The Negro National League Founding Meeting

On February 13-14, 1920, eight Black baseball-team owners met at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City to adopt the constitution of the Negro National League — the first successful, sustained Black professional baseball league in the United States.¹² The meeting established Kansas City as the institutional home of Black professional baseball, and the building where it happened still stands at 1824 The Paseo.³

Summary

For two days in February 1920, Andrew “Rube” Foster — owner and manager of the Chicago American Giants and the most powerful figure in Black baseball — gathered the owners and representatives of seven other clubs at the Paseo YMCA at 1824 The Paseo in Kansas City, Missouri, with sessions also held at Street’s Hotel.¹² The result was the Negro National League (NNL), whose motto — “We Are the Ship; All Else the Sea” — was adapted from a line of Frederick Douglass.¹² Foster was appointed the league’s first president, an office he held until his retirement in 1926.² The league fielded its first season later in 1920 and collapsed in 1931 during the Great Depression.⁴ The meeting is widely regarded as the birth of organized Black professional baseball in the United States.²

Background

Black baseball before 1920

Black baseball teams had existed since the 1860s, and by the early 1900s a substantial Black professional baseball ecosystem was operating — the Page Fence Giants, the Cuban X-Giants, the Philadelphia Giants, and dozens of regional and barnstorming clubs. The structure, however, was unstable: teams scheduled their own games against any willing opponent, income depended on unpredictable bookings, white booking agents controlled access to many large ballparks and extracted significant fees, and “World’s Colored Champion” was a contested informal title with no unified body to award it.

The most successful Black baseball operator was Rube Foster, a star pitcher of the early 1900s who by 1910 was player-manager and owner of the Chicago American Giants.⁴ Foster held that organized league play was the only path to economic stability and to elevating Black baseball’s national standing.²

Why Kansas City

The Paseo YMCA. Opened in 1914 after Julius Rosenwald challenged Kansas Citians to raise $80,000 toward the building, it was among the first and largest Black YMCAs in the country and provided a respectable, Black-run, segregation-era venue for a multi-day formal meeting.⁵³
Geographic centrality. Most candidate league cities — Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Detroit, Dayton — sat in a Midwest belt of which Kansas City was the western anchor.⁴
A strong prospective franchise. J.L. Wilkinson, the Kansas City club’s white owner and the only white owner among the league’s founders, was prepared to enter a well-financed franchise; the Monarchs became the league’s most-storied club.¹⁶
18th and Vine. The surrounding 18th and Vine district was emerging as one of the most concentrated Black business and entertainment corridors in the segregated United States.

The meeting

Convening

Foster issued the meeting call in late 1919, and arrived at the Paseo YMCA with a charter document for the league already drafted — a move that surprised the assembled owners.² The meeting opened Friday, February 13, 1920 and ran through February 14.¹

Attendees and the charter clubs

Eight clubs entered the new league. Not every owner attended in person.¹

Club	City	Owner / representative
Chicago American Giants	Chicago	Rube Foster
Chicago Giants	Chicago	Joe Green
Detroit Stars	Detroit	Tenny Blount
Indianapolis ABCs	Indianapolis	C.I. Taylor
Kansas City Monarchs	Kansas City, MO	J.L. Wilkinson
St. Louis Giants	St. Louis	Lorenzo Cobb
Cuban Stars	(touring; based Cincinnati)	Abel Molina, by proxy
Dayton Marcos	Dayton	John Matthews (absent, ill)

The constitution itself was drafted not by the owners but by a group of Black sportswriters working with a lawyer: Cary B. Lewis of the Chicago Defender, Dave Wyatt, Elwood C. Knox of the Indianapolis Freeman, and Charles Marshall, with Topeka attorney Elisha Scott as lead drafter.¹⁴

The constitution

The document adopted over the two days committed the clubs to standing schedules and to respecting one another’s player contracts, and set the league’s financial architecture: each club posted a $500 deposit, the league treasury took 10 percent of receipts, and Foster’s booking agency took a 5 percent fee.¹ Foster was appointed president.² A formal interleague championship — the Colored World Series — did not begin until 1924.⁶

Immediate aftermath

The 1920 NNL season began that May. The league’s early finances outperformed skeptics’ predictions; Foster’s American Giants drew nearly 200,000 spectators during the 1921 season.² The Kansas City Monarchs played at Association Park through 1923 and then at Muehlebach Field.⁶

A rival league — the Eastern Colored League — formed in 1923 along the Atlantic seaboard. The two met in the first Colored World Series in 1924, which the Monarchs won over the Hilldale Club of Darby, Pennsylvania, in a ten-game series: five wins, four losses and one tie.⁶

