The Design: The Negro Leagues had been around long before Major League Baseball integrated with Jackie Robinson's debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. When the National League was formed in 1876, the so-called "gentlemen's agreement" kept African Americans out of the highest level of professional baseball. Regardless of exclusion, African Americans continued to find ways to play the game they loved whether trough collegiate, military or semi-pro teams and while there were attempts to organize leagues in the late 1800's and early 1900's, nothing truly came to fruition until 1920. This is when Rube Foster, a former pitcher turned owner, founded the Negro National League. It's early success led to the formation of the Eastern Colored League in 1923 with both leagues meeting in the Negro World Series in 1924...a series which continued until 1927. Many Negro League teams would 'barnstorm' when their leagues were over and at times, they would form All-Star teams to travel all over the country. In 1936, the Negro National League formed an all-star team that traveled across the country and even won the prestigious Denver Post Tournament. That team featured five (5) future Hall of Fame players: Josh Gibson, Cool Pappa Bell, Buck Leonard, Satchel Paige and Ray Brown. There were occasions when a team would drop out of the league in general just to barnstorm, as was the case with the Kansas City Monarchs between 1932-1936. With most of the Negro League teams located in the Northeast, these 'Barnstorming' trips were never easy considering the poor travel conditions. They did, however, provide the highest quality of African American baseball to parts of the country that otherwise wouldn't have seen the amazing talent that was being kept out of the game.
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* Unisex Sizing (Model in picture is 6'2" and wearing an X-Large)
* Triblend materials: 50% polyester, 25% airlume combed & ring-spun cotton & 25% rayon.
* Designed & printed in the U.S.A.
