Black baseball offered two venues in which players showcased their talents. Barnstorming tours, which provided the main source of livelihood, pitted teams of African Americans against the best local talent during tours of the American countryside. The second venue, league play, offered a stability and structure that barnstorming could not yield.

Making It to the Big Leagues

The route to the top teams for a black athlete was much the same as for a white athlete hoping to make it to the majors—someone had to notice his talent and offer him a position. Like their white counterparts, thousands of black youths played baseball whenever they could. Wilmer Fields, a member of the famed Homestead Grays squad in the 1930s, rushed to a nearby vacant lot every day with his friends in Manassas, Virginia, and, using a...