edHelper.com
Black History and Blacks in U.S. History

Negro Baseball Leagues

Negro Baseball Leagues
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.31

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    entertainment, popularity, leagues, newly, version, professional, status, schedule, wherever, hopeless, earn, amateur, development, satchel, freedom, perhaps
     content words:    Civil War, National Association, Baseball Players, Moses Fleetwood Walker, Welday Walker, Cuban Giants, Negro National League, Rube Foster, Eastern Colored League, National League

Print Negro Baseball Leagues
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print Negro Baseball Leagues  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Negro Baseball Leagues
     Leave your feedback on Negro Baseball Leagues  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Negro Baseball Leagues
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     The American game of baseball is from an English game called Rounders. Americans started playing their version of the game in the early 1800's. By the time the country was facing a civil war, the game had become the national sport. Wherever you find a sport, you find teams. Wherever you find one team, you find two teams competing. This was true with baseball.
 
2     Baseball began as a "gentleman's" game. Athletic clubs would schedule games against each other for entertainment. The Civil War may have brought freedom for slaves, but it didn't get the newly freed men invitations to play on white teams. All black teams were formed. Baseball teams were amateur in those days. An amateur will play a sport for the fun of playing. A professional wants to be paid for playing.
 
3     On December 11, 1868, the first amateur baseball league was formed. It was called the National Association of Baseball Players. One of the main rules of this league was that no colored persons would be allowed on any of the teams.

Paragraphs 4 to 8:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper