Negro National League (1933–1948)

The second Negro National League was established in 1933 by Gus Greenlee, an African-American businessman of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, two years after the first Negro National League had disbanded, after the start of the Great Depression. The second Negro National League lasted until 1948, the year after Major League Baseball integrated. After that, its surviving teams merged into the Negro American League. To distinguish between the two Negro National Leagues, they are usually referred to as the first Negro National League (NNL I) and the second Negro National League (NNL II). == Negro National League franchises ==

:Annual final standings: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948 • Baltimore Black Sox (I) (1933) • Brooklyn Royal Giants (1933) • Cole's American Giants (1933–1935) • Columbus Blue Birds / Akron Grays / Cleveland Giants (1933) – moved during season • Indianapolis ABC's (II) / Detroit Stars (II) (1933) – moved to Detroit in April • Nashville Elite Giants (1933–1934) / Columbus Elite Giants (1935) / Washington Elite Giants (1936–1937) / Baltimore Elite Giants (1938–1948) • Pittsburgh Crawfords (1933–1938) • Philadelphia Bacharach Giants (1934) • Cleveland Red Sox (1934) • Baltimore Black Sox (II) (1934) • (Washington) Homestead Grays (1934–1948) • †Newark Dodgers (1934–1935) / Newark Eagles (1936–1948) • Philadelphia Stars (1934–1948) • †Brooklyn Eagles (1935) • New York Cubans (1935–1936; 1939–1948) • New York Black Yankees (1936–1948) • Washington Black Senators (1938) †The Brooklyn Eagles and Newark Dodgers merged to form the Newark Eagles in 1936. Member timeline DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:800 height:500 PlotArea = left:20 right:50 bottom:20 top:20 Colors = id:majorGridColor value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) id:lineColor value:gray(0.6) id:nl1 value:gray(0.9) id:inactive value:gray(0.5) id:gold value:rgb(0.99,0.72,0.15) id:brown value:rgb(0.36,0.20,0.10) id:vegasgold value:rgb(0.80,0.72,0.49) id:green value:rgb(0, 0.51,0.28) id:darkgreen value:rgb(0, 0.20,0 ) id:orange value:rgb(1 ,0.39,0 ) id:redorange value:rgb(1 ,0.20,0 ) id:red value:rgb(0.80,0.01,0.07) id:red2 value:rgb(0.90,0.01,0.07) id:darkred value:rgb(0.50,0 ,0 ) id:iceblue value:rgb(0.20,0.60,0.80) id:lgray value:gray(0.1) id:gray value:gray(0.3) id:gray2 value:gray(0.5) id:sand value:rgb(0.94,0.89,0.77) id:navy value:rgb(0 ,0 ,0.30) id:teal value:rgb(0 ,0.65,0.65) id:teal2 value:rgb(0 ,0.45,0.45) Period = from:1933 till:1949 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy ScaleMajor = start:1933 increment:1 gridcolor:majorGridColor BarData = bar:BAL # Nashville Elite Giants / Columbus Elite Giants / Washington Elite Giants / Baltimore Elite Giants bar:PIT # Pittsburgh Crawfords bar:CAG # Cole’s American Giants bar:BRG # Brooklyn Royal Giants bar:CLG # Columbus Blue Birds / Akron Grays / Cleveland Giants bar:IND # Indianapolis ABCs (II) / Detroit Stars (II) bar:BBS # Baltimore Black Sox (I) bar:HOM # Homestead Grays / Washington Homestead Grays / Washington Grays bar:PHI # Philadelphia Stars bar:NWD # Newark Dodgers bar:ATC # Philadelphia Bacharach Giants bar:CLE # Cleveland Red Sox bar:BS2 # Baltimore Black Sox (II) bar:NYC # New York Cubans bar:BRK # Brooklyn Eagles bar:NWK # Newark Eagles bar:NYB # New York Black Yankees bar:WAS # Washington Black Senators Define $Up = shift:(,1) Define $Left = anchor:from align:right shift:(-1,) Define $Right = anchor:till align:left shift:(2,) Define $Right2 = anchor:till align:right shift:(-25,) Define $Down = shift:(,-10) Define $UpLeft = anchor:from align:right shift:(-1,1) Define $UpLeft2 = anchor:from align:left shift:(-1,1) Define $UpRight2 = anchor:till align:right shift:(-1,1) Define $UpRight = anchor:till align:left shift:(2,1) Define $DownRight = anchor:till align:left shift:(2,-10) Define $DownLeft = anchor:from align:left shift:(2,-10) Define $UpUpRight = anchor:till align:left shift:(2,10) PlotData = color:inactive textcolor:black width:20 fontsize:S mark:(line,black) anchor:middle # other options are anchor:from anchor:till align:center # other options are align:left align:right shift:(0,-5) • Note on dates: A team's bar begins with the season that team played its first game, and ends with the season after that team played its last game. For example, the Baltimore Black Sox played their first game in 1933 and played their last game in 1934. Therefore, their bar goes from 1933 to 1935. bar:BAL from:1933 till:1935 color:yellow text:"Nashville~Elite Giants" $UpRight2 bar:BAL from:1935 till:1936 color:yellow text:"Columbus~Elite Giants" $UpLeft2 bar:BAL from:1936 till:1938 color:yellow text:"Washington~Elite Giants" $UpRight2 bar:BAL from:1938 till:1949 color:yellow text:"Baltimore Elite Giants" $Right2 bar:PIT from:1933 till:1939 color:purple text:"Pittsburgh Crawfords" $Right bar:CAG from:1933 till:1936 color:darkgreen text:"Cole’s American Giants" $Right bar:BRG from:1933 till:1935 color:darkred text:"Brooklyn Royal Giants" $Right bar:CLG from:1933 till:1934 color:red text:"Columbus Blue Birds / Akron Grays / Cleveland Giants" $Right bar:IND from:1933 till:1934 color:green text:"Indianapolis ABCs (II) / Detroit Stars (II)" $Right bar:BBS from:1933 till:1934 color:brown text:"Baltimore Black Sox (I)" $Right bar:HOM from:1934 till:1939 color:sand text:"Homestead Grays" $Right2 bar:HOM from:1939 till:1949 color:sand text:"Washington Homestead Grays / Washington Grays" $Right2 bar:PHI from:1934 till:1949 color:orange text:"Philadelphia Stars" $Right2 bar:NWD from:1934 till:1936 color:navy text:"Newark Dodgers" $Right bar:ATC from:1934 till:1935 color:gray2 text:"Philadelphia Bacharach Giants" $Right bar:CLE from:1934 till:1935 color:darkred text:"Cleveland Red Sox" $Right bar:BS2 from:1934 till:1935 color:lgray text:"Baltimore Black Sox (II)" $Right bar:NYC from:1935 till:1937 color:red2 text:" " $Right bar:NYC from:1939 till:1949 color:red2 text:"New York Cubans" $Right2 bar:BRK from:1935 till:1936 color:blue text:"Brooklyn Eagles" $Right bar:NWK from:1936 till:1949 color:redorange text:"Newark Eagles" $Right2 bar:NYB from:1936 till:1949 color:gold text:"New York Black Yankees" $Right2 bar:WAS from:1938 till:1939 color:teal2 text:"Washington Black Senators" $Right • 1933: Formation of the second Negro National League, consisting of 7 teams — Baltimore Black Sox, Cole's American Giants, Columbus Blue Birds, Indianapolis ABCs (II) (moved to Detroit in April), Homestead Grays, Nashville Elite Giants and Pittsburgh Crawfords; Homestead was expelled early in the season for raiding Detroit's roster, Columbus was replaced mid-season by the Akron Grays who were then replaced by the Cleveland Giants. • 1934: Dropped Cleveland Giants, Detroit Stars, Baltimore Black Sox (I); Added Philadelphia Bacharach Giants, Cleveland Red Sox, Philadelphia Stars and Baltimore Black Sox (II); Retained Homestead Grays as an associate team. • 1935: Dropped Philadelphia Bacharach Giants, Baltimore Black Sox (II) and Cleveland Red Sox; Added Brooklyn Eagles, Homestead Grays, New York Cubans and Newark Dodgers. • 1936: Dropped Cole's American Giants; Brooklyn and Newark merged. • 1937: Dropped New York Cubans; Added New York Black Yankees. • 1938: Added Washington Black Senators. • 1939: Dropped Pittsburgh Crawfords and Washington Black Senators; Re-added New York Cubans. • 1948: League disbanded after completion of season; All teams continued on with Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark and New York Cubans joining the Negro American League for the 1949 season, while the Grays and Black Yankees playing independent of a league. == League champions ==

