Native American Baseball

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An interesting history of early 1900s Native baseball

Between World War I and World War II, baseball started to open its doors to minority players. On the upper Great Plains, Native American baseball teams began to be a growing part of the townball movement that developed in the numerous small towns in North Dakota and surrounding states.  In general, local newspapers looked upon Native American baseball players as equal to white players, and most papers almost completely ignored the ethnicity and heritage of the Native ballplayers.

One of the teams that gained some notoriety was the Belcourt Indians independent baseball team, who traveled and played across the region.  Below is a newspaper story about one of their lopsided victories.