| Harrisburg Giants | |
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| Location | Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |
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| Established | 1906 |
| Disbanded | 1927 |
The Harrisburg Giants were a U.S. professional Negro league baseball team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
| Harrisburg Giants | |
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| Location | Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |
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| Established | 1906 |
| Disbanded | 1927 |
The Harrisburg Giants were a U.S. professional Negro league baseball team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Originally formed in April 1890 by Colonel William "C.W." Strothers as an amateur team, they became semi-professional by 1894, and by 1906 were known as one of the East's top teams. [1] They joined the Eastern Colored League (ECL) for the 1924 season with Hall of Fame center fielder Oscar Charleston as playing manager. The Giants became known primarily for their hitting; along with Charleston, outfielder/first baseman Heavy Johnson, winner of the batting triple crown for the 1923 Kansas City Monarchs, was signed away from the rival Negro National League.
In the 1920s, the outfield for the Giants was considered one of the best of all time: Rap Dixon, Oscar Charleston, and Fats Jenkins. [2] The lineup, in its entirety, scored runs at a higher pace than the 1927 New York Yankees. Additionally, they are the only Negro League outfield which remained intact for four years--only nine MLB outfields have met the four-year standard. [2]
Harrisburg finished in the middle of the pack in its first season, winning 26 and losing 28 for a fifth-place spot (out of eight teams). In 1925, however, the Giants picked up the pace, challenging defending champion Hilldale before falling just short with a 37-18 record. 1926 saw the Giants add shortstop/third baseman John Beckwith from the Baltimore Black Sox, and finished second again, this time behind the Bacharach Giants.
In 1927, the Harrisburg Giants fell in second place again behind the Bacharach Giants, with a 41-32 record. The club dropped out of the ECL in 1928 and intended to play an independent schedule, whereupon most of its best players signed with other teams leading Strothers to disband the Giants. [3] [4] [5]
A new Giants team was formed mid-way through the 1928 season, led by Spottswood Poles, but it was rumored this team did not have "deep enough pockets" as Colonel Strothers did. After Colonel Strothers' death in 1933, there were several other black professional “Giants” teams representing Harrisburg, but baseball slowed as World War II arose in the 1940s.
Following World War II, there weren't any Negro teams in Harrisburg, so the Harrisburg Giants were reincarnated in the 1953 by Richard Felton with Spottswood Poles again managing the team. By the next year this version of the Giants were an inaugural team of the new Eastern Negro League, where they won the title with a 16-6 season. They continued to play on City Island through 1957. [6] [7] [8]
Oscar McKinley Charleston was an American center fielder, first baseman and manager in Negro league baseball and the Cuban League. Over his 43-year baseball career, Charleston played or managed with more than a dozen teams, including the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, Negro league baseball's leading teams in the 1930s. He also played nine winter seasons in Cuba and in numerous exhibition games against white major leaguers. He was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976.
The Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Clubs, more commonly known as the Eastern Colored League (ECL), was one of the several Negro leagues, which operated during the time organized baseball was segregated.
The first Negro National League was one of the several Negro leagues that were established during the period in the United States when organized baseball was segregated. The league was formed in 1920 with former player Rube Foster as its president.
The American Negro League (ANL) was one of several Negro leagues established during the period in the United States in which organized baseball was segregated. The ANL operated on the East Coast of the United States in 1929.
William Julius "Judy" Johnson was an American professional baseball third baseman, shortstop, manager and scout whose career in Negro league baseball spanned 17 seasons, from 1921 to 1937. He also played in the Cuban League. Slight of build, Johnson never developed as a power threat but achieved his greatest success as a contact hitter and an intuitive defenseman. Johnson is regarded as one of the greatest third basemen of the Negro leagues. In 1975, he was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame after being nominated by the Negro Leagues Committee.
The Bacharach Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Benjamin Harrison Taylor was an American first baseman and manager in baseball's Negro leagues. Taylor played for the Birmingham Giants, Chicago American Giants, Indianapolis ABC's, St. Louis Giants, Bacharach Giants, Washington Potomacs, Harrisburg Giants, and Baltimore Black Sox. His playing career lasted from 1908 to 1929. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Herbert Allen "Rap" Dixon was an American outfielder in Negro league baseball for a number of teams. He was born in Kingston, Georgia.
Spottswood Poles was an American outfielder in baseball's Negro leagues. One of the fastest players of his era, Poles was sometimes referred to as "the black Ty Cobb."
The Hilldale Athletic Club were an American professional Negro league baseball team based in Darby, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia.
The St. Louis Stars, originally the St. Louis Giants, were a Negro league baseball team that competed independently from as early as 1906 to 1919, and then joined the Negro National League (NNL) for the duration of their existence. After the 1921 season, the Giants were sold by African-American promoter Charlie Mills to Dick Kent and Dr. Sam Sheppard, who built a new park and renamed the club the Stars. As the Stars, they eventually built one of the great dynasties in Negro league history, winning three pennants in four years from 1928 to 1931.
The Indianapolis ABCs were a Negro league baseball team that played both as an independent club and as a charter member of the first Negro National League (NNL). They claimed the western championship of black baseball in 1915 and 1916, and finished second in the 1922 NNL. Among their best players were Baseball Hall of Fame members Oscar Charleston, Biz Mackey, and Ben Taylor.
Clinton Cyrus Thomas, nicknamed "Hawk", was a professional baseball player born in Greenup, Kentucky. He was an outfielder and second baseman in the Negro leagues from 1920 to 1938, where he earned the nickname "Hawk" for his sharp-eyed hitting and center field skills.
The New York Lincoln Stars were a Negro league baseball team that played in New York City from 1914 to 1917. Their home stadium was the Lenox Oval, located at Lenox Avenue and 145th Street in Manhattan. Although they lasted less than four years, they were a good team that featured three players who would later be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame—Oscar Charleston, John Henry Lloyd, and Louis Santop.
The following is a timeline of franchise evolution in Major League Baseball.
The 1926 Colored World Series was the championship tournament for the 1926 season of Negro league baseball. It was the third overall Series played. It matched the Chicago American Giants, champions of the Negro National League (1920–1931), and the Bacharach Giants of Atlantic City, New Jersey, champions of the Eastern Colored League. Initially planned as a best-of-nine series, two ties meant that the series went eleven games. Chicago won just once in the first six games, but games 1 and 4 had ended in ties, meaning that they only trailed three games to one when the Series shifted to Chicago. They were down to their final game after losing the eighth game, but the Chicago American Giants proceeded to win the next three games to complete the comeback and win their first ever World Series.
The following is a timeline of the evolution of major-league-caliber franchises in Negro league baseball. The franchises included are those of high-caliber independent teams prior to the organization of formal league play in 1920 and concludes with the dissolution of the remnant of the last major Negro league team, the Kansas City Monarchs then based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in about 1966. All teams who played a season while a member of a major Negro league are included. The major leagues are the original Negro National League, the Eastern Colored League, the American Negro League, the East–West League, the second Negro National League and the Negro American League. Teams from the 1932 original Negro Southern League are also included which allows for the inclusion of the few high caliber minor Negro league teams.
The 1928 Bacharach Giants baseball team represented the Bacharach Giants in the Eastern Colored League (ECL) during the 1928 baseball season. The team compiled a 30–31–2 record and won the ECL pennant. Dick Lundy was the player-manager. The team played its home games at Bacharach Park in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Milton Lewis, nicknamed "Red", was a Negro league second baseman in the 1920s.
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