The Denver White Elephants was a semi-professional independent African-American baseball team in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Colorado, United States. The team was active from 1915 to 1935, and practiced at Broadway Park at 6th and Acoma Streets in Denver. The team played exhibition games against White teams. It was owned and led by

Albert Henderson Wade Ross Albert Henderson Wade Ross (1884–1939), whose name is often abbreviated as A. H. W. Ross, was an American businessman, lawyer, newspaper owner, and baseball team owner. Ross and the Denver Independent Publishing Company were owners from 1913 to ...

( A.H.W. Ross) (1884–1939), a businessman who ran the

Rossonian Hotel The Rossonian Hotel, is a historic building and former business located at 2650 Welton Street in the Five Points section of Denver, Colorado, United States. With PDF including both text and photos alsavailable at NARA It is listed on the National ...

in Denver's Five Points neighborhood. The

Denver Post Tournament The Denver Post Tournament was organized in the 1920s to be "the World Series of semi-pro baseball." The event was sponsored by the ''Denver Post'' and featured ten invited teams. In 1934, Negro league players and Black players began to participate, ...

was the most popular baseball event locally,

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 ...

teams and African-American players were not allowed to participate until 1934. The Denver White Elephants and 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 193 ...

were the first Black teams to participate at the Denver Post Tournament in 1934. In 2020, the team was part of a museum exhibition called "Game Changers" at the

History Colorado Center The History Colorado Center is a museum in Denver, Colorado, USA dedicated to the history of the state of Colorado. Construction on the $111 million building started on 19 August 2009. The museum opened on 28 April 2012 at 1200 Broadway, one block ...

, which examined the role of African American baseball within the history of racial desegregation.

Players

* Tom “Pistol Pete” Albright, pitcher * Theodore “Bubbles” Anderson, infielder * Sam Holmes

References

Defunct baseball teams in Colorado African-American history in Denver Negro league baseball teams 1915 establishments in Colorado 1935 disestablishments in the United States {{Colorado-baseball-team-stub