Integration of Major League Baseball Destroys Negro Leagues, Eliminates 400 Jobs

While Jackie Robinson's 1947 integration of Major League Baseball is a civil rights milestone, it has devastating economic consequences for the Negro Leagues — a Black-owned business ecosystem employing approximately 400 players plus managers, coaches, scouts, and stadium workers. As MLB recruits top Black talent, Negro League teams lose their best players and their fan bases. By 1960 the Negro National and American Leagues have dissolved. Black owners, players, and staff lose their livelihoods. Integration of the game destroys an institution of Black economic independence.