Grays Fade to Black

On this day in 1948, an era ended, as the Negro National League officially disbanded. Jackie Robinson had played his second season in Brooklyn - Larry Doby had just finished his first full season in Cleveland as a key member of the Indians championship squad. Integration was in full swing in the bigs, and interest in Negro League baseball was plummeting. Negro League teams found themselves in an epic catch-22 - they could not protect their own players without seeming to be standing in the way of racial progress. So they stepped aside.

The Negro National League contained perhaps the most legendary of all the Negro League franchises, the Homestead Grays, a team that at one time or another boasted 12 players who are now enshrined in baseball's Hall of Fame, including the black Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson (pictured above), the speedster Cool Papa Bell, and fireballing pitcher Smokey Joe Williams. The New York Black Yankees also played in the Negro National League. At the end of the 1948 season, the Black Yankees folded, while the Grays went out on a barnstorming tour. It was an unsuccessful venture, and they were forced to pack it up in 1950.

The Negro American League continued to play ball until 1958, although 1951 is considered to be the last season of record. The Indianapolis Clowns were the last Negro League team to suit up, continuing to play exhibition games into the 80's as a sort of baseball version of the Globetrotters.