Complex sentence: Baseball has been popular in Kinston since the late nineteenth century, and it fielded many excellent amateur clubs, but the small city was unable to sustain a viable professional team until the mid- 1920's.
Split into simpler sentences: Baseball has been popular in Kinston since the late nineteenth century, and it fielded many excellent amateur clubs. Despite this, the small city was unable to sustain a viable professional team until the mid- 1920's.