Lester said the average monthly salary of a Black player in the early 1920s was $175 a month. Rookies earned $75 and the stars $375. They received between $1 to $1.50 a day for meal money.
Major league players received from $300 to $2,000 a month and about $15 a day for meals. That s about five times more in salary than Black players.
In 1924, the first year of the Colored World Series, the share of the winners, the Kansas City Monarchs, was $307.96, says Lester. The Hilldale Club, the team that lost, took home $193.23.
The World Series winners that same year earned $5,959.64 and the losers $3,820.29. That s almost 19 times what the Black players received.