Monday, July 17, 1933

We washed today. Daddy got some tickets to the ballgame so we all went. Pauline went with us. They played under lights.

Kansas City Monarchs - 1920-1965
Satchel Paige (far right) and Buck O'Neill (4th from right)
Home Field: Blues Stadium, 22nd and Brooklyn, Kansas City, Missouri

The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of
baseballs' Negro Leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson,
they were charter members of the Negro National League. Wilkinson was the first Caucasian
owner at the time of the establishment of the team. In 1930, the Monarchs became the first
professional baseball team to use a portable lighting system which was transported from
 game to game in trucks to play games at night, five years before any major league team did.
The Monarchs won ten league championships before integration, and triumphed in the first
Negro League World Series in 1924.

Following the death of the original league, the Monarchs spent several years as an
independent team, mostly barnstorming through the AmericanMidwest, West, and western Canada.
They became charter members of the Negro American League  in 1937, winning the first league title.
Even after the team was sold and moved to Michigan, they retained the name Kansas City
Monarchs. The Negro American League ceased operations in 1962 and the Monarchs finally
disbanded in 1965.