This led to the forming of more Negro teams. The first Negro leagues were formed, however they were all considered as minor league teams. The leagues had not yet found success and many folded before the end of their first season.
Lack of structure in these leagues did not prevent teams from forming. The teams were unofficially called professional teams. They organized their own games, drafted their own teams, and were continuously ignored by the white majors. .
In 1920, black baseball crossed a huge milestone. Rube Foster (considered by many to be the "Father of Black Baseball") organized a meeting with several owners of black touring teams. The owners organized the first successful black professional league. The Negro National league held eight teams including the Chicago American Giants, the Chicago Giants, the Dayton Marcos, the Detroit Stars, the Indianapolis ABCs, the Kansas City Monarchs, the St. Louis Giants, and the Cuban Stars. Foster was designated as league President and brought structure and stability to the league (Bucek, 112).
Soon after, in 1923, Ed Bolden formed the Eastern Colored League. The new league included six teams. In 1924, the first Negro World Series was played. The pennant winner from the NNL, the Kansas City Monarchs, and the pennant winner from the ELC, the Philadelphia Hilldale Club played a ten game series in which Kansas City prevailed. The Negro World Series was played for only three more years because the ELC folded in 1928.
The NNL folded in 1932, but the teams continued to play using a different type of format. When teams had no organized league to play in, they would tour around the country, challenging any team who would play them. This was called "barnstorming". Negro barnstorming teams would play against each other, white barnstorming teams, and white pro and semi-pro teams.
In 1933 a new Negro National League was formed. Soon after, in 1937, the Negro American League was formed.
