George L. Williams (March 1864 – January 9, 1918) was an American

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 ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

who played on and managed predecessor teams to 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 ...

. Hired as a policeman and assigned to Philadelphia's Eighth and Lombard streets police station in 1892, he was promoted in 1909, becoming "the city's only colored detective," according to ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

''.

Biography

In 1885, Williams was recruited from a top amateur club in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

to play for 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 ...

. He served as the captain of the Cuban Giants from 1886 to 1889. 1890 York Colored Monarchs

Williams played on African American baseball teams in mostly-white minor leagues in 1889 and 1890. In 1890, he captained the

York Colored Monarchs The York Base Ball Club, nicknamed the Monarchs or Colored Monarchs, were a minor league baseball team that represented York, Pennsylvania, in the 1890 Eastern Interstate League. The team's roster was composed entirely of African Americans, hired ...

of the

Eastern Interstate League Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 * Eastern Air ...

, which was all-white, except for the Colored Monarchs and one integrated team. That season, Williams won the league batting title with a .386 average and helped York win the league championship. Williams played professional baseball until 1892. He was also hired to manage the Cuban Giants in 1897. In 1905, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' reported that he was still playing baseball, but was also employed as a policeman in Philadelphia's ninth district. In 1906, he organized and managed the Wilmington Giants of the racially integrated

International League of Independent Professional Base Ball Clubs The International League of Independent Professional Base Ball Clubs, also referred to as the International League, was a baseball league composed of a mix of white, Cuban and Negro league baseball teams in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as well as N ...

. Williams, who had been hired as a policeman and assigned to Philadelphia's Eighth and Lombard streets station in 1892, and had taken a brief break in 1905 before returning to his post in 1906, was promoted to detective with the police force in 1909. He was shot and killed during the early afternoon of January 9, 1918 while attempting to apprehend several men who were allegedly involved in a fight in Thomas McGowan's saloon at Sixteenth and South streets in Philadelphia. In its report on the incident, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' described Williams as "the city's only colored detective," adding that he "was noted for his daring," and that he was also "known as the Colored Santa Claus" because he "made a practice, each Christmas, of arranging for food and other gifts for needy colored families."Detective Slain Battling Thugs: George L. Williams, Former Cuban Giants Baseball Player, Is Shot
" Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', January 10, 1918, p. 6 (subscription required).

References

* * *(Riley.

, Personal profiles at Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. – identical to Riley (confirmed 2010-04-16)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, George 1864 births 1918 deaths Baseball infielders Cuban Giants players Cuban X-Giants players New York Gorhams players Baseball players from Pennsylvania