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In athletics terminology, barnstorming refers to sports teams or individual athletes who travel to various locations, usually small towns, to stage exhibition matches. The term is primarily used in the United States. Barnstorming teams differ from traveling teams in that they operate outside the framework of an established athletic league, while traveling teams are designated by a league, formally or informally, to be a designated visiting team. Barnstorming allowed athletes to compete in two sports; for example, Reece "Goose" Tatum played basketball for the

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...

and baseball for a

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

barnstorming team. Some barnstorming teams lack home arenas, while others go on "barnstorming tours" in the off-season.

History

Teams in baseball's

often barnstormed before, during, and after their league's regular season. Hall of Fame baseball pitcher

Satchel Paige Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction in ...

barnstorm toured with Dempsey Hovland's Caribbean Kings. Hovland founded (and owned) several barnstorming teams, including the Texas Cowgirls (1949–1977), the first integrated professional

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college compet ...

team to tour worldwide, and the New York Harlem Queens. The

and Texas Cowgirls shared training camps, seasons, and circuits. Barnstorming is most commonly connected with baseball, with many stars of the Major Leagues doing barnstorming with their own "all-star" teams from the start of the 20th century, all the way to the 1950s, either playing inter-squad games or against local minor league teams. It was a way for players to make extra money during the off-season, and the games were usually played in smaller towns in the south, Midwest, and western United States, where there wasn't major league baseball, and allowed fans the rare opportunity to see their favorite players in person. The popularity of barnstorming faded away in the 1950s as more and more baseball games were televised, affording fans a new way to watch their favorite players and teams. While barnstorming is no longer as popular as it was in the 20th century, some teams such as basketball's

, and

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

's King and His Court founded by Eddie Feigner carry on the tradition. In the 1990s the Colorado Silver Bullets women's baseball team resurrected barnstorming because there was no women's league. In 2023, the Savannah Bananas—up to that point, a

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

team— became a full-time barnstorming team to great success, after their proprietary "Banana Ball" format became a national phenomenon. The Bananas helped revive the popularity of barnstorming baseball. It was very common in the early days of professional American football; for instance, the

Los Angeles Wildcats Los Angeles Wildcats is a name shared by several American football teams from Los Angeles: * Los Angeles Wildcats (AFL), a team that played in the American Football League of 1926 * Los Angeles Wildcats (Minor League AFL), a team that played in the ...

of the first

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

(AFL) of 1926 played the regular season as a traveling team, then went on a post-season barnstorming tour of Texas and California, with

Red Grange Harold Edward "Red" Grange (June 13, 1903 – January 28, 1991), nicknamed "the Galloping Ghost" and "the Wheaton Iceman", was an American professional American football, football Halfback (American football), halfback who played for the Chicag ...

. NFL teams were also known to barnstorm in small towns against local teams all the way up through World War II. Several auto racers, most notably

Barney Oldfield Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield (January 29, 1878 – October 4, 1946) was a pioneer American racing driver. His name was "synonymous with speed in the first two decades of the 20th century". He was the winner of the inaugural List of American ope ...

, staged exhibitions around the United States in the early twentieth century. In 1914 he barnstormed against the aviator Lincoln Beachey at least 35 times. In

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

, notable invitation-only touring teams include the Barbarians and the French Barbarians. Regional and local barnstorming circuits are often undertaken by local celebrity squadsSchober, Jeff (January 18, 2021)
Does Danny Neaverth really need a job?
''BuffaloTales.net''. Retrieved March 26, 2021. and retired alumni of professional leagues, such as the

Buffalo Sabres Alumni Hockey Team The Buffalo Sabres Alumni Hockey Team is an independent barnstorm (sports), barnstorming hockey team located in Buffalo, New York. Its roster consists entirely of retired National Hockey League players, mostly former members of the Buffalo Sabre ...

Teams

*American football **

** Tampa Cardinals *Baseball ** Caribbean Kings ** House of David, a baseball team that toured rural United States from the 1920s until the 1950s **

Indianapolis Clowns The Indianapolis Clowns were a professional baseball team in the Negro American League. Tracing their origins back to the 1930s, the Clowns were the last of the Negro league teams to disband, continuing to play exhibition games into the 1980s. Th ...

** Iowa Colored Cowboys ** Savannah Bananas *** Firefighters *** Party Animals *** Texas Tailgaters *Basketball **

**Texas Cowgirls ** Washington Generals ** World Famous Indians *Cricket ** Bunbury Cricket Club ** Kaipaki Nation Cricket Club"Kaipaki Nation Cricket Club"
/ref> *Ice hockey **

** Flying Fathers ** Montreal Canadiens Legends ** Sudbury Bulldogs"Shoresy Fall Classic"
/ref> *Rugby union **

Barbarian F.C. The Barbarian Football Club, known as the Barbarians, is a Great Britain, British-based invitational rugby union club. The Barbarians play in black and white hoops, though players wear socks from their own club strip. Membership is by invitatio ...

** French Barbarians *Softball ** King and His Court

Other

The Lancaster Barnstormers are a professional baseball team based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They are a member of the Freedom Division of the

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, and the headquarters are l ...

, and do not engage in actual barnstorming. Likewise, the Iowa Barnstormers

arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

squad was not a literal barnstorming squad, its name instead being a play on Iowa's farming industry.

In popular culture

* In the 2001 book '' Danger Boy'' by Mark London Williams, ''Barnstormers'' is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

the main character plays, in which players choose humans, vampires, zombies, and other creatures to assemble a barnstorming baseball team that travels the country competing against other teams.

History

Teams

Other

In popular culture

References

Further reading