The Indianapolis ABCs, later briefly the Detroit Stars, were a major
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 that played in three different leagues in each of its three seasons in existence from 1931 through 1933.
Indianapolis ABCs
Five years after the demise of the original
Indianapolis ABCs
The Indianapolis ABCs were a Negro league baseball team that played both as an independent club and as a charter member of the first Negro National League (NNL). They claimed the western championship of black baseball in 1915 and 1916, and fini ...
,
Candy Jim Taylor
James Allen "Candy Jim" Taylor (February 1, 1884April 3, 1948) was an American third baseman and manager in Negro league baseball. In a career that spanned forty years, he played as an infielder in the early years of the 20th century for over a ...
brought Negro league baseball back to Indianapolis and organized a new franchise called the ABCs. They played in the
original Negro National League's final season in 1931, when the league collapsed. They then joined the
Negro Southern League for 1932. In 1933, Taylor brought the ABCs into
Gus Greenlee
William Augustus Greenlee (December 26, 1893 – July 7, 1952) was a highly successful businessman in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who was born and raised in Marion, North Carolina. After migrating to Pittsburgh as a young man and working in the ...
's
new Negro National League for its inaugural season. However, the
Cole's American Giants moved their 1933 home games to Indianapolis (and to the ABCs home field) due to a lease dispute with their
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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ballpark. Low attendance led Taylor to move the club to Detroit shortly after opening day.
Detroit Stars
In April 1933, shortly after opening day, the team shifted to
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
and were renamed the Stars, the name of a
former team in that city. The team lasted for the rest of the season before disbanding.
References
External links
Franchise history at Seamheads.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indianapolis ABCs (1931-1933)
Negro league baseball teams
Sports in Indianapolis
Baseball teams in Detroit
Defunct baseball teams in Indiana
Baseball teams disestablished in 1933
Baseball teams established in 1931