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Remembering the Rosebuds and Portland's African American baseball teams

Portland has a long history of baseball, but there is little known about the city's all-Black baseball teams.

Kendall Swank (KGW)

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Published: 5:24 PM PST March 8, 2022
Updated: 5:44 PM PST March 8, 2022

A piece of Portland's history is missing, but there is still hope more of it can be recovered. 

In the early 1910s and the mid-1940s, Portland had baseball teams owned, coached and played by only African Americans. It's part of a larger section of American history that's preserved in museums and archives across the country, but the legacy tied to Portland's teams has been lost outside of the writings of a few dedicated historians who worked to preserve the story. Because of this, artifacts and the deeper tales of their time in the city are mostly gone from the historical record.

To understand the reasons why the teams were formed in the first place and the cultural relevance today, it's important to look at the whole history of baseball and segregation in the country.

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