Teams in baseball's
Negro leagues often barnstormed before, during, and after their league's regular season.
Hall of Fame baseball pitcher
Satchel Paige barnstorm toured with
Dempsey Hovland's Caribbean Kings. Hovland founded (and owned) several barnstorming teams, including the
Texas Cowgirls (1949–1977), the first integrated professional
women's basketball team to tour worldwide, and the
New York Harlem Queens. The
Harlem Globetrotters and Texas Cowgirls shared training camps, seasons, and circuits. Barnstorming is most commonly connected with baseball, with many stars of the Major Leagues doing barnstorming with their own "all-star" teams from the start of the 20th century, all the way to the 1950s, either playing inter-squad games or against local minor league teams. It was a way for players to make extra money during the off-season, and the games were usually played in smaller towns in the south, Midwest, and western United States, where there wasn't major league baseball, and allowed fans the rare opportunity to see their favorite players in person. The popularity of barnstorming faded away in the 1950s as more and more baseball games were televised, affording fans a new way to watch their favorite players and teams. While barnstorming is no longer as popular as it was in the 20th century, some teams such as basketball's
Harlem Globetrotters, and
softball's King and His Court founded by
Eddie Feigner carry on the tradition. In the 1990s the
Colorado Silver Bullets women's baseball team resurrected barnstorming because there was no women's league. In 2023, the
Savannah Bananas—up to that point, a
collegiate summer baseball team— became a full-time barnstorming team to great success, after their proprietary "
Banana Ball" format became a national phenomenon. The Bananas helped revive the popularity of barnstorming baseball. It was very common in the early days of professional American football; for instance, the
Los Angeles Wildcats of the first
American Football League (AFL) of 1926 played the regular season as a traveling team, then went on a post-season barnstorming tour of Texas and California, with
Red Grange.
NFL teams were also known to barnstorm in small towns against local teams all the way up through World War II. Several
auto racers, most notably
Barney Oldfield, staged exhibitions around the United States in the early twentieth century. In 1914 he barnstormed against the aviator
Lincoln Beachey at least 35 times. In
rugby union, notable invitation-only touring teams include the
Barbarians and the
French Barbarians. Regional and local barnstorming circuits are often undertaken by local celebrity squads and retired alumni of professional leagues, such as the
Buffalo Sabres Alumni Hockey Team.{{Cite web|url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-161257971.html|archive-date = 2011-05-16|title = A night of warmth on ice: Sabre Alumni, police puts hearts in hockey to aid injured officer|publisher =The Buffalo News |location=Buffalo, NY |date=March 30, 2007 ==Teams==