The Jacksonville Red Caps were a Negro league baseball team based primarily in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. They played 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 :''Ann ...

from 1938 until 1942.

History

The team was based in

playing at Durkee Field in 1938. They moved to

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

in 1939 and became the Cleveland Bears, playing their home games at Hardware Field. They returned to Jacksonville as the Red Caps in 1941 for two seasons, dropping out of the NAL in July 1942. After the war, the Red Caps apparently continued as an unaffiliated Negro league team playing at Durkee Field.

League play

The Red Caps only played seven league games their first season, finishing 3-4. After transferring to Cleveland in 1939, the Bears (according to Negro leagues historian John Holway) had the best overall record in the NAL but were not awarded the pennant, finishing with a 22-4 record in league play. 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 ...

finished with more victories, going 25-13, and, as per the tradition of the time, were thereby declared league champions. Later research shows the Bears with a 20-21 record in 1939, third in the NAL.Seamheads.com, ''1939 NAL standings'', https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/year.php?yearID=1939&lgID=NAL&tab=standings The Bears fell hard in 1940, finishing last in the league with a 6-16 record. Returning to Jacksonville, the Red Caps finished second from last with an 8-10 record in league play. They fared no better in 1942 season, going 2-6 before dropping from the league in July.

MLB throwback jerseys

On June 28, 2008, in Pittsburgh, the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home v ...

and Pittsburgh Pirates honored the Negro leagues by wearing uniforms of the Jacksonville Red Caps and 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 ...

, respectively, in an

interleague Interleague play in Major League Baseball refers to regular-season baseball games played between an American League (AL) team and a National League (NL) team. Interleague play was first introduced during the 1997 Major League Baseball season. Pri ...

game. The Pirates won the game, 4-3 in 13 innings.

References

Negro league baseball teams Baseball in Jacksonville, Florida 1938 establishments in Florida 1942 disestablishments in Florida Baseball teams established in 1938 Baseball teams disestablished in 1942 Defunct baseball teams in Florida {{Negro-league-baseball-team-stub