It is not stretching the imagination very far to think that the African American Baseball league in the 1930's and 1940's was the best one in America.  People like Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, James Bell, Leroy "Satchel" Paige, and Jackie Robinson contributed to make the African American League what it was, the very best. Indeed, Josh Gibson, for instance, was the greatest catcher of his generation and his prowess as a batter was outstanding. Unofficial figures indicate that Josh Gibson hit more than 900 career homers far more than any hitter of his days and certainly far more than any player of modern times. Unofficial statistics tell us that Josh Gibson hit 75 homers in 1931; however, he was not just a batter of enormous strength since his career batting average was above .350. Indeed, it would be an injustice to de-emphasize Josh Gibson's contribution to baseball even though he was never allowed to show his talent on the big stage as he was an African American living in a system of segregation - on grounds of race - which was in force in The States during Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, James Bell, Jackie Robinson, Leroy "Satchel" Paige's days.  Nevertheless, a system, which allowed racial discrimination to carry the day, was not going to prevent African Americans from taking part in pro baseball, and in 1920, Rube Breeding launched the Black National League in Kansas City, Kansas. The African America League followed in 1937 and teams like the Birmingham Black Barons, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Black New York Yankees, Newark Aguilas, Chicago American Giants, Jacksonville Red Caps, and Atlanta Black Cookies played in front of a large number of people in big urban areas in most part of the East Coast, Northeast and Midwest of America. The African American League became one of the most profitable black enterprises in the States as its dynamism began to catch the eye of broad-minded people in the land. However, inauspiciously, in 1947 a dramatic and wide-reaching change in the prevailing social intransigence of the System allows African American players to play Major League Baseball once more when the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson. The barrier had been broken, however, racial prejudice did not go down with the impediment as team mates and supporters became a constant hindrance to African American players since many of them refused to fully accept the new comers as equals to their team.  Nevertheless, Major League Baseball was the biggest beneficiary in ending apartheid in baseball since it became richer for it as the new comers brought skills which had not been seen in abundance while they had been away.  However, sadly, it must be said that the falling of the barrier which allowed the African American players to play Major League Baseball was very detrimental to the African America League since its prestige was lessened as a consequence of the exodus of quality players to MLB. In fact, the last teams in the African American League carried on with the limited support and resources until 1960 when most of the best African American players were in an European American League.

P.Figueras