West Coast Negro Baseball Association

One of the several Negro baseball leagues in the USA

West Coast Negro Baseball AssociationClassification| Minor league

|

Sport| Negro league baseball
Founded| 1946
Ceased| 1946
No. of teams| 6
Country| United States

The West Coast Negro Baseball Association[1] (WCNBA) was one of the several Negro baseball leagues created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The WCNBA was organized as a minor league in 1946 by Abe Saperstein and Jesse Owens as a means to provide the west coast with a platform for African-American players. The league lasted about three months.

## League history[edit]

During World War II in the mid-1940s, the African American population grew as wartime jobs demanded workers to relocate to the shipyards and military institutions along the California, Oregon and Washington coasts. After the war ended in 1945, Eddie Harris and David P. Portlock began the process of organizing a Negro league in the area using the current minor league Pacific Coast League (PCL) stadiums while those teams were on the road.[2] They reached out to Abe Saperstein to assist. Saperstein already owned a barnstorming team called the Cincinnati Crescents, which he moved to Seattle and renamed them the Seattle Steelheads. He knew Jesse Owens, the track and field athlete and four-time Olympic gold medalist, and asked him to join. Owens formed the Portland Rosebuds in Oregon.[3] Saperstein was elected league president, Owens vice-president and Portlock secretary.[2] A 110-game season was planned. However, the league survived for only about three months. Most teams played under 30 games and the league folded due to "poor attendance, a lack of financing, and difficulty in accessing ballparks."[3] Seattle and Oakland continued the season playing local teams across the midwest.[4]

## League franchises[edit]

The league was to be made up of six teams in cities with PCL stadiums. Originally, a team was slated to play in Fresno, a non-PCL city. They moved their base of operations to San Diego, but did initially play at least one game in Fresno. Oakland far outpaced the rest of the league in the shortened season, with Seattle and San Francisco finishing above .500. San Diego, Portland and Los Angeles rounded out the standings.[5]

WCNBA Team | Home field[6] | PCL counterpart

|
|

Los Angeles White Sox | Wrigley Field | (Los Angeles Angels)
Oakland Larks | Oakland Park | (Oakland Oaks)
Portland Rosebuds | Vaughn Street Park | (Portland Beavers)
Fresno-San Diego Tigers | Fresno Midget Auto Racing Park
Lane Field | (San Diego Padres)
San Francisco Sea Lions | Seals Stadium | (San Francisco Seals)
Seattle Steelheads | Sick's Stadium | (Seattle Rainiers)

## External links[edit]

* Baseball-Reference (Minors)

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Guide to the West Coast Negro Baseball Association Collection" (PDF). Online Archives of California. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
2. ^ a b "Guide to the West Coast Negro Baseball Association Collection". Online Archive of California. Oakland Public Library. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
3. ^ a b King, Norm. "Abe Saperstein". sabr.org. Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
4. ^ Berman, Jay (19 November 2012). "Short stay: Black baseball briefly had West Coast home". ocregister.com. The Orange County Register. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
5. ^ "West Coast Negro Baseball Association (1946)" (PDF). cnlbr.org. Center for Negro League Baseball Research. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
6. ^ "Negro League Ball Parks" (PDF). cnlbr.org. Center for Negro League Baseball Research. Retrieved 27 April 2020.

* v
* t
* e

Negro league baseball

* List of players
* A–D
* E–L
* M–R
* S–Z
* First black players in MLB
* Negro leaguers who played in MLB
* Color line
* List of Negro league baseball postseason games
* List of league champions
* Negro World Series
* East–West All-Star Game
* American Series
* Museum
* List of teams by state
* major league teams
* minor league teams
* Timeline of teams
* Category

Major independent teams

| Pre-1920 teams|

* Algona Brownies
* All Cubans
* All Nations
* Austin Black Senators
* Birmingham Giants
* Chicago Columbia Giants
* Chicago Unions
* Chicago Union Giants/Leland Giants
* Cuban Giants
* Cuban X-Giants
* French Lick Plutos
* Lincoln Stars
* Louisville White Sox
* Minneapolis Keystones
* New York Gorhams
* Oklahoma Monarchs
* Page Fence Giants
* Philadelphia Giants
* Philadelphia Pythians
* San Antonio Black Bronchos
* Schenectady Mohawk Giants
* St. Paul Colored Gophers
* West Baden Sprudels

|

Post-1920 teams|

* Bismarck Churchills
* Boston Royal Giants
* Brooklyn Bushwicks
* Cuban House of David
* Ethiopian Clowns
* Gilkerson's Union Giants
* Illinois Giants
* Jamestown Red Sox
* Mineola Black Spiders
* Mobile Black Bears
* Philadelphia Tigers
* St. Louis Giants (1924)
* Zulu Cannibal Giants

