October 29, 2010

In the days of segregated sports, the Claybrook Tigers from the town of Claybrook (Crittenden County), a black semi-professional team, gave African Americans an opportunity to play the game of baseball. The team—founded and owned by one of the most successful African-American businessmen in northeast Arkansas, John Claybrook—won the Negro Southern League championship in both 1935 and 1936. Despite their success on the field, the Claybrook Tigers folded after the 1937 season.