West Coast Negro Baseball League

The West Coast Negro Baseball League only operated for part of the 1946 season. Its objective was for teams composed of black ballplayers to play games in stadiums used by teams in the Pacific Coast League while their regular occupants were playing on the road. The league comprised six teams located in Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA, Oakland, CA, Los Angeles, CA and San Diego, CA. It folded in July of its only year of operation. The Oakland Larks were the unofficial league champions, having gone 14-3 before the circuit folded.

Cities Represented

• Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles White Sox
• Oakland, CA: Oakland Larks
• Portland, OR: Portland Roses
• San Diego, CA: San Diego Tigers
• San Francisco, CA: San Francisco Sea Lions
• Seattle, WA: Seattle Steelheads; actually the barnstorming Harlem Globetrotters

Further Reading

• Frank Ardolino: "The Hawaiian All-Stars and the Harlem Globetrotters: A 1948 Barnstorming Tour", in The Baseball Research Journal #34 (December 2005), SABR, Cleveland, OH, pp. 121-123.
• Leslie Heaphy: "The San Diego Tigers of the West Coast Negro Baseball League", in Cecilia M. Tan, ed.: Pacific Ghosts, The National Pastime, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2019, pp. 44-45.