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| Chicago Unions | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| League |
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| Location | Chicago, Illinois |
| Established | 1887 |
| Disbanded | 1900 |
| Nickname(s) |
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The Chicago Unions were a professional, black baseball team that played in the late 19th century, prior to the formation of the Negro leagues.
Organized as the Unions in 1887, the club was led by Abe Jones (1887–1889) and by W.S. Peters (1890–1900). In 1899, they lost a series for the western championship to the Columbia Giants, also based in Chicago.
The Unions, along with the Cuban Giants, are the only Negro teams to survive the political and economic crisis that eventually lead to the Panic of 1893. Every other significant Negro team which operated prior to the Panic ultimately ceased to exist.
During 1901 and 1902, Frank Leland created the Chicago Union Giants by hiring many players from the Chicago Unions and Columbia Giants. The Union Giants "were recognized as the top team in the West, but lost a challenge playoff to the Algona Brownies in 1903 for the western championship" (Riley 168). The Union Giants were renamed Leland Giants in 1905.
| The Chicago Unions and the Chicago Columbia Giants merged for the 1901 season creating the Chicago Union Giants, who later changed their name to the Leland Giants. The Leland Giants then split into two teams for the 1910 season creating the Chicago Giants and the new Leland Giants, who later changed their name to the Chicago American Giants. |
Andrew "Rube" Foster was an American baseball player, manager, and executive in the Negro leagues. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.
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 relatively successful leagues beginning in 1920 that are sometimes termed "Negro Major Leagues".
Joseph Williams, nicknamed "Cyclone Joe" and "Smokey Joe", was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. He is considered one of the greatest pitchers of all-time and was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.
The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball. Owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" Foster, they were charter members of Foster's Negro National League. The American Giants won five pennants in that league, along with another pennant in the 1932 Negro Southern League and a second-half championship in Gus Greenlee's Negro National League in 1934.
The Columbia Giants were a professional, black baseball team based in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century, prior to the Negro leagues.
John Preston "Pete" Hill was an American outfielder and manager in baseball's Negro leagues from 1899 to 1925. He played for the Philadelphia Giants, Leland Giants, Chicago American Giants, Detroit Stars, Milwaukee Bears, and Baltimore Black Sox. Hill starred for teams owned by Negro league executive Rube Foster for much of his playing career.
Grant U. "Home Run" Johnson was an American shortstop and second baseman in baseball's Negro leagues. In a career that spanned over 30 years, he played for many of the greatest teams of the deadball era and was one of the game's best power hitters. Born in Findlay, Ohio, he died at age 90 in Buffalo, New York.
King Solomon "Sol" White was an American professional baseball infielder, manager and executive, and one of the pioneers of the Negro leagues. An active sportswriter for many years, he wrote the first definitive history of black baseball in 1907. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
The Philadelphia Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1902 to 1911. From 1904 to 1909 they were one of the strongest teams in black baseball, winning five eastern championships in six years. The team was organized by Sol White, Walter Schlichter, and Harry Smith.
The Chicago Giants were a professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois which played in the Negro leagues.
The Leland Giants, originally the Chicago Union Giants, were a Negro league baseball team that competed independently during the first decade of the 20th century. The team was formed via a merge of the Chicago Unions and the Chicago Columbia Giants in 1901, and then split in 1910 to form the Chicago Giants and what would become known as the Chicago American Giants. The team was named after its owner and manager, Frank Leland.
Frank C. Leland was an American baseball player, field manager and club owner in the Negro leagues.
The Algona Brownies were an independent interracial baseball team that played in the 1902 and 1903 seasons. They were based in Algona, Iowa, and was primarily made up of former members of the Chicago Unions, Columbia Giants, and Chicago Union Giants teams.
George Walter Ball was an American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. Born in Detroit, Michigan, from 1893 he played ten years as the only black player on minor white teams in Minnesota and North Dakota. For more than a decade beginning 1903, he played for major teams, mainly in the Chicago region. Sources say he was given the nickname "The Georgia Rabbit" and "Diamond."
George "Chappie" Johnson Jr. was an American baseball catcher and field manager in the Negro leagues. He played for many successful teams from 1895 to 1920 and he crossed racial boundaries as a teacher and coach.
Harry Edward "Green River" Buckner, also nicknamed "Buck" and "Goat Head", was an American Negro league pitcher and outfielder in the between 1896 and 1918.
William Stitt Peters was an American baseball, player, manager, and owner who played in predecessor teams to the Negro leagues. Peters played first base and managed the Chicago Unions from 1887 to 1900. After owner Frank Leland moved many of the team's players to the Chicago Union Giants, Peters formed his owned team, the Peters Union Giants. He ran the club until 1923.
The Chicago City League was a minor league baseball league based in Chicago, Illinois. The Independent level league played with teams based entirely in Chicago. The league played in 1887, from 1890 to 1894 and 1909 to 1910 as a minor league. In the era of segregated baseball, the 1909 and 1910 leagues were integrated, with the Leland Giants joining as a member.