"The Coal Barons Played Cuban Giants" with Paul Browne

The Pennsylvania state leagues of the 1880s and 1890s rank among the most interesting minor leagues in the history of baseball. The rules were changing, the world around baseball, particularly the economy, was changing and things that would seem impossible in a later time were happening every year.

These leagues had not only black players but also wholly black teams. They had great major leaguers--on their way up but also on the way back down. In fact, the greatest player of the age, surrounded by what would have been a major league all-star team only a few years before, played in a Pennsylvania minor league for almost a full season. The play was exciting, the players were exciting and the owners, managers and league politics were often more interesting than the games.

Paul Browne is executive director of the Carbondale Technology Transfer Center. A member of SABR since the mid-1990s, he has contributed to the SABR BioProject site, SABR's Nineteenth and Minor Leagues Committee newsletters and local newspapers. He lives in Carbondale, Pennsylvania.