseball payers in the Major League Baseball Association. In 1920, the firstAfrican American League was formed, and that paved the way for numerous African Americaninnovation and movements. Fences, and Jackie Robinson: The Biography, raises consciousnessabout the baseball players that have been overlooked, and the struggle they had to endure simplybecause of their color. In a more focused sense, the Negro Leagues were an alternative league all in its own. Itwas primarily established for African Americans so they could play baseball, since they wereprohibited from experiencing any type or activity with whites. The reason this league wasseparate was because of the Jim Crow laws that had been enacted during the early 1900's, but inan opinionated note, I feel that whites simply didn't want to be outdone by their counterparts -African Americans. They basically stated that African Americans could not participate in anyactivity with whites, whether it is of public or unsocial nature. These laws displayed the mentalityof the time, which inevitably filtered into the realm of baseball; at this point, segregation had goneso far as to prohibit any blacks from merely playing baseball with whites. It was not until 1933,when "a former pitcher, Andrew 'Rube' Foster, formed the first black league, called the NegroNational League, which contained such teams as the St. Louis Stars, Pittsburgh Crawfords,Philadelphia Stars, New York Lincoln Giants, and the Newark Eagles." Then, "in 1937, the NegroAmerican League was formed to rival the opposing Negro National League that consisted of theMemphis Red Sox, Kansas City Monarchs, Cleveland Buckeyes, Detroit Stars, and the Hillda...
