Nebraska saw a rush of Negro League baseball games 75 years ago — thanks to Jackie Robinson

Lawrene Shaw wanted to know what was causing all the commotion on that Tuesday night in Superior in 1949. So, she and her father headed toward Lincoln Park Field.

“We stopped by to see what was going on,” said Shaw, now 102 and still living in Superior. “It was a very large crowd.”

The Kansas City Monarchs were playing the Houston Eagles in a regular season Negro American League contest. A newspaper account two days later reported that the game drew an estimated 1,500 fans from throughout south-central Nebraska and northern Kansas.

Superior was a baseball town back then, and it still is, said Bill Blauvelt, longtime Superior Express newspaper editor and publisher. The small town a mile north of the Kansas border once hosted a farm system team for Major League Baseball’s Washington Senators, Blauvelt said. 

So even in an era of segregation, it wasn’t unheard of for Superior to host a Negro League contest – and pack the stadium in the process. 

But 1949 was different. It marked an explosion of Negro League games in Nebraska – seven exhibition matches and 15 regular season ones – compared to just one the year before. Major League Baseball has yet to recognize those 1949 contests as official major league games, despite a recent recommendation to do so.

The surge in Negro League action in Nebraska actually stems from integration two years earlier. Jackie Robinson’s entry into the MLB in 1947 gradually opened the door to other top-caliber Black players, who followed Robinson.

Bleeding big league talent and home game attendance, Negro League teams such as the Monarchs and Eagles traveled the country in the late 1940s and early ‘50s to make additional money.

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Nebraska, and especially Omaha with the completion of Municipal Stadium in 1948, was a logical destination, said Larry Lester, co-founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.

“The Kansas City Monarchs had won several league championships and were a household name in the breadbasket of the country,” Lester said. “They were a natural gate attraction.”

The Kansas City Monarchs, pictured here in 1948, were frequent visitors to Nebraska during the 1949 season. That year, Nebraska hosted 22 games featuring Negro League baseball teams, compared to just one the year before. Photo courtesy of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Those 22 games in 1949 included 11 at Omaha Municipal Stadium. The ballpark, later renamed Rosenblatt Stadium, was the home field for the class “A” Omaha Cardinals. When the Cardinals were out of town, promoters such as Johnny Rosenblatt would fill those open dates by booking barnstorming teams, including the Monarchs. 

Steve Rosenblatt, Johnny’s son, remembers tagging along with his father to games at the ballpark that would later carry his name. “Negro League teams played a very high brand of baseball. They had a lot of very talented players.”

The Kansas City Monarchs made eight trips to Nebraska during the 1949 season. They typically would match up with another Negro League team for a series of games across the state. Every trip to Nebraska included a stop in Omaha, said Phil Dixon, a historian and co-founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. “There was always a legacy in Omaha of getting the best African American teams.” 

Omaha featured a bustling Black community, Dixon said, so traveling Negro League teams – who wouldn’t have been welcomed by most white hotel owners – found places to stay, such as the Patton Hotel, a well known Black-owned hotel. 

That often wasn’t the case outside of Omaha, where there were far fewer accommodations, Dixon noted. That and a desire to get to the next destination often meant the Monarchs slept on their iconic touring bus, which had reclining seats with high backs and air cushions.

“It was an interesting way to travel,” Dixon said.

The Monarchs, as did other Negro League teams, relied on the Green Book when they traveled the country, Lester said. “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” a guidebook for African American travelers, was founded by Victor Hugo Green, an African American postal worker in New York City, who published it annually from 1936 to 1966. 

The 1949 Green Book listed Ainsworth, Fremont, Grand Island, Omaha, Lincoln and Scottsbluff for having places where Blacks were welcome.

“They never had any problems because they knew which side of the railroad tracks to stay on,” said Lester, the Negro League museum co-founder.

Baseball Hall of Famer Buck O’Neil held the role of player-manager of the Kansas City Monarchs from 1948 to 1955. The Monarchs regularly traveled to Nebraska for games during the 1949 season. Photo courtesy of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

The trip that included the game in Superior was typical. The Monarchs often stopped in rural communities in between games at bigger venues, Lester said. 

“It was an opportunity to stop off in a small town and pick up a paycheck.  … Baseball fans, Black and white, wanted to see the best and rarest talent on the field,” he said.

After playing at their home park in Kansas City on Monday, the Monarchs played in Superior on Tuesday, Grand Island on Wednesday and then Omaha on Thursday. After the Omaha game, the Monarchs headed east, playing games on their way to Memphis to play the Memphis Red Sox.

The Monarchs’ longest barnstorming trip through Nebraska came in September when their regular season was over. These were exhibition games in which they toured with the popular Indianapolis Clowns, who often added a dose of entertainment to their games. 

After playing a doubleheader in Omaha, the two teams had a rainout in Grand Island, but then played games the next three days in Falls City, Oxford and Kearney.

Large gates were the key to a successful barnstorming tour. “Promoters in small towns did what they had to do to make it a profitable adventure,” Dixon said, including adding bleachers to accommodate larger crowds.

Those promotions appeared to pay dividends. A June 4, 1949, game between the Clowns and the Monarchs drew an estimated 2,500 fans, the Grand Island Independent reported at the time.

The most common ticket price was $1, with some venues, such as Grand Island, offering youngsters a discount price of 30 cents. Typically, the two Negro League teams received 75% of the gate with the remaining 25% going to the local promoters.

The Monarchs continued to come to Nebraska after 1949. During the 1950 season, as the Negro Leagues continued a gradual decline, the Monarchs traveled north over a half dozen times looking for creative ways to attract fans. 

Two of their dozen official league games in Nebraska were part of the attractions at the Nance County Fair in Fullerton and the Howard County Fair outside of St. Paul. Along with official league games, the Monarchs also competed against local teams such as the Superior Knights and the Holdrege Bears. 

Thus far, the 1949 season hasn’t received the same recognition of earlier years. The MLB’s 2020 decision to correct “a longtime oversight” and elevate the Negro Leagues to “major league” status, only covered 1920 to 1948. That means 1949 and later years have not been incorporated into official MLB statistics.

The Society for American Baseball Research’s Special Negro Leagues and Teams Committee earlier this year recommended that the 1949 and 1950 Negro American League seasons also receive major league status. 

If that ultimately happens, Arlington, Beatrice, Grand Island, Hastings, Omaha, Superior and Wymore could boast that they hosted a Major League Baseball game. 

Dixon, a member of the committee, said he was unsure whether MLB will deem those seasons as worthy of major league status. But he hopes it happens. 

“I’ll tell you this,” he said, “the Monarchs had about eight guys on their team in 1948 and ’49 that played in the major leagues … We hope they’ll keep expanding the years.”

By Kevin Warneke

Kevin Warneke reported about crime, religion and politics for the Omaha World-Herald after college. He later worked in public relations at UNMC and served as chief executive officer of the Omaha Ronald McDonald House. He now works as a fundraiser for the Omaha-based Steier Group. He has taught journalism and other courses at UNO for the past three decades.

By John Shorey

John Shorey is professor emeritus of history and political science from Iowa Western Community College. His research specialty is baseball and he taught an elective course on Baseball and American Culture for 20 years. His research has been featured in numerous publications and has presented at various conferences, including the Symposium for Baseball and American Culture at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

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