Eastern Colored League

The Eastern Colored League (ECL) was a professional baseball organization for African American players, established in 1923. It was one of the principal Negro leagues that operated between 1920 and the late 1940s, before Black players were integrated into Major League Baseball. The ECL was founded in eastern cities and, along with the Negro National League (NNL), competed for a championship in the Negro World Series from 1924 to 1927.1

The ECL faced financial instability and ultimately succumbed to weakness in the spring of 1928. The era of the Negro leagues, including the ECL, was a crucial period for Black athletes, providing a platform for their talent during a time of segregation in mainstream baseball. In 2020, Major League Baseball officially recognized these leagues as major leagues, incorporating their statistics into MLB's official record books.12