The Negro Southern League: A Baseball History, 1920-1951

by William J Plott

The Negro Southern League was a baseball minor league that operated off and on from 1920 to 1951. It served as a valuable feeder system to the Negro National League and the Negro American League. A number of NNL and NAL stars got their start in the NSL, among them five Hall of Famers including Satchel Paige and Willie Mays. During its history, more than 80 teams were members of the league, representing 40 cities in a dozen states. In the end only four teams remained, operating more as semipro than professional teams. This book is a narrative history of the league from its inception with eight teams in major Southern cities until its demise three decades later.

Genres: History, Baseball

276 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2014

Reviews

[Al Beard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very list like. Boring but detailed. Can't really recommend it unless you want a history book. Well researched, just not my style. How many words do you need to complete a review. This is ridiculous. Please make it stop. I'm done. No more......

[Sam Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plott's work in this book was among the influential pieces of history to my master's thesis. Any historian of Black baseball pre-integration will tell you how difficult it is to craft a narrative from the relatively few primary sources that survive today- especially with teams in an under-funded minor league. Plott masterfully charted the history of the Negro Southern League, and in doing so provided a fantastic tool to any future Black baseball historian.