Negro League Baseball was especially influential because it was among the largest black businesses in the United States in the early twentieth century.

The cafes, beer joints, and rooming houses of the Negro neighborhoods all benefited as black baseball money sometimes trickled, sometimes rippled through the black community.
(Rogosin, 1983)

In addition, Negro league baseball provided a much needed outlet for entertainment and added to the rich cultural life.

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From its inception, organized Negro baseball took an active role in promoting ethnic pride. From the strict rules of dress and conduct imposed upon Monarchs players by owner J. L. Wilkinson, to the professionalism and integrity personified by Negro National League founder, Rube Foster, black baseball strived to establish a standard for all black professionals - a standard to be emulated by aspiring black youth.

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