The Chicago American Giants were a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

-based

Negro league baseball 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 ...

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 A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

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.

Founding

In 1910, Foster, captain of the Chicago Leland Giants, wrestled legal control of the name "Leland Giants" away from the team's owner,

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, ...

. That season, featuring Hall of Fame shortstop

John Henry Lloyd John Henry Lloyd (April 25, 1884 – March 19, 1964), nicknamed "Pop" and "El Cuchara", was an American baseball shortstop and manager in the Negro leagues. During his 27-year career, he played for many teams and had a .343 batting average. Lloy ...

, outfielder

Pete Hill John Preston "Pete" Hill (October 12, 1882 – November 19, 1951) was an American outfielder and manager in baseball's Negro leagues from 1899 to 1925. He played for the Philadelphia Giants, Leland Giants, Chicago American Giants, Detroit Stars, M ...

, second baseman Grant Johnson, catcher

Bruce Petway Bruce Franklin Petway (December 23, 1885 – July 4, 1941) was an American Negro league baseball catcher in the early 20th century who came to be known as having one of the best throwing arms in the league. He is also said to have been one of the ...

, and pitcher

Frank Wickware Frank Wickware (March 8, 1888 – November 2, 1967), nicknamed "Rawhide" and "The Red Ant", was a baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues from 1909 to 1925. In a nationally syndicated article written in 1915, it was said that Wickware "is anoth ...

, the Leland Giants reportedly won 123 games while losing only 6. In 1911, Foster renamed the club the "American Giants".

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

Early dominance

Playing in spacious Schorling Park (formerly the home field of the American League's

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

), Foster's club relied on fielding, pitching, speed, and " inside baseball" to succeed in the young Negro National League (NNL), winning championships in 1920, 1921, and 1922. When the

Kansas City Monarchs 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 19 ...

supplanted the American Giants as the dominant team beginning in 1923, Foster tried rebuilding but by 1926 his health (physical and mental) was failing. Accordingly, his protégé

Dave Malarcher David "Gentleman Dave" Julius Malarcher (October 18, 1894 – May 11, 1982) was an American third baseman in Negro league baseball. He played for the Indianapolis ABCs, Detroit Stars, and Chicago American Giants from 1916 to 1934. Malarcher won t ...

took over on-field management of the team. Malarcher followed Foster's pattern, emphasizing pitching and defense, and led the American Giants back to the top-tier of the Negro leagues, winning pennants in 1926 and 1927. Both seasons also saw the American Giants defeat the

Bacharach Giants The Bacharach Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Founding The club was founded when two African-American politicians moved the Duval Giants of Jacksonville, Florida, to Atlantic City in 1916 an ...

of Atlantic City, champions of the Eastern Colored League, in the

Negro League World Series The Negro World Series was a post-season baseball tournament that was held from 1924 to 1927 and from 1942 to 1948 between the champions of the Negro leagues, matching the mid-western winners against their east-coast counterparts. The series was a ...

Cole's American Giants

The NNL collapsed in 1931, and in 1932 the team won the Negro Southern League pennant as Cole's American Giants. The next season the American Giants joined the new Negro National League, losing the pennant to the

Pittsburgh Crawfords The Pittsburgh Crawfords, popularly known as the Craws, were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team, previously known as the Crawford Colored Giants, was named after the Crawford Bath House, a recre ...

in a controversial decision by league president Gus Greenlee (owner of the Crawfords). The 1933 season saw the Giants get kicked off of their home field after the end of May; the park owners preferred to use the land as a dog racing track for the remaining summer months. This forced the Giants to play the majority of their home games in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

for the balance of that season. In 1934, the American Giants won the NNL's second-half title, then fell to the Philadelphia Stars in a seven-game playoff for the championship. In 1937, after a year spent playing as an independent club, the American Giants became a charter member of yet another circuit, the

Negro American League The Negro American League was one of the several Negro leagues created during the time organized American baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937, and disbanded after its 1962 season. Negro American League franchises :''An ...

Decline and demise

Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe was appointed manager in 1950. The team's owner, Dr. J.B. Martin, was concerned about black players joining major league teams so he instructed Radcliffe to sign white players. Radcliffe recruited at least five young white players (

Lou Chirban Louis John Chirban (August 26, 1930 – December 5, 2008)Louis John Chirban
Lou Clarizio Louis Clarizio, Jr. (born September 21, 1931) is one of the six white professional baseball players signed to play in the Negro leagues, the second ever signed. He played in the Negro American League. He was signed to the Chicago American Giants ...

, Al Dubetts, Frank Dyall, and Stanley Miarka). Sports entrepreneur Abe Saperstein owned the American Giants in 1952, its last season in the Negro American League. Its players were dispersed to the four remaining NAL teams for the 1953 season. After dropping out of the Negro American League, the American Giants became unaffiliated and turned to barnstorming, playing games in the Midwest. The team disbanded after the 1956 season, then was revived in 1958, playing throughout the South until 1961.

Home fields

The American Giants first played at South Side Park (III) (1920–1940) and Perry Stadium (Indianapolis) (1933), when South Side Park was briefly re-purposed mid-season in 1933. Finally, they shared Comiskey Park (I) (1941–1950), playing when the White Sox were on the road.

MLB throwback jerseys

The

have honored the American Giants by wearing replica uniforms during regular-season baseball games on several occasions, including July 1, 2007 (at Kansas City), July 26, 2008 (at home vs. Detroit), and July 16, 2011, during the 9th Annual Negro League weekend at Detroit, where the home team also worn the jerseys of the

Detroit Stars 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 ...

during the 17th annual Negro League Tribute Game.

Notable players

Hall of Famers

Eleven alumni have been inducted into the

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

Other star players

* Lyman Bostock Sr. *

Quincy Trouppe Quincy Thomas Trouppe (December 25, 1912 – August 10, 1993) was an American professional baseball player and an amateur boxing champion. He was a catcher in the Negro leagues from 1930 to 1949. He was a native of Dublin, Georgia. Early life H ...

Joe Lillard Joseph Johnny Lillard Jr. (June 15, 1905 – September 18, 1978) was an American football, baseball, and basketball player. From 1932 to 1933, he was a running back for the National Football League's (NFL) Chicago Cardinals. Lillard was the last ...

Art Pennington Arthur David "Superman" Pennington (May 18, 1923 – January 4, 2017) was an all-star Negro league baseball player in the 1940s. Pennington played for the Chicago American Giants (1941–1945, 1950), the Birmingham Black Barons (1945), as well a ...

Jim Pendleton James Edward Pendleton (January 7, 1924 — March 20, 1996) was an American professional baseball player, an outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1953 and 1962. He played for the Milwaukee Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds ...

References

External links

Franchise history at Seamheads.com

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Negro Leagues Traveling Exhibits
{{Authority control Negro league baseball teams History of Chicago American Giants Defunct baseball teams in Illinois Baseball teams disestablished in 1956 Baseball teams established in 1910