Long-term significance

The Monarchs as flagship franchise

The Kansas City Monarchs became the most successful and longest-lived Negro Leagues franchise, winning 13 league pennants — four in the Negro National League (1923, 1924, 1925, 1929) and nine in the Negro American League (1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1953, 1955, 1957).⁶ The franchise’s roster across its history included:

Satchel Paige
Jackie Robinson (1945 — his only Negro Leagues season before signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers)
Buck O’Neil — Monarchs player 1938-1943 and 1946-1948, named player-manager in 1948 and managing through 1955⁷
Bullet Rogan, Hilton Smith, and others

J.L. Wilkinson owned the club from 1920 until selling to Tom Baird in 1948; the Monarchs relocated to Grand Rapids in 1956, barnstormed full-time from that point, and disbanded in 1965.⁶

Integration and decline

The Brooklyn Dodgers’ signing of Jackie Robinson in 1945 marked the beginning of the end for the Negro Leagues as a separate institutional system. As Major League Baseball gradually and incompletely integrated, the Negro Leagues lost both their best players and their economic base.

Two distinct leagues share the “Negro National League” name and should not be conflated: the original NNL founded at this meeting ran 1920-1931; a second Negro National League operated 1933-1948. The Negro American League, headquartered in Kansas City for much of its life, ran 1937-1948 as a major league and continued in diminished form afterward.⁸⁶

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was founded in 1990 in a single-room office in the Lincoln Building at 18th and Vine, with Buck O’Neil among its founders and a board member until his death on October 6, 2006.⁹⁷ In 1997 it moved to its present purpose-built 10,000-square-foot building at 18th and Vine, which it shares with the American Jazz Museum.⁹

MLB statistical recognition (2020)

On December 16, 2020, Commissioner Rob Manfred conferred Major League status on seven professional Negro Leagues operating between 1920 and 1948: the Negro National League (I) (1920-31), the Eastern Colored League (1923-28), the American Negro League (1929), the East-West League (1932), the Negro Southern League (1932), the Negro National League (II) (1933-48) and the Negro American League (1937-48). The decision made the roughly 3,400 players of those leagues officially Major Leaguers and folded their statistics into the Major League record. Those leagues produced 35 Hall of Famers.⁸

Buck O’Neil Hall of Fame induction (2022)

John “Buck” O’Neil was inducted posthumously into the Baseball Hall of Fame with the Class of 2022, sixteen years after his death.⁷

Sites in KC associated with the founding

The Paseo YMCA — 1824 The Paseo — the meeting site. It opened in 1914, ceased operating as a YMCA in the 1970s, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 9, 1991 (reference 91001151).⁵ The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is converting it into the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center, whose planned exhibits include a re-creation of the 1920 meeting. As of this page’s last check (2026-08-05) the center is not open to the public and the museum publishes no opening date.³⁵
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum — 18th and Vine, shared with the American Jazz Museum.⁹
18th and Vine Historic District — the Black business district where the league’s institutional life took root.
Muehlebach Field / Municipal Stadium site — 22nd and Brooklyn — Monarchs home from 1923.⁶
Association Park site — the Monarchs’ first home park, used through 1923.⁶

Cultural memory

The phrase “We Are the Ship; All Else the Sea”, adapted from Frederick Douglass, has become a touchstone of Negro Leagues commemoration and gave its title to a 2008 illustrated history by Kadir Nelson.¹

