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Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate Black History Month, I want to call to the attention of my colleagues here in the United States House of Representatives an event that will be held in Newark, New Jersey, a Tribute to Negro League Baseball . Six months before the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, on April 12, 1861, two Black baseball teams played in Brookyln, New York. Throughout the 1860s amateur Black baseball clubs sprang up around the Northeast and Midwest. Players for the Mutuals of Washington, DC included Black Activist Frederick Douglass' sons, Charles and Fred. The first all Black professional baseball team was composed in 1885 of employees of the Argyle Hotel in Babylon, New York and in 1883, Fleet Walker, a catcher, signed with the Toledo Blue Stockings along with his brother Welday. The Blue Stockings then joined the American Association, which was considered a major league , thereby making the Walkers the only Black players to play in the major leagues until Jackie Robinson in 1947. In 1886, the Southern League of Colored Base Ballists became the first Negro League with teams in Memphis, Jacksonville, Savannah, Atlanta, Charleston and New Orleans. In 1900 only five professional Black baseball teams existed: the Genuine Cuban Giants, the Cuban X Giants, the Norfolk Red Stockings, the Chicago Unions and the Columbia Giants. By 1910, there would be more than 60 professional Negro teams barnstorming the country. During 1902, in an attempt to circumvent the color barrier and get infielder Charlie Grant on his team, Baltimore Orioles manager John McGraw changed Giant's name to Charlie Tokohama and tried to pass him off as a full blooded Cherokee Indian until his plan was exposed by Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey. Future Hall of Famer, pitcher Rube Foster, went 51-4 for the Philadelphia Giants in 1905. In an exhibition game against the Philadelphia As, Foster beat 26 games winner Rube Waddell and became known as the ``colored Rube Waddell.''On February 14, 1920, Rube Foster organized a meeting in Kansas City of owners of several Black touring teams. The owners organized the first successful Black professional league , the Negro National League , which was comprised of the Chicago American Giants, the Chicago Giants, the Dayton Marcos, the Detroit Stars, the Indianapolis ABC's the Kansas City Monarchs, the St. Louis Giants and the Cuban Stars. Foster became the league's president and members agreed to honor each other's player contracts, which brought stability and organization to Black baseball . In 1924, the pennant winners of the two Black leagues met in the first Negro World Series with the Kansas City Monarchs defeating Hillsdale in 10 games. In 1926, thirty years before Don Larson's perfect game, Red Griers of the Atlantic City Bacharachs pitched a no-hitter in game three of the Negro World Series against the Chicago American Giants. In 1930, five years before the major leagues turned on the lights, the Kansas City Monarchs became the first team to regularly play night baseball with a portable lighting system. In 1937, the Negro American League was formed and the Kansas City Monarchs won five of the first six Negro American League pennants. The Negro National League Homestead Grays won eight pennants between 1937-45 with John Gibson, the greatest hitter of the Negro Leagues (962 career homeruns). In 1945 Kansas City Monarchs rookie shortstop Jackie Robinson signed to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers at $600 per month, thereby breaking the color barrier in major league baseball . Since baseball's integration from 1947 to 1953, six of the seven National League Rookies of the Year were former Negro League players, including Jack Robinson, Don Newcombs, Sam Jethrol, Willie Mays, Joe Black and Jim Gilliam. After the integration of baseball , the Negro leagues began to decline in 1948, due to the fact that its best players were now signing with major league teams. The Negro American League finally dissolved in 1963. Sixteen Negro League baseball stars have been inducted into the Hall of Fame including former Newark Eagles and local Major League players, such as Larry Dolby, Monte Irvin and Ray Dandridge. From 1920-1955 over 30 communities located throughout the Midwest, Northeast and the South were home franchises comprised of the Negro National League , Eastern Colored League , East-West League , Negro Southern League and the Negro American League . The City of Newark, New Jersey was the home of the Newark Browns, Newark Dodgers, Newark Eagles and the Newark Stars. Of all the Newark teams, the Newark Eagles were the most memorable. The team was managed by a woman, Mrs. Effa Manley, who along with her husband Abe Manley owned the team. They were also entrepreneurs, owning Club 83 on New Street in Newark. I had the privilege of attending Newark Eagles games as a youngster. The games were very memorable occasions. There was great excitement in the air when the Newark Eagles won the 1946 Negro League World Championship over the Kansas City Monarchs in the seventh and final game of the series held at Newark's Ruppert Stadium on September 29. Mr. Speaker, it is with much pride that we remember and pay tribute to the athletes of Negro League Baseball during Black History Month. I know my colleagues here in the United States Congress join me in sending best wishes as the City of Newark pays homage to those who made history and made us proud.
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