Legislative Analysis
Phone: (517) 373-8080
NEGRO LEAGUES DAY
http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa
House Bill 4519 as reported from committee Analysis available at
Sponsor: Rep. Helena Scott http://www.legislature.mi.gov
Committee: Government Operations
Complete to 4-24-24
(Enacted as Public Act 65 of 2024)
SUMMARY:
House Bill 4519 would declare that May 2 of each year is to be known as Negro Leagues Day.
BACKGROUND:
On May 2, 1920, the first game of Negro National League baseball was played at Washington
Park in Indianapolis between the Chicago American Giants and the Indianapolis ABCs.
There had always been Black baseball players and teams, but the national major leagues had
enforced a race-based prohibition against their participation since the late 1800s. While there
had been attempts to organize a specifically Black league, none had yet been successful. As a
consequence, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Black baseball teams generally played
exhibition games in a barnstorming circuit at different venues throughout a region or across
the country. 1
The Negro National League was organized by Rube Foster, a former star pitcher who at the
time owned and managed the Chicago American Giants. 2 In addition to Chicago and
Indianapolis, the charter members of the league included the Kansas City Monarchs, the St.
Louis Giants, the Dayton Marcos, Joe Green’s Chicago Giants, the Cuban Stars, and the Detroit
Stars. 3
The success of the Negro National League inspired the formation of several other major
African American leagues, of varying longevity, over the next three decades. (The original
Negro National League itself folded at the end of 1931, in the headwinds of the Great
Depression. A second league of that name was organized in 1933.) The Eastern Colored League
(1923-1928) and the Negro American League (formed in 1937) were perhaps the most notable
of these rival leagues. During the 1920s and 1940s, the champions of those leagues played the
champions of the Negro National League in a World Series.
In 1947, Jackie Robinson, who had played for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues,
debuted as a Brooklyn Dodger and became the first Black player since the 1880s to play in the
white major leagues. As formerly all-white teams slowly became more racially integrated over
the following years, the Negro Leagues began to diminish in both player quality and box office
draw. By 1950, the golden era of the Negro Leagues, begun in 1920, had ended.
1
https://sabr.org/jackie75/segregation/
2
https://sabr.org/journal/article/andrew-rube-foster-gem-of-a-man/
3
https://sabr.org/journal/article/rube-foster-and-black-baseball-in-chicago/
House Fiscal Agency Page 1 of 2
 The Detroit Stars, founded by Rube Foster himself in 1919, played at Mack Park on Detroit’s
East Side until a fire destroyed the grandstand in 1929. The team played at Hamtramck Stadium
in 1930 and 1931, but folded along with the first Negro National League at the end of that year.
In 1932, a new team called the Detroit Wolves also played at Hamtramck, but its league (the
Negro East-West League) ended before the year was out. In the ensuing years, a few other
Detroit teams took the Detroit Stars name, but none with the success of the original franchise.4
FISCAL IMPACT:
The bill would have no fiscal impact on the state or local units of government.
POSITIONS:
Representatives of the Negro Leagues Family Alliance testified in support of the bill. (5-24-23)
Legislative Analyst: Rick Yuille
Fiscal Analyst: Michael Cnossen
■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency staff for use by House members in their
deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.
4
https://www.mlb.com/tigers/community/african-american-heritage/detroit-stars
House Fiscal Agency HB 4519 as reported Page 2 of 2