Pennant winners From 1937 and 1938, 1940, and 1942 through 1946, the team in first place at the end of the season was declared the pennant winner (league champion). Due to the unorthodox nature of the schedule (and little incentive to enforce it), some teams frequently played many more games than others did in any given season. In 1933, Cole's Chicago American Giants claimed the first half title, but the Pittsburgh Crawfords won the second half and had an overall better record. The following year saw the Stars have a better winning percentage that saw them compete against the third place Chicago team despite the fact Pittsburgh played (and won) more games. This led to some disputed championships and two teams claiming the title. Generally, the team with the best winning percentage (with some minimum number of games played) was awarded the pennant, but other times it was the team with the most victories. The "games behind" method of recording standings was uncommon in most black leagues. † – Pennant was decided via a split-season schedule with the winner of the first half of the season playing the winner of the second half of the season. • – Pennant was decided via a 2-round play-off between the top four teams. ‡ – Pennant winner went on to play in the Negro World Series. League play-offs On five occasions, the League held a postseason series to determine the pennant champion. 1933 would have been the first to match the first and second half champions, but the Pittsburgh Crawfords were instead awarded the pennant over the first half champion Chicago American Giants. 1936 had an array of games that may or may not have been formal postseason games. For example, the Washington Elite Giants won the first half after beating the Philadelphia Stars 7–5 in a one-game match on September 17. Pittsburgh (who had a better record overall) faced the Newark Eagles from September 12–15 and won 3–1–1 in either a second-half playoff or a regular series-turned-playoff. Washington and Pittsburgh played three games from September 21–27, but no box scores exist for the games (which Pittsburgh won two of three) in a series that was evidently abandoned. In one year (1939), the top four teams (Homestead Grays, Newark Eagles, Baltimore Elite Giants, Philadelphia Stars) were matched together in a best-of-five tournament. The Grays beat the Stars in five games while the Elite Giants beat the Eagles in four games to set up the Championship Series. The New York Cubans won the second half of the 1947 season but advanced to the Negro World Series over the Newark Eagles (first half champions). 1948 ended prematurely after a controversial finish to a disputed tie game in the third game. Negro World Series For the duration of the league, a Negro World Series took place seven times, from 1942 through 1948. The Negro National League's pennant winner met the champion of the rival Negro American League. Five out of the seven years, the Negro National League team (below in bold) prevailed. • 1942 – Kansas City Monarchs beat Washington Homestead Grays, 4 games to 0 games • 1943 – Washington Homestead Grays beat Birmingham Black Barons, 4 games to 3 games • 1944 – Washington Homestead Grays beat Birmingham Black Barons, 4 games to 1 game • 1945 – Cleveland Buckeyes beat Washington Homestead Grays, 4 games to 0 games • 1946 – Newark Eagles beat Kansas City Monarchs, 4 games to 3 games • 1947 – New York Cubans beat Cleveland Buckeyes, 4 games to 1 game • 1948 – Washington Homestead Grays beat Birmingham Black Barons, 4 games to 1 game == References ==