Negro National League (1933–1948)


The second Negro National League was one of the several Negro leagues created during the time organized baseball was segregated.

League history

The second Negro National League was established in 1933, two years after the first Negro National League had disbanded. The second NNL lasted until 1948, the year after Major League Baseball integrated, after which its surviving teams merged into the Negro American League.

Negro National League franchises

†The Brooklyn Eagles and Newark Dodgers merged to form the Newark Eagles in 1936.

Member timeline


DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:800 height:500
PlotArea = left:20 right:50 bottom:20 top:20
Colors =
id:majorGridColor value:rgb
id:lineColor value:gray
id:nl1 value:gray
id:inactive value:gray
id:gold value:rgb
id:brown value:rgb
id:vegasgold value:rgb
id:green value:rgb
id:darkgreen value:rgb
id:orange value:rgb
id:redorange value:rgb
id:red value:rgb
id:red2 value:rgb
id:darkred value:rgb
id:iceblue value:rgb
id:lgray value:gray
id:gray value:gray
id:gray2 value:gray
id:sand value:rgb
id:navy value:rgb
id:teal value:rgb
id:teal2 value:rgb
Period = from:1933 till:1949
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
ScaleMajor = start:1933 increment:1 gridcolor:majorGridColor
BarData =
bar:BAL # Nashville Elite Giants / Columbus Elite Giants / Washington Elite Giants / Baltimore Elite Giants
bar:PIT # Pittsburgh Crawfords
bar:CAG # Cole’s American Giants
bar:BRG # Brooklyn Royal Giants
bar:CLG # Columbus Blue Birds / Akron Black Tyrites / Cleveland Giants
bar:IND # Indianapolis ABCs / Detroit Stars
bar:BBS # Baltimore Black Sox
bar:HOM # Homestead Grays / Washington Homestead Grays / Washington Grays
bar:PHI # Philadelphia Stars
bar:NWD # Newark Dodgers
bar:ATC # Philadelphia Bacharach Giants
bar:CLE # Cleveland Red Sox
bar:BS2 # Baltimore Black Sox
bar:NYC # New York Cubans
bar:BRK # Brooklyn Eagles
bar:NWK # Newark Eagles
bar:NYB # New York Black Yankees
bar:WAS # Washington Black Senators
Define $Up = shift:
Define $Left = anchor:from align:right shift:
Define $Right = anchor:till align:left shift:
Define $Right2 = anchor:till align:right shift:
Define $Down = shift:
Define $UpLeft = anchor:from align:right shift:
Define $UpLeft2 = anchor:from align:left shift:
Define $UpRight2 = anchor:till align:right shift:
Define $UpRight = anchor:till align:left shift:
Define $DownRight = anchor:till align:left shift:
Define $DownLeft = anchor:from align:left shift:
Define $UpUpRight = anchor:till align:left shift:
PlotData =
color:inactive
textcolor:black
width:20
fontsize:S
mark:
anchor:middle # other options are anchor:from anchor:till
align:center # other options are align:left align:right
shift:
  1. Note on dates: A team's bar begins with the season that team played its first game, and ends with the season after that team played its last game. For example, the Baltimore Black Sox played their first game in 1933 and played their last game in 1934. Therefore, their bar goes from 1933 to 1935.
bar:BAL from:1933 till:1935 color:yellow text:"Nashville~Elite Giants" $UpRight2
bar:BAL from:1935 till:1936 color:yellow text:"Columbus~Elite Giants" $UpLeft2
bar:BAL from:1936 till:1938 color:yellow text:"Washington~Elite Giants" $UpRight2
bar:BAL from:1938 till:1949 color:yellow text:"Baltimore Elite Giants" $Right2
bar:PIT from:1933 till:1939 color:purple text:"Pittsburgh Crawfords" $Right
bar:CAG from:1933 till:1936 color:darkgreen text:"Cole’s American Giants" $Right
bar:BRG from:1933 till:1935 color:darkred text:"Brooklyn Royal Giants" $Right
bar:CLG from:1933 till:1934 color:red text:"Columbus Blue Birds / Akron Black Tyrites / Cleveland Giants" $Right
bar:IND from:1933 till:1934 color:green text:"Indianapolis ABCs / Detroit Stars " $Right
bar:BBS from:1933 till:1934 color:brown text:"Baltimore Black Sox " $Right
bar:HOM from:1934 till:1939 color:sand text:"Homestead Grays" $Right2
bar:HOM from:1939 till:1949 color:sand text:"Washington Homestead Grays / Washington Grays" $Right2
bar:PHI from:1934 till:1949 color:orange text:"Philadelphia Stars" $Right2
bar:NWD from:1934 till:1936 color:navy text:"Newark Dodgers" $Right
bar:ATC from:1934 till:1935 color:gray2 text:"Philadelphia Bacharach Giants" $Right
bar:CLE from:1934 till:1935 color:darkred text:"Cleveland Red Sox" $Right
bar:BS2 from:1934 till:1935 color:lgray text:"Baltimore Black Sox " $Right
bar:NYC from:1935 till:1937 color:red2 text:" " $Right
bar:NYC from:1939 till:1949 color:red2 text:"New York Cubans" $Right2
bar:BRK from:1935 till:1936 color:blue text:"Brooklyn Eagles" $Right
bar:NWK from:1936 till:1949 color:redorange text:"Newark Eagles" $Right2
bar:NYB from:1936 till:1949 color:gold text:"New York Black Yankees" $Right2
bar:WAS from:1938 till:1939 color:teal2 text:"Washington Black Senators" $Right

Pennant winners

From 1937 and 1938, 1940, and 1942 through 1946, the team in first place at the end of the season was declared the Pennant winner. Due to the unorthodox nature of the schedule, some teams frequently played many more games than others did in any given season. This led to some disputed championships and two teams claiming the title. Generally, the team with the best winning percentage was awarded the Pennant, but other times it was the team with the most victories. The "games behind" method of recording standings was uncommon in most black leagues.
† – Pennant was decided via a split-season schedule with the winner of the first half of the season playing the winner of the second half of the season.
* – Pennant was decided via a 2-round play-off between the top four teams.
‡ – Pennant winner went on to play in the Negro World Series.

League play-offs

From 1925 through 1928, and again in 1930, the NNL split the season into two halves. The winner of the first half played the winner of the second half for the league Pennant. As mentioned above, disputes also occurred in the split season finishes.
For the duration of the league, a Negro World Series took place seven times, from 1942 through 1948. The NNL Pennant winner met the champion of the rival Negro American League. Five out of the seven years, the Negro National League team prevailed.