Barnstorming & the Negro Leagues: 1900s - 1930s

Jugadores del Habana.

"Professional African-American teams and short-lived 'negro leagues' formed in the late 1800s. Some interracial games occurred when major league white teams played black teams in barnstorming (exhibition) games. However, during the early 1900s, blacks were not allowed to play on white professional teams in the United States. Some baseball owners and managers of major league teams tried to hire African Americans by describing the players as Hispanic or Native American. In 1901, John McGraw, manager of the Baltimore Orioles, attempted to get black second baseman Charlie Grant into the game by calling him a Cherokee named Tokohama. The majority of owners and managers thwarted efforts like this. The baseball establishment also frowned on interracial barnstorming and white players were eventually banned from wearing their major league uniforms in these games. In Cuba, Mexico, and other parts of Latin America, professional baseball was not segregated."
LOC: Barnstorming & the Negro Leagues: 1900s - 1930s

Barnstorming Teams
"Rather than play in an organized league, barnstorming teams scheduled their own games as they traveled all over the country. Many of the barnstorming teams would also play games in Canada and Mexico. Barnstorming teams would play a wide range of opponents that included: Negro 'League' teams, professional teams, semipro teams, other barnstorming teams, local town teams and industrial league teams. Barnstorming teams would play all 'comers' including both black and white teams."
Center for Negro League Baseball Research

Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth's Barnstorming
"The word 'barnstorming' arose from old vaudeville days when shows went on the road and were willing and eager to play anywhere -- even in a barn. Baseball teams had done it since the 1860s, and Babe Ruth was a big fan of this fun and moneymaking off-season prospect. Albert G. Spalding had led a world-wide barnstorming expedition in the 1870s. It was a great way to make extra money without hard work. Fans who couldn't normally see major league players loved the games, the players had fun playing them, and all seemed to work out well. In fact, the first "World Series," in the 1880s, was just such postseason baseball tours. However, by 1914 owners weren't so keen on the idea. First, they didn't make any money on the deal; the players did. Second, the players might get hurt. Barnstorming also diminished the importance of their own official post-season championships, as the two pennant winners could sign up with local promoters to "replay the World Series" on tiny fields across the country. However, no one from organized baseball had stepped forward to enforce the rule stringently."
howstuffworks

Native American Barnstorming Baseball Clubs
"Fifty years prior to the African American integration of baseball, Native Americans succeeded at breaking into baseball's highest levels. In 1897, Louis Sockalexis became the first Native American to play professional baseball, when he stepped on the diamond donning a Cleveland Spiders uniform. This monumental moment was the precursor to many more Native Americans joining the ranks of professional baseball."
Native Americans in Baseball

Baseball Barnstorming And Exhibition Games, 1901-1962
"Until 1947, professional ball players were paid only from opening day to season's end. Even during the season, a lot of their expenses came out of their own pockets. Even the best-paid players had trouble making ends meet. One answer to their money woes was barnstorming--tours out of season. Cities lacking their own major league teams were happy to host big-league players for such events, as well as for special exhibition games whose proceeds sometimes went to local charities. Here is a history of barnstorming and exhibition games from 1901 (when both of the two current major leagues began operating) through 1962 (when a team led by Willie Mays was unsuccessful in its attempt at a tour, signaling an end to true barnstorming). Decade by decade, it covers the teams, the games, and the players for a detailed look at how barnstorming and exhibition brought big-league baseball to the backyard ballparks of America."
amazon

The Barnstorming Hawaiian Travelers
"This book chronicles the Hawaiian Travelers, a barnstorming baseball team of multiethnic, multiracial Hawaiians, who played across the continental U.S. from 1912 through 1916. This team took on college, semi-professional, minor league, and African American nines. In the process, they won the majority of these games, while subverting venerable racial conventions. It also describes the experiences of some of these players after 1916 as they sought baseball careers on the East Coast of the mainland. This book sheds light on a generally untold story about baseball, race, and colonization in the United States during the early decades of the 20th century."
amazon