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".
The Chillicothe Paints are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Chillicothe, Ohio, in the United States. The team is a member of the summer collegiate Prospect League. The Paints previously played in the professional independent Frontier League from 1993 to 2008. The Paints play their home games at V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe.
Otsego is a city in Allegan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,120 at the 2020 census. The city is within Otsego Township, but is administratively autonomous.
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.
The Detroit Stars were an American baseball team in the Negro leagues and played at historic Mack Park. The Stars had winning seasons every year but two, but were never able to secure any championships. Among their best players was Baseball Hall of Famer Turkey Stearnes.
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.
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.
George Edward Bardeen Sr., a long-time resident of Otsego, Michigan, USA, was a businessman and state-level politician. He owned and operated the Bardeen and the Mac-Sim-Bar paper mills in Otsego, the Otsego Independents semi-professional baseball team, and was financially instrumental in the founding of Olivet College.
Cornelius "Neal" Ball was an American baseball shortstop who played seven seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Highlanders, Cleveland Naps, and Boston Red Sox from 1907 to 1913. Although his primary position was shortstop, Ball played at second base, third base, and in the outfield as well. He is the first player to turn an unassisted triple play in Major League Baseball history on July 19, 1909.
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 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.
Charles Samuel "Rube" Kisinger, sometimes spelled "Kissinger", was an American right-handed baseball pitcher.
George H. Wilson was an American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. He played for major teams from 1895 to 1905 and pitched for Havana in the Cuban winter league of 1907.
Harvey Bayard Freeman was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played for the 1921 Philadelphia Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB). Listed at 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) and 160 pounds (73 kg), he batted and threw right-handed.
George Deneau was a Canadian minor league baseball player, manager, and promoter who played on a number of Ontario and Michigan teams between 1898 and 1915. Known best by his nickname "Rube," he was born in Amherstburg, Ontario, about 20 miles downriver from Windsor, and died in 1926 at the age of 47. He was remarkably popular with fans in his day, and newspaper reports routinely refer to the teams he was on as "Deneau's Boys," "the Deneauites," and "Deneau's huskies."
Eugene Joseph Bremer (Bremmer) (July 18, 1916 – June 19, 1971) was an American pitcher in Negro league baseball. He played between 1932 and 1949.
Dangerfield F. Talbert was an American baseball third baseman in the pre-Negro leagues.
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.
