Originally known as the St. Louis Giants, the team took on a new name in 1922, its third season in the original Negro National League. The club continued to represent St. Louis in the NNL until the collapse of the league at the end of the 1931 season. At various times during its tenure in the original NNL, the team’s roster featured some of the Negro League’s biggest stars, including James “Cool Papa” Bell and George Scales, and the Stars enjoined considerable success during the last half of the 1930s, capturing the NNL pennant in 1928, 1930, and again during the league’s final season in 1931.
Under the economic pressures of the Great Depression which had brought on the collapse of the NNL, the Stars discontinued operations after their championship season in 1931. However, with the formation of the new Negro American League in 1937 the Stars reappeared, although the team was in no real way affiliated with the original club. The following years held mixed fortunes for the Stars as they came close to a league pennant in 1939, fell in and out of the league over the next several years, ultimately disbanding in the early 1940s.
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