The first successful attempt to establish a major Negro baseball league came in 1920, with the founding of the Negro National League. The circuit operated through 1931, with clubs located in the Midwest and the South. The Eastern Colored League was formed in 1923, and survived into the spring of 1928. Eastern teams played as the American Negro League in 1929.

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The East-West League folded in the season it was founded, 1932; that year, the Negro Southern League was the only major circuit to complete its schedule. The NSL was a minor league before and after the 1932 season. From 1933 through 1936, the second Negro National League ran unchallenged as a black major league. It included teams from the East and Midwest, and from Nashville in 1933-34. By 1936, the NNL was operating exclusively in the East. In 1937 midwestern and southern franchises formed the Negro American League. The NAL and the NNL co-existed through 1948; in 1949, the NAL absorbed the NNL, and survived as the last major black circuit through 1960.

Negro leagues generally contained six teams, though it was not uncommon for them to have a few more or less. Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas City, New York, and Philadelphia were usually represented. Among other cities fielding teams were Atlantic City, Birmingham, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Memphis, Newark, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Washington. The schedules were set up to allow member teams to play against other competition, primarily white semi-pro opponents. As a result, it was common for the black clubs to play more non-league than league contests. Teams normally played from 50 to 80 league games a season.

Over the years, 11 inter-league Black World Series were held. The NNL and ECL titlists played from 1924 through 1927. Champions from the NAL and NNL met from 1942 through 1948. In 1933 club owners initiated the East-West all-star game. Into the 1950s, the contest was played each summer at Chicago's Comiskey Park. Bringing the best black players together, the East-West game would attract from 20,000 to 50,000 fans, and provided an important source of revenue for the black teams. (MFK)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » June 6, 1921: The Detroit Stars' Bill Gatewood pitches the first no-hitter in Negro League history, defeating the Cuban Stars 4-0. » September 27, 1924: Rookie Pedro Dibut (3–0) hurls the Reds to a 10–1 win over the Cardinals. Except for a brief relief appearance next year, that's it in the majors for the chunky Cuban, who played in the Negro Leagues for the Cuban Giants (West) before the Reds. He sets a oft-tied National League record for most wins without a loss in a career, a mark that will be eclipsed by Ben Shields (4–0 in two leagues). » October 3, 1926: In Baltimore, the Bacharach Giants' Red Grier tosses a 10–0 no-hitter against the Chicago American Giants in the 3rd game of the Negro League World Series. Grier wins just more one game before an unexplained ailment ends his career. » August 28, 1940: Homestead Grays (Negro League) P Ray Brown earns his 27th consecutive victory over a 2-year span when he shuts out the Baltimore Elite Giants 5–0 on a 3-hitter. The win raises his record to 12-0 for the season. » August 2, 1942: At Yankee Stadium, Satchel Paige and Hilton Smith combine to pitch a one-hit shutout over the New York Cubans (Negro League). The Monarchs win, 9–0. In the first game of the twinbill, the Philadelphia Stars conquer the Baltimore Elite Giants, 7–4. Henry Spearman's grand slam sparks the Philley attack. » January 1, 1943: Negro League star Josh Gibson suffers a nervous breakdown and is admitted to St. Francis hospital for rest and treatment. He will be released in time to go to Hot Springs, Arkansas, to get in shape for the baseball season. » May 22, 1944: The Cincinnati Clowns of the Negro American League defeat the Great Lakes Naval Center Negro team 7–5. » January 20, 1947: Famed Negro League slugger Josh Gibson, arguably the greatest slugger ever, dies of a brain tumor at age 35. » August 26, 1947: Recently signed by the Dodgers, former Memphis Red Sox (Negro League) P Dan Bankhead becomes the first black ML hurler. The Pirates rock Bankhead for 10 hits and eight runs in three 1/3 relief innings, but Bankhead joins a small list of players who homer in their first ML at bat. Bankhead's home run, off Fritz Ostermueller, is the only one he'll hit in the majors. Pittsburgh wins 16–3. » March 30, 1948: The PCL integrates as San Diego's John Ritchey pinch hits against Los Angeles. Ritchey, the AL (Negro League) batting champ last year, will homer tomorrow in a starting role and hit .323 in 103 games. » July 7, 1948: The Indians stun the baseball world by signing Satchel Paige, fabulous veteran Negro League pitcher. The move is ridiculed by some as a Bill Veeck publicity stunt, and A.G. Spink in The Sporting News editorializes, "Veeck has gone too far in his quest for publicity. . . . To sign a hurler at Paige's age is to demean the standards of baseball in the big circuits." The 42-year-old Paige will answer the critics in tomorrow, getting a relief decision in a 8–6 win over New York in a DH sweep. He will finish at 6–1. Paige is the oldest player to debut in the majors, but not the first 40-year-old: Chuck Hostetler in 1944 was 40. » May 3, 1952: The Indians lose, but go down swinging as they use a record 23 players including the first black battery in the American League. 