1930 Negro League Postseason

The Eastern Colored League ended play in 1928. It was replaced for one season by the American National League in 1929. The ANL had no playoffs - the Baltimore Black Sox won the only ANL pennant in its history - and dissolved after one year. So, in 1930, there was no organized league for East Coast teams.

Most of the teams that had competed in the ANL and ECL still existed in 1930, however. They just played independent schedules. There was, however, a general sense of who the best teams in the East were and in September the two teams who were generally regarded as the top two teams in the East, the New York Lincoln Giants (NYL) and the Homestead Grays (HOM), met in a 10-game series which some New York and Pittsburgh newspapers likened to a "Negro League World Series".

Meanwhile, the Negro National League, after no playoffs in 1929 (the Kansas City Monarchs won both halves), had a playoff in 1930 between the first-half champion St. Louis Stars (SSN) and the second-half champion Detroit Stars (DT1) - the series was not only a playoff series; it was literally an all-Stars series.

In late August, the Homestead Grays took a trip to play the top teams in the West - i.e., in the NNL - playing back-to-back series against Detroit and St. Louis. These series preceded both of the aforementioned series, so it doesn't really work chronologically as a "World Series" but if one ignores the strict chronology, the result is that the St. Louis Stars ended up with a fairly airtight case as the Negro League World Champions of 1930.

1930 NNL Championship Series: St. Louis Stars def. Detroit Stars, 4-3

1930 East Coast Championship Series: Homestead Grays def. New York Lincoln Giants, 6-4

East-West Challenge Series: Homestead Grays def. Detroit Stars, 3-1

East-West Challenge Series: St. Louis Stars def. Homestead Grays, 4-3

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