The Brooklyn Royal Giants were a professional
Negro league baseball team based in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York. Formed in 1905 by John Wilson Connor (1875–1926),
owner of the Brooklyn Royal Cafe, the team initially played against white semi-pro teams.
They were one of the prominent independent teams prior to
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
before organized league play began.
League play
![Brooklyn Royal Giants 1919](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Brooklyn_Royal_Giants_1919.jpg)
In 1907, the Brooklyn Royal Giants joined the
National Association of Colored Baseball Clubs of the United States and Cuba.
["Colored Baseball Men Organize Association" The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, MT, Sunday Morning, November 11, 1906, Page 2, Column 7](_blank)
/ref> The league lasted three seasons and included the teams Philadelphia Giants, Cuban X-Giants, Cuban Stars of Havana, and the Cuban Giants
The Cuban Giants were the first fully salaried African-American professional baseball club. The team was originally formed in 1885 at the Argyle Hotel, a summer resort in Babylon, New York. Initially an independent barnstorming team, they played ...
of New York.
During the 1920s, under the ownership of Nat Strong, a white New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
booking agent, the team fell into somewhat of a decline, and did very poorly while in the Eastern Colored League
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.
League history
Founding
The ECL ...
. The Giants played their home games while part of the Eastern Colored League at Dexter Park in Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
.
Final years and demise
The Giants played a pair of games against teams featuring Babe Ruth
George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
and Lou Gehrig. On October 11, 1926, the Giants took on a squad featuring Babe Ruth in Bradley Beach, New Jersey. The Giants won this game 3-1. Following this, in 1928, the Giants played a combined team of the Bustin' Babes (Ruth's barnstorming squad) and the Larrupin' Lous (Gehrig's barnstorming squad) in Asbury Park, New Jersey. The Giants returned to independent play in 1928
Events January
* January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.
* January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...
and rebuilt the roster, but the quality of the rebuilt team never matched that of the early years. By the mid-1930s, the quality was no better than that of a minor league team, and in the early 1940s it had fallen to a semi-professional status. The team disbanded in 1942
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in w ...
.
Significant players
*Smokey Joe Williams
Joseph Williams (April 6, 1886 – February 25, 1951), 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 Natio ...
* "Cannonball" Dick Redding
* Frank Wickware
* Charles "Chino" Smith
* John Henry "Pop" Lloyd
Notes and references
General
Inline citations
External links
1920 Brooklyn Royal Giants Calendar
{{Negro League teams, Majorleague
African-American history in New York City
Negro league baseball teams
Defunct baseball teams in New York City
Sports in Brooklyn
Baseball teams disestablished in 1942
Baseball teams established in 1905