The American Negro League (ANL) was one of several Negro leagues

Negro league baseball

The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...

 which were established during the period in the United States in which organized baseball was segregated. The ANL operated on the east coast of the United States in 1929.

History

The Eastern Colored League

Eastern Colored League

The Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Clubs, more commonly known as the Eastern Colored League , was one of the several Negro leagues, which operated during the time organized baseball was segregated.- History :...

 (ECL) had been the eastern of two major Negro league

Negro league baseball

The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...

s from 1923 through 1927 until its collapse during the 1928 season. Next winter the American Negro League was established by five former ECL teams— the Bacharach Giants

Bacharach Giants

The Bacharach Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played in Atlantic City, New Jersey.- Founding :The club was founded when two African-American politicians moved the Duval Giants of Jacksonville, Florida, to Atlantic City in 1916 and renamed them after Harry Bacharach, the city's mayor...

 of Atlantic City, the Baltimore Black Sox

Baltimore Black Sox

The Baltimore Black Sox were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland.- Founding :The Black Sox started as an independent team in 1916 by George Rossiter and Charles Spedden...

, the traveling Cuban Stars

Cuban Stars (East)

The Cuban Stars were a team of professional baseball players from Cuba and other Latin American countries who competed in the Negro leagues in the eastern United States from 1916 to 1933...

, the Hilldale Club

Hilldale Club

The Hilldale Athletic Club was an African American professional baseball team based in Darby, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia....

 of Darby, Pennsylvania

Darby, Pennsylvania

Darby is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, along Darby Creek southwest of downtown Philadelphia. It has a public library founded in 1743 and a cemetery more than 300 years old. The Quakers lived there early in the colonial era. Darby was settled about 1660 and was...

, and the Lincoln Giants

Lincoln Giants

The Lincoln Giants were a Negro League baseball team based in New York City from 1911 through 1930.- Founding :Jess McMahon, a white promoter, hired Sol White, former manager of the Philadelphia Giants, to put together a club...

 of New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

—along with the Homestead Grays

Homestead Grays

The Homestead Grays were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 by Cumberland Posey, and would remain in continuous operation for 38 seasons. The team was based in Homestead, Pennsylvania, adjacent to Pittsburgh.-Franchise...

, an important independent club, and a revived version of the Harrisburg Giants

Harrisburg Giants

The Harrisburg Giants were a U.S. professional baseball team in the Negro Leagues, based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. They joined the Eastern Colored League for the 1924 season with Hall of Fame center fielder Oscar Charleston as playing manager...

.

1929 season

Annual final standings: 1929

The ANL operated a split season: first-half and second-half schedules with a planned playoff for a pennant in a post-season series between the two winners. The Baltimore Black Sox, led by player-manager Dick Lundy

Dick Lundy (baseball player)

Richard Benjamin Lundy was an African American shortstop in the Negro Leagues for numerous teams. He was born in Jacksonville, Florida....

 and Hall of Fame first baseman Jud Wilson

Jud Wilson

Ernest Judson Wilson , nicknamed "Boojum," was an American third baseman, first baseman, and manager in Negro league baseball. Born in Remington, Virginia, he served in World War I, and during his career played primarily for the Baltimore Black Sox , Homestead Grays , and Philadelphia Stars...

, won both halves and they were awarded the pennant without a playoff.

Demise

The league did not organize for the 1930 season, and it would not be until 1933 that an eastern Negro league would last for a full season.

Beside the downward economic spiral, bitter controversy in Baltimore and Philadelphia, about the local clubs continuing reliance on white umpires, may have been fatal to the league.

Statistics

The ANL made a conscientious effort, unusual for the Negro leagues, to compile statistics for the league's players. These were published at season's end in the Pittsburgh Courier

Pittsburgh Courier

The Pittsburgh Courier was an American newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which was published from 1907 to 1965. Once the country's most widely circulated Black newspaper, the legacy and influence of the Pittsburgh Courier is unparalleled.A pillar of the Black Press, it rose...

.