Cleveland Cubs | |
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Information | |
League |
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Location | Cleveland, Ohio |
Ballpark |
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Established | 1920 |
Disbanded | 1950 |
The Cleveland Cubs were a Negro league baseball team in the Negro National League, based in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1931. [1] In their only season, they finished in second place with a 23-22 record. [2] The rosters of the 1931 Cubs and the 1931 Nashville Elite Giants have some overlap as Tom Wilson was owner of both teams. [3]
The Cubs had one Hall of Famer play for them: Satchel Paige pitched in 5 games for the Cubs, winning one and losing one, with a 2.13 ERA. [4] The Cubs home ballpark was Hardware Field. [2]
An independent Cleveland Cubs team emerged in 1932 that also went by the name "Foster Memorial Giants." [5] Originally named Rube Foster Memorial Giants and based in Chicago, the team moved to Cleveland (and the Southern League) as a result of success of Chicago American Giants in their home city. [6] They disappeared after playing to a 1–15 record. [5]
This incarnation of the Cubs also had one Hall of Famer play for them: Cristóbal Torriente played in 11 games hitting .244. [7] This Cubs team had no designated home ballpark. [5]
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.
William Hendrick Foster was an American left-handed pitcher in baseball's Negro leagues in the 1920s and 1930s. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. Foster was the much-younger half-brother of Rube Foster, a Negro league player, pioneer, and fellow Hall of Famer.
The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 1930. Wilkinson was the first white owner at the time of the establishment of the team. In 1930, the Monarchs became the first professional baseball team to use a portable lighting system which was transported from game to game in trucks to play games at night, five years before any Major League Baseball team did. The Monarchs won ten league championships before integration, and triumphed in the first Negro World Series in 1924. The Monarchs had only one season in which they did not have a winning record and produced more major league players than any other Negro league franchise. It was disbanded in 1965.
Hilton Lee Smith was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. He pitched alongside Satchel Paige for the Kansas City Monarchs and Bismarck Churchills between 1932 and 1948. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001.
The Birmingham Black Barons were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1920 until 1960, including 18 seasons recognized as Major League by Major League Baseball. They shared their home field of Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, with the white Birmingham Barons, usually drawing larger crowds and equal press.
Cristóbal Torriente was a Cuban professional baseball player who played as an outfielder in Negro league baseball with multiple teams. He played from 1912 to 1932 and was primarily a pull hitter, though he could hit with power to all fields. He had a stocky and slightly bowlegged build, but was known for deceptive power and a strong, accurate arm from center field. Indianapolis ABC's manager C. I. Taylor stated, "If I see Torriente walking up the other side of the street, I would say, 'There walks a ballclub.'" Torriente was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
The Philadelphia Stars were a Negro league baseball team from Philadelphia. The Stars were founded in 1933 when Ed Bolden returned to professional black baseball after being idle since early 1930. The Stars were an independent ball club in 1933, a member of the Negro National League from 1934 until the League's collapse following the 1948 season, and affiliated with the Negro American League from 1949 to 1952.
Cornelius Randall Robinson, known professionally as Neil Robinson, was a major league baseball player in the segregated Negro leagues. Also known by the nicknames Neal and Shadow, he primarily played as a center fielder in the 1930s and 1940s, but as a semipro player he alternated between the outfield, shortstop, and third baseman. For the majority of his twenty-three year career, Robinson played for the Memphis Red Sox. Prior to being acquired by Memphis, he played one season for the Homestead Grays and three seasons with the Cincinnati Tigers.
The Memphis Red Sox were an American Negro league baseball team that was active from 1920 to 1959. Originally named the Barber College Baseball Club, the team was initially owned and operated by Arthur P. Martin, a local Memphis barber. In the late 1920s the Martin brothers, all three Memphis doctors and businessmen, purchased the Red Sox. J. B. Martin, W. S. Martin, and B. B. Martin, would retain control of the club till its dissolution in 1959. The Red Sox played as members, at various times, of the Negro Southern League, Negro National League, and Negro American League. The team was never a titan of the Negro leagues like wealthier teams in northern cities of the United States, but sound management led to a continuous thirty-nine years of operation, a span that was exceeded by very few other teams. Following integration the team had five players that would eventually make the rosters of Major League Baseball teams and two players that were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The 1931 Homestead Grays baseball team competed as an independent in Negro league baseball during the 1931 baseball season. The team compiled a 34–21–1 (.616) record.
The 1920 Chicago American Giants baseball team represented the Chicago American Giants in the Negro National League (NNL) during the 1920 baseball season. The team compiled a 49–21–3 (.692) record and won the first NNL pennant. Rube Foster was the team's owner and manager. The team played its home games at Schorling Park in Chicago.
The 1921 Chicago American Giants baseball team represented the Chicago American Giants in the Negro National League (NNL) during the 1920 baseball season. The team compiled a 55–29–4 (.648) record and won the NNL pennant. Rube Foster was the team's owner and manager. The team played its home games at Schorling Park in Chicago.
The 1922 Chicago American Giants baseball team represented the Chicago American Giants in the Negro National League (NNL) during the 1922 baseball season. The team compiled a 45–31–1 (.591) record and won the NNL pennant for the third consecutive season. Rube Foster was the team's owner and manager. The team played its home games at Schorling Park in Chicago.
Winfield Scott Welch, nicknamed "Gus" and "Moe", was an American Negro league outfielder and manager. Welch spent most of his playing career with minor Negro teams. He is best known as a successful manager, lauded by some as "the Connie Mack of Negro baseball"
Wesley "Big Train" Barrow was an American Negro league player and manager in the 1940s who was once regarded as "one of the best developers of Negro talent in the South."
The Kansas City Giants were a professional Negro leagues baseball team, based in Kansas City, Kansas. From 1909 to 1911, the Kansas City Giants played as a member of the Western Independent Clubs. The Kansas City Giants played home games at Riverside Park. The Giants were a rival of the Kansas City, Missouri based Kansas City Royal Giants.
The Kansas City Royal Giants were a professional Negro leagues baseball team, based in Kansas City, Missouri. From 1910 to 1912, the Kansas City Royal Giants played as a member of the Western Independent Clubs, along with their local rival, the Kansas City Giants. The Kansas City Royal Giants played home games at Shelley Park.