Coverage of Negro League Baseball


old newspaper clipping with headline Great Base Ball

Article from The Union, May 7, 1921,
Vol. 16, No. 2, p.2. Retrieved online
from The Ohio Historical Society, The
African-American Experience in Ohio,
1850-1920.

 

 

 

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Buck O'Neil talks about newspaper coverage of Negro League baseball
photo of Buck O'Neil
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"It was the Negro press which also led the campaign for accurate record-keeping in black baseball. . . . given the conditions the players toiled under, it is no wonder that no one wanted to keep an accurate scorebook. Sometimes a reserve pitcher kept the book; often it was ignored."
(Rogosin, 1983, p. 88)

"For short periods the Negro newspapers attempted to send sportswriters with traveling teams, but it became too expensive and the newspapers settled for by-mail submissions of team managers or local baseball enthusiasts."
(Rogosin, 1983, p. 88)

"Black sportswriters had to be versatile. Because most black papers operated on slim budgets and even slimmer staffs, sportswriters were routinely pulled off their regular beats to cover other stories."
(Reisler, 1994, p. 4)

"Despite the failure to record black baseball statistics accurately, the Negro newspapers consistently harped upon the necessity to keep Negro league baseball dignified."
(Rogosin, 1983, p. 89)

"Despite the lack of accurate statistics in the sports pages, the black press gave the teams exposure far beyond their hometowns. With a conglomeration of hyperbole, tongue-in-cheek humor, and endless similes, sportswriters such as Fay Young, Wendell Smith, Ric Roberts, and A.D. Williams made the Negro leaguers heroes across the nation. As fans became familiar with the legendary feats of players in the other league, they demanded a World Series to determine the champion."
(Bruce, 1985, p. 55)

"Though most black newspapers remained loud voices, some had a regional circulation, and a few had a national impact. Begun in 1919, the weekly Kansas City Call had a circulation of more than twenty-five thousand in the 1920s and became an important influence throughout the Southwest. The Call carried detailed stories of the Monarchs and gave readers comprehensive articles on NNL operations. The white Kansas City Star did not report on all Monarchs games, but its coverage of them tended to be unbiased and complete with box scores."
(Bruce, 1985, p. 53)