Team Picture, 1919
*This date in 1911, celebrates the founding of the Chicago American Giants baseball organization. They were one of the many Negro League teams of America’s twentieth century.
This team was owned and managed from 1911-26 by Andrew "Rube" Foster, the inventor of "tricky" baseball. Along with the New York Lincoln Stars and the Indianapolis ABCs, the 1917 Chicago American Giants were one of the premier teams during World War I. Legendary greats such as Bruce Petway, John Henry "Pop" Lloyd, Pete Hill, Frank Wickware, and "Cannonball" Dick Redding were on the team. The Giants won Negro National League titles in 1920, 1921, and 1922.
Managed by "Gentlemen" Dave Malarcher, they beat the Bacharach Giants of Atlantic City in the Colored World Series in 1926 and 1927. They were the best Black professional baseball team during the roaring twenties. On the roster in the ‘20s were Rube Foster’s brother, Willie, "Colonel" Jimmie Crutchfield, and Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe. The Giants under Foster played in Scholring Park, the 5,000-seat stadium at 39th, and Wentworth that White Sox owner Charles Comiskey gave them up when he built the (then) Baseball Palace of the World in 1910.
The Chicago American Giants finished their existence with Negro American League in 1950. Over 30 communities in the Midwest, Northeast, and South were home to these franchises organized into six different leagues.