Major leagues and teams

| Negro National
League (1920–1931)|

* Birmingham Black Barons
* Chicago American Giants
* Chicago Giants
* Cleveland Browns
* Cleveland Elites
* Cleveland Hornets
* Cleveland Tate Stars
* Cleveland Tigers
* Columbus Buckeyes
* Cuban Stars (West)
* Dayton Marcos
* Detroit Stars
* Indianapolis ABCs
* Indianapolis ABCs (II)
* Kansas City Monarchs
* Louisville Black Caps/White Sox
* Memphis Red Sox
* Milwaukee Bears
* Cleveland Cubs/Nashville Elite Giants
* Pittsburgh Keystones
* St. Louis Giants/St. Louis Stars
* Toledo Tigers

|

Eastern Colored
League (1923–1928)|

* Bacharach Giants
* Baltimore Black Sox
* Brooklyn Royal Giants
* Cuban Stars (East)
* Harrisburg Giants
* Hilldale Club
* Homestead Grays
* Lincoln Giants
* Newark Stars
* Washington Potomacs

American Negro
League (1929)|

* Bacharach Giants
* Baltimore Black Sox
* Cuban Stars (East)
* Hilldale Club
* Homestead Grays
* Lincoln Giants

East–West
League (1932)|

* Baltimore Black Sox
* Cleveland Stars
* Pollock's Cuban Stars
* Detroit Wolves
* Hilldale Club
* Homestead Grays
* Newark Browns
* Washington Pilots

Negro Southern
League (1932)|

* Cole's American Giants
* Indianapolis ABCs (II)
* Little Rock Grays
* Louisville Black Caps/Columbus Turfs
* Memphis Red Sox
* Monroe Monarchs
* Montgomery Grey Sox
* Nashville Elite Giants

2nd Negro National
League (1933–1948)|

* Bacharach Giants
* Baltimore Black Sox
* Baltimore Elite Giants
* Cole's American Giants
* Cleveland Red Sox
* Columbus Blue Birds/Akron Black Tyrites/Cleveland Giants
* Indianapolis ABCs(II)/Detroit Stars (II)
* Harrisburg–St. Louis Stars
* (Washington) Homestead Grays
* New York Black Yankees
* New York Cubans
* Newark Eagles
* Philadelphia Stars
* Pittsburgh Crawfords
* Washington Black Senators

Negro American
League (1937–1960s)|

* Atlanta Black Crackers/Indianapolis ABCs (IV)
* Baltimore Elite Giants
* Birmingham Black Barons
* Chicago American Giants
* Cincinnati Tigers
* Cleveland Buckeyes/Louisville Buckeyes
* Detroit Stars (III)
* Houston Eagles
* Indianapolis Athletics
* Indianapolis Clowns
* Indianapolis Crawfords
* Jacksonville Red Caps/Cleveland Bears
* Kansas City Monarchs
* Memphis Red Sox
* New York Cubans
* Philadelphia Stars
* St. Louis Stars (II)
* Indianapolis ABCs (II)/St. Louis–New Orleans Stars

Other leagues

| Proto-leagues|

* Southern League of Colored Base Ballists (1886)
* National Colored Base Ball League (1887)
* International League of Independent Professional Base Ball Clubs (1906)
* National Association of Colored Baseball Clubs of the United States and Cuba (1907–1909)

|

Minor leagues|

* Negro Southern League (1920–1936)
* Texas Colored League (1919–1931)
* Negro American Association (1939)
* Negro Major League (1942)
* United States League (1945–1946)

Post-integration|

* Negro Southern League (1945–1951)
* West Coast Negro Baseball Association (1946)
* Negro American Association (1948–1949)
* Negro American League (1951–1960)

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template