Baseball color line

Common card · No. 200878

The color line, also known as the color barrier, in American baseball excluded African American players from Major League Baseball and its affiliated Minor Leagues until 1947 (with a few notable exceptions in the 19th century before the line was firmly established). Racial segregation in professional baseball was sometimes called a gentlemen's agreement, meaning a tacit understanding, as there was no written policy at the highest level of organized baseball, the major leagues. A high minor league's vote in 1887 against allowing new contracts with black players within its league sent a powerful signal that eventually led to the disappearance of black people from the sport's other minor leagues later that century, including the low minors. After the line was in virtually full effect in the early 20th century, many black baseball clubs were established, especially from the 1920s to the 1940s when there were several Negro leagues. During this period, American Indians and native Hawaiians, including...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Photo by Bob Sandberg, Look photographer Restoration by Adam Cuerden, Public domain