Professional baseball

[1] The Philadelphia Phillies, founded in 1883, are the oldest continuous same-name, same-city franchise in both Major League Baseball and all of American professional sports.

These minor-league divisions are affiliated with major league teams, and serve to develop young players and rehabilitate injured major-leaguers.

However, after Jackie Robinson began playing with the major-league Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, the Negro leagues gradually faded.

The process of integration did not go entirely smoothly; there were some ugly incidents, including pitchers who would try to throw directly at a black player's head.

Between 1943 and 1954, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League fielded teams in several Midwestern towns.