The Chicago Giants were a professional
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
team based in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
which played in the
Negro leagues
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...
from 1910 to 1921.
History
The team was founded by
Frank Leland
Frank C. Leland (1869 – November 14, 1914) was an American baseball player, field manager and club owner in the Negro leagues.
Early life and career beginnings
Leland was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He attended Fisk University in Nashville, ...
after he and his partner,
Rube Foster
Andrew "Rube" Foster (September 17, 1879 – December 9, 1930) was an American baseball player, manager, and executive in the Negro leagues. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.
Foster, considered by historians to have been per ...
, split up the
Leland Giants
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 Gian ...
in 1910. Frank Leland's new club was sometimes also known as Leland's Chicago Giants, until a court injunction forced Frank Leland to stop using the name Leland Giants.
["Frank C. Leland Enjoined From Using the Name Leland Giants" Chicago Broad Ax, Chicago, IL, Page 2, Column 2](_blank)
/ref>
A 1910 article about an upcoming game and parade, announced everyone would wear the team colors, "white and maroon."["Chicago Giants Will Raise Flag Sunday" Chicago Broad Ax, Chicago, IL, Page 2, Columns 4 and 5](_blank)
/ref>
After Leland's death, November 14, 1914,["Certificate and Record of Death of Frank Leland" Chicago Department of Health, Chicago, IL, November 14, 1914](_blank)
/ref> the team came under the control of longtime player Charles "Joe" Green.
In 1920, the Chicago Giants became a founding member of the Negro National League (NNL). They played as a travelling team, without a home field, and finished in last place in both 1920 and 1921. Their best player was a young catcher/shortstop named John Beckwith, who was purchased by Rube Foster for his Chicago American Giants
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" Fo ...
after the 1921 season.
Franchise continuum
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:800 height:100
PlotArea = left:20 right:50 bottom:20 top:20
Colors =
id:majorGridColor value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9)
id:lineColor value:gray(0.6)
id:nl1 value:gray(0.9)
id:inactive value:gray(0.5)
id:gold value:rgb(0.99,0.72,0.15)
id:brown value:rgb(0.36,0.20,0.10)
id:vegasgold value:rgb(0.80,0.72,0.49)
id:green value:rgb(0, 0.51,0.28)
id:darkgreen value:rgb(0, 0.20,0 )
id:orange value:rgb(1 ,0.39,0 )
id:redorange value:rgb(1 ,0.20,0 )
id:red value:rgb(0.80,0.01,0.07)
id:red2 value:rgb(0.90,0.01,0.07)
id:darkred value:rgb(0.50,0 ,0 )
id:iceblue value:rgb(0.20,0.60,0.80)
id:lgray value:gray(0.1)
id:gray value:gray(0.3)
id:gray2 value:gray(0.5)
id:sand value:rgb(0.94,0.89,0.77)
id:navy value:rgb(0 ,0 ,0.30)
id:teal value:rgb(0 ,0.65,0.65)
id:teal2 value:rgb(0 ,0.45,0.45)
Period = from:1887 till:1952
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
ScaleMajor = start:1887 increment:5 gridcolor:majorGridColor
BarData =
bar:UNI # Chicago Unions
bar:AMG # Chicago American Giants
bar:COL # Chicago Columbia Giants
Define $Up = shift:(,1)
Define $Left = anchor:from align:right shift:(-1,)
Define $Right = anchor:till align:left shift:(2,)
Define $Right2 = anchor:till align:right shift:(-25,)
Define $Down = shift:(,-10)
Define $UpLeft = anchor:from align:right shift:(-1,1)
Define $UpLeft2 = anchor:from align:left shift:(-1,1)
Define $UpRight2 = anchor:till align:right shift:(-1,1)
Define $UpRight = anchor:till align:left shift:(2,1)
Define $DownRight = anchor:till align:left shift:(2,-10)
Define $DownLeft = anchor:from align:left shift:(2,-10)
Define $UpUpRight = anchor:till align:left shift:(2,10)
PlotData =
color:inactive
textcolor:black
width:20
fontsize:S
mark:(line,black)
anchor:middle # other options are anchor:from anchor:till
align:center # other options are align:left align:right
shift:(0,-5)
# Note on dates: A team's bar begins with the season that team played its first game, and ends with the season after that team played its last game. For example, the Cleveland Tate Stars played their first game in 1922 and played their last game in 1923. Therefore, their bar goes from 1922 to 1924.
bar:UNI from:1887 till:1901 color:skyblue text:"Chicago Unions" $Right2
bar:UNI from:1910 till:1921 color:gold text:"Chicago Giants" $Right2
bar:AMG from:1901 till:1910 color:yellow text:"Chicago Union Giants / Leland Giants (I)"
bar:COL from:1899 till:1901 color:skyblue text:"Chicago Columbia Giants" $Right2
bar:COL from:1910 till:1952 color:gold text:"Leland Giants (II) / Chicago American Giants" $Right2
References
External links
1920 Chicago Giants Calendar
{{Authority control
Negro league baseball teams
Giants
A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore.
Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to:
Mythology and religion
*Giants (Greek mythology)
*Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'gi ...
Defunct baseball teams in Illinois
Baseball teams disestablished in 1921
Baseball teams established in 1910