Feb 13, 2020 - Sports

The Negro National League's lasting legacy, 100 years on

Kendall Baker, author of Sports

Rube Foster (center) and the Chicago American Giants. Photo: Diamond Images/Getty Images

100 years ago Thursday, the Negro National League was founded by former pitcher and executive Rube Foster.

Why it matters: The NNL became the first Negro league to achieve stability and last more than one season. It "proved that African American players could play on even terms with their white counterparts — and draw just as much interest from baseball fans," per the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

  • League champions: The Chicago American Giants won five titles (1920, 1921, 1922, 1926, 1927), the Kansas City Monarchs won four (1923, 1924, 1925, 1929) and the St. Louis Stars won three (1928, 1930, 1931).
  • Colored World Series: From 1924 through 1927, the NNL winner met the champion of the rival Eastern Colored League in the Colored World Series, with the American Giants going 2-0 and the Monarchs going 1-1.

The big picture: The financial hardships of the Great Depression forced the NNL to shut down, but the league would resurface in 1937 as the Negro American League, featuring many of the same teams from the NNL days.

  • 10 years later, in 1947, the Monarchs' very own Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier.

Go deeper

Axios Events
Updated May 21, 2020 - Axios Events

Axios Event: The challenges and opportunities of remote learning

On Thursday, May 21, Axios CEO & Co-founder Jim VandeHei and Axios Cities Correspondent Kim Hart hosted a conversation on the challenges and opportunities of remote learning with the President of the American Council on Education, Ted Mitchell, and Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.) Ted Mitchell focused on how colleges and universities are adapting to the digital landscape and the impact these changes are having on enrollment this coming year.

  • On institutions expanding the types of students they cater to: "A majority of college students today are not 18-22-year-olds. Colleges need to cater more to the lifelong learner, the adult learner. And certainly in this economy, individuals who need to train and resell for the next generation of jobs."
  • On making digital learning as high-impact as possible: "What is going to be important is for colleges and universities now to make the turn to providing extraordinary value through the online experience. Coming up in the fall, students and families will expect more than just a Zoom class online. And that's up to all of us to provide that value."

Rep. Jahana Hayes stressed the importance of Congress investing more in public education and supporting teachers.

  • "Congress has to make an investment in public education. We cannot keep having these 'band-aid' fixes...We asked 3.5 million teachers all over the country within days to shift to virtual learning...We must support them on the other side of this to make sure that they are better prepared moving forward and that they feel supported and not abandoned by their leaders and their legislators."

In a View from the Top segment, Jim VandeHei was joined by Cengage CEO Michael Hansen to discuss the rapid adjustment to virtual education.

  • "It is not a question of technology...The real Achilles heel is the training that is required of the faculty to teach in an online environment...There are a large number of faculty that have never done this before and they need to be trained pretty much overnight."

Thank you Cengage for sponsoring this event.

Jeff Tracy
May 22, 2020 - Sports

Golf could set the standard for sports' coronavirus reset

The 2019 British Masters. Photo: Jan Kruger/Getty Images

As sports and leagues around the world desperately try to figure a way back to competition, golf seems primed to set the standard for which all other sports will strive.

The state of play: Though leagues like South Korea's KBO, Germany's Bundesliga, and even NASCAR here in the States have already begun competing again, golf seems uniquely suited to avoid any coronavirus-related setbacks.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Felix Salmon
May 21, 2020 - Economy & Business

Banks are underperforming during the stock market's coronavirus recovery

Data: FactSet; Chart: Axios Visuals

The S&P 500 hit a curious milestone earlier this month: Less than 10% of its market capitalization was made up of financial services companies. That ratio was as high as 22% in 2007, before the 2008 financial crisis.

Why it matters: This is not a financial crisis. America's banks are well capitalized, the Fed has restored liquidity to the markets, and trust in the financial sector is hitting new highs. Still, banks are severely underperforming the stock-market recovery.

Go deeper (<1 min. read)Arrow