This database contains batting, fielding, and pitching statistics for early Latin American baseball leagues, Negro leagues, and games between top black professional teams before and outside the Negro leagues themselves.  All playing data have been compiled by Gary Ashwill from box scores and game accounts published in contemporary newspapers, with the exception of the 1923 Negro National League, which was compiled by Patrick Rock.  Most biographical data about players and managers have similarly been compiled from primary sources (newspapers and official records, including birth, death, marriage, census, military, and immigration records).

The current version of the database covers:
1) Independent black professional teams deemed comparable in quality to the later organized Negro leagues, from 1912 through 1919;
2) The Negro National League in its first four seasons, 1920, 1921, 1922, and 1923;
3) Independent black teams of comparable quality to the NNL, 1920-1922;
4) Cuban major leagues (Liga Cubana, Liga Habanera, Liga General, and Liga Nacional, as well as the Premio de Verano, or Cuban Summer League) from the 1902/03 winter season through 1912/13.
5) Exhibition series played in Havana between U.S. major league teams or Negro league teams and Cuban League teams, 1904 through 1915.

Black professional teams in the U.S. played many games against white semi-pro, amateur, minor league, and major league teams; in this compilation, only games between black teams are counted. Statistics for NNL teams, 1920-1923, also include games against independent black teams.  The Cuban statistics include only games between league opponents.

Box scores and game accounts for Negro league and independent black teams in the U.S. have been drawn from dozens of disparate and sometimes very hard-to-find sources.  Negro league statistics are thus almost never complete, and it's highly unlikely we will ever achieve comprehensive coverage in every season.

On the other hand, the Cuban league statistics presented here are nearly complete, with the exception of one missing Almendares/Habana game in the 1904/05 Liga Habanera season, and Matanzas home games for the 1907/08 and 1908/09 Liga General seasons.

This compilation would not have been possible without the input of Dick Clark, Dwayne Isgrig, Kevin Johnson, Larry Lester, Todd Peterson, Brian McKenna, Patrick Rock, Scott Simkus, and David Skinner, all of whom contributed box scores and/or considerable help on many topics.

I have benefited greatly from the expertise and sharp eyes of many researchers.  An incomplete list would include Mark Aubrey, John Bowman, Phil Dixon, Nancy Griffith, Howard Henry, John  Holway, Jeremy Krock, David Lawrence, César López (of Cubanball.com), Bill Mullins, Rod Nelson, Tito Rondon, John Russell, Geri Strecker, John Thorn, and Fred Worth.

Families of many ballplayers and other figures associated with the Negro leagues provided invaluable information, in particular Ron Hill, Leslie Penn, and the rest of the Pete Hill family; Francisco Morán of the Carlos, Francisco, and Angel Morán family; Mike Nealy and Elizabeth Heath of the Irvin Brooks family; Andre Padrón and Nancy Padrón of the Juan Padrón family; and Dr. McDonald “Mac” Williams of the Alexander M. Williams family.

Special thanks are due to Marianne Reynolds of the Cincinnati Public Library, Kathie Ward of the New Castle-Henry County (Ind.) Library, Sara McKinley of the Muncie (Ind.) Public Library, Mike Perkins of the Indianapolis Public Library, John Wekluk of the Tippecanoe County (Ind.) Public Library, Jill Scarbrough of the Brazil (Ind.) Public Library, John Beekman of the Jersey City Free Public Library, Jennifer McKinley of the Morgan County (Ind.) Public Library, Kristin Charles-Scaringi of the Kingston (N.Y.) Library, and Ron Tetrick of the Kokomo-Howard County (Ind.) Public Library, as well as the staffs of the Anderson (Ind.) Public Library, the Wilmington (Del.) Public Library, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Kansas Historical Society, and the National Archives.

Much of the research reflected in this database was done at the Duke University and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill libraries and the Library of Congress, with side trips to the University of Michigan Library, the Kansas City (Mo.) Public Library, the New York Public Library, and the Johnson County (Kans.) Library. 

A number of websites, both free and commercial, made this work much more convenient, including ancestry.com, genealogybank.com, fultonhistory.com, newspaperarchive.com, and the genealogical resources of the Mid-Continent Public Library.

Although the statistical and biographical research presented is mainly derived from contemporary sources, the work of previous Negro league historians has provided invaluable guidance and inspiration.  Among the most important works in the field are James A. Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues (updated edition, 2002); Jorge Figueredo, Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961, and Who’s Who in Cuban Baseball, 1878-1961 (both 2003); Dick Clark and Larry Lester, eds., The Negro Leagues Book (1994); Phil Dixon, The Negro Baseball Leagues: A Photographic History (1992); and the many books of John Holway.

A special thanks is due to Daniel Hirsch and Kevin Johnson for all their work in correcting my mistakes and preparing the database, and to Mike Lynch of Seamheads.com for his enthusiastic support of the project.

--Gary Ashwill