Negro National League Formed February 14, 1920

African-American entrepeneur Rube Foster and partner John Schorling (who founded the Chicago American Giants in 1911) joined with other owners at the Kansas City YMCA to form the Negro National League. The eight teams included the Chicago Giants, Chicago American Giants, Kansas City Monarchs, Indianapolis ABCs, Dayton Marcos, St. Louis Giants, Detroit Stars, and the Cuban Stars from New York. A few months later, the Negro Southern League formed which fielded teams from Atlanta, New Orleans, Birmingham, Nashville, Jacksonville, Montgomery, and Memphis. With Foster’s mental illness and death in 1930, the NNL folded shortly afterwards, in 1932.