Final answer:
The reserve system was part of early baseball's labor and segregation practices, limiting player salaries and movement, and reflecting broader societal attitudes. Negro League teams prevailed against white teams in exhibition games but faced systemic barriers in the professional arena. Baseball's history offers insight into the interplay between American sports, race, and labor dynamics.
Step-by-step explanation:
The reserve system, which limited player movement and kept salaries low in the National League, was just one aspect of the broader landscape of segregation and labor practices in American professional sports history, notably baseball. Throughout the early 20th century, baseball was a microcosm of societal attitudes toward race and labor.
The Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first salaried team in 1869, and by 1890, racial segregation was firmly entrenched in the sport. Notably, Moses Fleetwood Walker played Major League Baseball before Jackie Robinson, facing racism and an unofficial ban on black players that persisted into the 20th century.
Even as baseball's popularity grew, segregation barred many talented African American players from the major leagues, leading to the formation of the Negro Leagues, where the reserve system didn't apply. These leagues and their teams, such as the St. Louis Stars and New York Black Yankees, often succeeded against their white counterparts in exhibition games, but they faced systemic barriers that kept them from competing on an equal footing in the professional arena.
Major League Baseball's Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis eventually banned major league teams from playing against Negro League teams, which ironically boosted the latter's winning record since the white all-star teams assembled lacked the depth of regular rosters.
Baseball's history of segregation, labor practices, and the challenges faced by African American players provides a fascinating study of America's pastime and its reflection of American society's broader struggles with race and labor.