Sources

Society for American Baseball Research — “‘We Are the Ship, All Else the Sea’: The Founding of the Negro National League.” — asserts: the organizational meeting took place February 13-14, 1920 at the Paseo YMCA and Street’s Hotel in Kansas City; the eight clubs and their owners or representatives — Chicago American Giants (Rube Foster), Chicago Giants (Joe Green), Detroit Stars (Tenny Blount), Indianapolis ABCs (C.I. Taylor), Kansas City Monarchs (J.L. Wilkinson), St. Louis Giants (Lorenzo Cobb), Cuban Stars (Abel Molina, by proxy), Dayton Marcos (John Matthews, absent through illness); the constitution was drafted by sportswriters Cary B. Lewis, Elwood Knox, Charles Marshall and Dave Wyatt with Topeka attorney Elisha Scott as lead drafter; the motto “We Are the Ship, All Else the Sea” was adapted from a quotation of Frederick Douglass; clubs paid a $500 deposit and agreed to respect contracts and maintain schedules; Foster’s booking agency received 5 percent fees and the league treasury 10 percent of receipts. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹
National Baseball Hall of Fame — “The Negro National League is Founded.” — asserts: Black team owners convened at a YMCA in Kansas City in February 1920, specifically February 13, 1920, to create the Negro National League; Foster arrived with an official charter document already in hand, surprising the other owners; Foster served as the league’s first president until his retirement in 1926; the league adopted the slogan “We Are the Ship, All Else the Sea” as a pledge to set its own course; initial teams came from Chicago, Cincinnati, Dayton, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City and St. Louis; Foster’s American Giants drew nearly 200,000 spectators during the 1921 season. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum — “Buck O’Neil Education & Research Center.” — asserts: the center is to be housed in the Paseo YMCA at 1824 The Paseo, Kansas City, MO 64108, where Andrew “Rube” Foster established the Negro Leagues in 1920 and which was one of the first African-American YMCAs in the country; planned exhibits include a re-creation of the Rube Foster-led meeting; the museum states the space “is not available for public and rental events at this time” and publishes no opening date (checked 2026-08-05); Buck O’Neil joined the Kansas City Monarchs in 1938 and died in 2006 at age 94. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Wikipedia — “Negro National League (1920–1931).” — asserts: the league was founded February 13, 1920 at a YMCA in Kansas City; the eight charter clubs; Rube Foster as owner and manager of the Chicago American Giants and league president; the founding document was written by journalist Cary B. Lewis, David Wyatt of the Indianapolis Ledger, Elwood C. Knox of the Indianapolis Freeman, and attorney Elisha Scott; the league collapsed in 1931 during the Great Depression as diminished crowds caused a substantial loss in revenue. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Wikipedia — “Paseo YMCA.” — asserts: the Paseo YMCA was designed by Kansas City architect Charles A. Smith in the Colonial Revival style; it opened in 1914 after Julius Rosenwald encouraged Kansas Citians to raise $80,000 toward a new YMCA; eight independent Black baseball team owners met there in 1920 to form what became the Negro National League; the facility ceased operations during the 1970s; the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum launched a restoration campaign in 2006 and a planned 2007 reopening as the Buck O’Neil Education Research Center did not materialize, with a renewed renovation proposal unveiled in May 2023; the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places September 9, 1991, reference number 91001151. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Wikipedia — “Kansas City Monarchs.” — asserts: 13 league pennants — four in the Negro National League (1923, 1924, 1925, 1929) and nine in the Negro American League (1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1953, 1955, 1957); the Monarchs played in the first Negro League World Series in 1924, defeating Eastern Colored League champion Hilldale of Darby, Pennsylvania in a ten-game series with five wins, four losses and one tie; home parks Association Park (1920-1923) and Muehlebach Field (1923-1955), also called Ruppert Stadium (1937-1942) and Blues Stadium (1943-1954), then Valley Field in Grand Rapids (1956-1965); J.L. Wilkinson owned the club from 1920 until selling to Tom Baird in 1948; the team barnstormed full-time from 1956 and disbanded in 1965. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹
National Baseball Hall of Fame — “Buck O’Neil.” — asserts: O’Neil was inducted with the Class of 2022, posthumously, having died October 6, 2006 at age 94; he played for the Kansas City Monarchs 1938-1943 and 1946-1948 and was named player-manager in 1948, managing through 1955; he developed players including Ernie Banks and Elston Howard; he later founded the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in the 18th and Vine neighborhood, established 1990, where he served as chairman. ↩ ↩² ↩³
MLB.com — Anthony Castrovince, “Negro Leagues given Major League status for baseball records, stats,” December 16, 2020 — asserts: Commissioner Rob Manfred bestowed Major League status on seven professional Negro Leagues operating between 1920 and 1948, in what MLB described as a “long overdue recognition”; the seven are the Negro National League (I) (1920-31), the Eastern Colored League (1923-28), the American Negro League (1929), the East-West League (1932), the Negro Southern League (1932), the Negro National League (II) (1933-48) and the Negro American League (1937-48); approximately 3,400 players are now officially considered Major Leaguers with their statistics part of Major League history; those leagues produced 35 Hall of Famers. (mlb.com returns HTTP 403 to plain automated fetches; full text read via Firecrawl 2026-08-05.) ↩ ↩²
Wikipedia — “Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.” — asserts: founded 1990 in a single-room office inside the Lincoln Building at 18th and Vine, Kansas City; relocated in 1997 to a purpose-built 10,000-square-foot structure at 18th and Vine; shares its building with the American Jazz Museum; Buck O’Neil was a founding member and served on the board until his death October 6, 2006; a statue of O’Neil stands in the Field of Legends exhibit. (The article makes no claim that the museum is the only one of its kind — see Open Questions.) ↩ ↩² ↩³