Birmingham Black Barons

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Leagues

Negro Southern League
Negro National League
Negro American League

Significant Players

Joe Bankhead
Lyman Bostock, Sr.
Lorenzo "Piper" Davis
Bill Foster
Willie Greason
Carl Long
Willie Mays
Satchel Paige
Ted Radcliffe
Harry Salmon
Sam Streeter
Mules Suttles
Willie Wells
Artie Wilison

The Birmingham Black Barons played professional baseball for Birmingham, Alabama in the Negro Leagues from 1920 to 1960 when the Major Leagues successfully integrated. They alternated home stands with the Birmingham Barons in Birmingham's Rickwood Field, usually drawing larger crowds and equal press.

Drawing largely from a successful ACIPCO Industrial League team, the Black Barons were organized in 1920 for the inaugural season of Rube Foster's Negro Southern League. They played in that league for three years before making the leap to the larger Negro National League. They were unable to keep their position due to irregularities with the team finances and returned to the Southern League for three more years. Their return to the National League was marked by the emergence of star pitcher Satchel Paige, who led the Black Barons to the second half pennant. They lost the Negro National League title to the Chicago American Giants in four straight games.

For the next decade or so they alternated leagues before being bought by Memphis, Tennessee funeral home director Tom Hayes. They returned to the National League for good in 1940. Early in the decade the team was sold again to Abraham Saperstein who also owned the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. In 1943 they won their first of three pennants. Starting in 1945, they became full members of the Negro National League and enjoyed great success, winning their third pennant in 1948 with the help of teenage outfielder Willie Mays. They ended up losing three Negro World Series to the Homestead Grays that decade, forging a notable rivalry. As the Major Leagues started signing talented African American players, the Black Barons tried to form a new Negro American League with three other Southern teams. The new league played four seasons from 1956 to 1960 before folding. The Black Barons played their last game in 1960.

[edit] Throwback game

On February 26, 2006 ESPN Classic broadcast a throwback game from Rickwood Field featuring amateur players in the uniforms of the Birmingham Black Barons and Bristol Barnstormers. The style of play, the equipment, and the umpires all reflected the 1940s game. Willie Mays attended along with one-time Black Baron Charley Pride. The Black Barons rallied to break an eighth inning tie and win the game 9-8.

[edit] References

Fullerton, Christopher D. (1999) Every Other Sunday: The Story of the Birmingham Black Barons. Birmingham: R. Boozer Press. ISBN 0-9636128-2-4.
Birmingham Black Barons at the Birmingham-Pittsburgh Traveler page - accessed April 3, 2006
"Still in the Game" (April 2006) Southern Living.
Jordan, Phillip. (February 23, 2006) "Nine Innings in Rickwood" Birmingham Weekly.
Daily Defender. Chicago, Ill.: 1962.