This date in 1938 celebrates the establishment of the Baltimore Elite Giants baseball team. This was one of the many Negro League Baseball teams of the twentieth century.
Over 30 Midwest, Northeast, and South communities were home to franchises organized into six different leagues. In Baltimore, their nickname is pronounced "EE-light" with a Southern twang. The Giants migrated from Nashville to Columbus, Ohio, to Washington D. C., and finally to Baltimore in 1938. The Elite Giants gave the Majors Joe Black, Junior Gilliam, and Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella their initial exposure to professional baseball before becoming bums with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The 1942 season was the best-ever for the club when they had a 37-15 record, tops in both Negro League divisions. They won the Negro National League Title in 1939 and 1949 and the Negro American League 1949-1950. In Baltimore, the Homestead Grays were the dominant team. The Elites would play them every year, and finally, in 1939, the Elites claimed the championship, beating the Grays in a four-team postseason tournament. In 1946, Tom Wilson sold the franchise due to health problems, and two years later, the league folded.
In 1949, after the league had been reconstructed and under the new management of Lennie Pearson, the Elites won the Eastern Division and Western Division. In 1950, although the team won second place in the East, it suffered from financial problems and was sold to William Bridgeforth for $11,000. The team returned to Nashville for a final season and subsequently was dissolved.
The Negro Baseball Leagues: A Photographic History
By Phil Dixon with Patrick J. Hannigan
Copyright 1992, Jed Clauss and Joanna Paulsen
Ameron House Publishing
ISBN 0-88488-0425-2
