Negro Southern League
| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1920 (see Note) |
| Ceased | 1940s |
| No. of teams | 7 (in 1932) |
| Country | United States |
| Last champion(s) |
Chicago American Giants (1932) |
| Notes | |
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The Negro Southern League was a Negro baseball league organized in 1920 that lasted into the 1940s. Negro leagues in Southern United States were far less organized and lucrative than those in the north. Tom Wilson organized the Negro Southern League in 1920.
For most of its existence, the NSL was considered a minor league. However in 1932 it was the de facto Negro major league when it was the only organized league to complete the year after the East-West League folded in mid-summer. With the creation of the second Negro National League the following year, the NSL slipped back into being regarded as having minor league status. Many of the teams left the league in later years, seeking the brighter pastures of the Negro American League.
The eight franchises listed below competed in what many consider the first "minor league" season in 1920. Knoxville easily finished in first place that inaugural season.
The following season, Nashville swept a four-game championship series from Montgomery, and Memphis won the 1922 season.
Seven franchises competed in the league in 1932, the sole season the Negro Southern League was considered a major Negro league:
During the other years of existence, the league operated as a minor Negro league producing talent for other Negro league teams; some of those teams include:
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