1920 in the Negro Leagues

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<< 1919 1921 >>

1920 in the Negro Leagues marked the beginning of the "golden age" for the teams. Andrew Foster's Negro National League was formed as the first Negro League.

The Negro Southern League also played during this season. The Knoxville team, champion of the NSL, challenged the NNL champion Chicago American Giants to a postseason series, but were turned down.

Standings

Note: BOLD indicates League Champion

Negro National League

BR page

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB
1	Chicago American Giants	62	43	17	2	0.717	--
2	Kansas City Monarchs	79	44	33	2	0.571	7.5
3	Detroit Stars	64	37	27	0	0.578	8.0
4	Indianapolis ABCs	86	44	38	4	0.537	10.0
5	Cuban Stars West	69	35	34	0	0.507	12.5
6	St. Louis Giants	72	32	40	0	0.444	17.0
7	Dayton Marcos	52	16	36	0	0.308	23.0
8	Chicago Giants	36	5	31	0	0.139	26.0

Negro Southern League

Source: The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues, John Holway

Team	Win	Losses	WPCT	GB
Knoxville	55	21	0.724	0
Montgomery	47	39	0.547	13
Atlanta Black Crackers	45	39	0.536	14
Birmingham Black Barons	43	39	0.524	15
New Orleans Black Pelicans	43	39	0.524	15
Nashville Giants	40	40	0.500	17
Jacksonville Red Caps	18	26	0.409	21

Independent Teams

Records are from The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues, John Holway

• Atlantic City Bacharach Giants: 12 - 12 (.500)
• Baltimore Black Sox: 3 - 8 (.273)
• Brooklyn Royal Giants: 5 - 4 (.556)
• Havana Cuban Stars (East): 1 - 4 (.200)
• Madison Stars
• New York Lincoln Giants: 0 - 4 (.000)
• Norfolk All-Stars
• Pennsylvania Red Caps of NY
• Philadelphia Giants of NY
• Philadelphia Hilldale Giants: 7 - 6 (.538)
• Pittsburgh Stars of Buffalo

Leading Players

Batters

• Jesse Barbour, Atlantic City Bacharach Giants: .409 batting average
• Jimmie Lyons, Detroit Stars: .399 batting average
• Edgar Wesley, Detroit Stars: 13 home runs

Pitchers

• Dizzy Dismukes, Indianapolis ABCs: 16 - 9 W - L record
• Sam Crawford, Kansas City Monarchs: 14 - 7 W - L record, 122 strikeouts
• Rube Currie, Kansas City Monarchs: 122 strikeouts
• Bill Gatewood, St. Louis Giants: 17 - 5 W - L record, 154 strikeouts
• Dick Redding, Atlantic City Bacharach Giants: 8 - 7 W - L record

Postseason

The Brooklyn Royal Giants and Philadelphia Hilldale Giants held a four-game championship series in October. The series ended tied at two games apiece.

Further Reading

• Terry Bohn: "Rube Foster's Canadian Farm Teams", in Michael J. Haupert, ed.: Baseball in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, The National Pastime, 2024 Edition, pp. 13-16.
• Frederick C. Bush and Bill Nowlin, eds.: The First Negro League Champion: The 1920 Chicago American Giants, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2022. ISBN 978-1-970159-80-6