e, how it should have always been. But long before Jackie Robinson stepped on the field for the Dodgers, black baseball had amassed a history all of its own.
             Obviously not all great black baseball players were born after 1947 when Jackie Robinson reintegrated Major League Baseball. Before then, African Americans were required to play in their own separate leagues. Baseball was originally a gentleman's game played by members of rival clubs for recreation. After the Civil War, baseball enjoyed a great surge in interest, activity and growth. Americans of all classes, religions, and races joined in the game that is now our national pastime. Early baseball was still an amateur sport, but some African Americans played on all black ball clubs while others played on integrated teams. Baseballs darkest day, December 11, 1868, the day black ballplayers were excluded from playing by the National Association of Baseball Players. The league officials voted unanimously to bar "any club which may be composed of one or more colored persons." This was the very first introduction to a color line in baseball.
             The history of Negro League Baseball is very important and interesting. Many black leagues were formed, some stayed, but most collapsed. It is very difficult to portray an accurate timeline without skipping around with details of many events through the history of the Negro Leagues. Many athletes dominated the different leagues for numerous years, but laws were passed that banned any colored players from the Major Leagues,
             which was all compromised of whites. In 1876 the first major league was formed, the National League. This is baseballs oldest league and it still stands today.
             The first actual Negro player to cross the color barrier was Bud Fowler. He pitched for the Lynn Massachusetts Live Oaks of the International Lea
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