39-year-old Negro League veteran Quincy Trouppe is behind the plate when reliever Sam Jones comes in. Bob Chakales loses it for the Tribe with two outs in the 9th. Jones and Trouppe are the battery tomorrow as Jones will pick up a 9–6 win against the Red Sox in relief. » March 14, 1956: Satchel Paige signs with the Birmingham Black Barons (Negro League) at age 50 to play and manage. » February 9, 1971: Former Negro Leagues P Satchel Paige is nominated for the Hall of Fame. On June 10th the Hall's new Special Committee on the Negro Leagues will formally select Paige for induction. » July 7, 1971: Commissioner Kuhn announces that players from the Negro Leagues elected to the Hall of Fame will be given full membership in the museum. It had been previously announced that they would be honored in a separate wing. » February 8, 1972: Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announces the Hall of Fame selection of Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard by the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues. » February 1, 1973: Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announces the selection of Monte Irvin for the Hall of Fame by the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues. » February 13, 1974: Speedster James "Cool Papa" Bell is named for Hall of Fame honors by the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues. » February 10, 1975: The Special Committee on the Negro Leagues picks William "Judy" Johnson for the Hall of Fame. » February 9, 1976: Oscar Charleston is selected for the Hall of Fame by the Special Committee on the Negro Leagues. » February 3, 1977: The Hall of Fame's Special Committee on the Negro Leagues picks Martin Dihigo, the versatile Cuban star, and SS John Lloyd for induction. The committee then dissolves, its functions being taken over by the veterans committee. » March 11, 1981: Johnny Mize and Rube Foster are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee. Mize hit .312 with 359 home runs in 15 ML seasons for the Cardinals and Giants, while Foster was a star Negro League pitcher, manager, and Negro League organizer in the first quarter of the 20th century. » March 3, 1987: Ray Dandridge, a legendary 3B from the Negro Leagues, is the only player elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee. » March 7, 1995: The Veterans Committee elects former major leaguers Richie Ashburn, and Vic Willis, former National League president William Hulbert, and former Negro League player Leon Day to the Hall of Fame. Day will die of a heart attack six days from now. » July 30, 1995: Mike Schmidt, Richie Ashburn, Negro League star Leon Day, former National League president William A. Hulbert, and Vic Willis are inducted into the Hall of Fame. » March 5, 1996: The Veteran's Committee elects four new members of the Hall of Fame, and just misses naming a fifth. The group elected includes Earl Weaver, Orioles manger for 17 seasons, Jim Bunning, who won 100 games in each league, 19th century manager Ned Hanlon, who won pennants in Baltimore and Brooklyn, and Bill Foster, the Negro League's winningest pitcher. Nellie Fox receives the necessary 75% of the Committee's votes, but the rules allow just one modern player elected, and Bunning has more votes. » November 2, 1996: Toni Stone, the first female to play professional baseball at a big league level, dies at age 75. Stone played 2B for the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro League in 1953. » November 1, 1997: The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum opens in its new home in Kansas City, Missouri. It had been occupying a temporary site there for four years. » February 29, 2000: Manager Sparky Anderson, 19th century star Bid McPhee, and Negro League player Norman "Turkey" Stearnes are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. » November 6, 2000: Mariners relief P Kazuhiro Sasaki wins the AL Rookie of the Year award. He is the second-oldest player to ever win rookie honors; only Sam Jethroe, who played in the Negro Leagues before the Braves, was older. » March 6, 2001: 2B Bill Mazeroski and Negro League pitcher Hilton Smith are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Old-timers Committee. » August 5, 2001: Dave Winfield, Kirby Puckett, Bill Mazeroski, and Negro League star Hilton Smith are inducted into the Hall of Fame. » August 6, 2001: Baseball's Hall of Fame announces changes in its voting procedure as it eliminates the closed–door Veterans Committee meetings held since 1953. It also gives new hope to 1,700 players who had failed to receive at least five percent of the votes cast by the writers. The new rules will likely make it more difficult for Negro League and pre–1900 players to be enshrined, and also will make it tougher for players not elected by the writers to be enshrined.