John W. Patterson (March 2, 1872 – August 23, 1940) 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 t ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

in 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 ...

. He played for major teams from 1893 to 1907.

Career

Patterson debuted with the

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

Giants of 1890, a black team, and played for the Plattsmouth club in the Nebraska State League during the 1892 season, before the

baseball color line The color line, also known as the color barrier, in American baseball excluded players of black African descent from Major League Baseball and its affiliated Minor Leagues until 1947 (with a few notable exceptions in the 19th century before the l ...

was sharply drawn. In 1893 he joined 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 ...

and won a starting position for 1894. He played with the

Page Fence Giants The Page Fence Giants were a professional Black-American baseball team based in Adrian, Michigan, from 1895 to 1898, performing as one of the nation's top teams in the Negro leagues. Named after the Page Woven Wire Fence Company in Adrian, they ...

which eventually became the

Chicago Columbia Giants The Columbia Giants were a professional, black baseball team based in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century, prior to the Negro leagues. Founding In 1899, a group known as the Columbia Club, organized the Columbia Giants under the direction ...

in 1899 where Patterson was a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and

He appeared on teams lists in Chicago from 1899 to 1902,. then played a year for the

Philadelphia Giants The Philadelphia Giants were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1902 to 1911. From 1904 to 1909 they were one of the strongest teams in black baseball, winning five eastern championships in six years. The team was organized by Sol Whi ...

, then moved on to the

Cuban X-Giants The Cuban X-Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team that played from 1896 to 1906. Originally most of the players were former Cuban Giants, or ex-Giants. Like the Cuban Giants, the original players were not Cuban (though the team woul ...

, then the

Brooklyn Royal Giants The Brooklyn Royal Giants were a professional Negro league baseball team based in Brooklyn, New York. Formed in 1905 by John Wilson Connor (1875–1926), owner of the Brooklyn Royal Cafe, the team initially played against white semi-pro teams. ...

. Fellow 1904 teammate Jimmy Smith called Patterson "one of the brainiest and shrewdest leaders of any team of color.""The Past and Present in Baseball"
''Indianapolis Freeman'', Saturday, May 28, 1910, Page 7, Columns 3 and 4 Patterson played as late as 1908 for the

Later life

After his baseball career, John W. Patterson became the first African-American police officer in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1909. He served as an officer for over 30 years, and was a friend of heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson. Patterson ruptured his groin on the job in 1940, which later became infected. He died later that year."Battle Creek's first African-American police officer"
"Battle Creek Enquirer", Friday, September 11, 2015

References

* *(Riley.

Personal profiles at Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. – identical to Riley (confirmed 2010-04-13)

External links

1872 births 1940 deaths Cuban Giants players Columbia Giants players Cuban X-Giants players Brooklyn Royal Giants players Page Fence Giants players Philadelphia Giants players Baseball players from Nebraska Sportspeople from Omaha, Nebraska People from Battle Creek, Michigan Sportspeople from Battle Creek, Michigan 20th-century African-American people Baseball outfielders {{Negro-league-baseball-outfielder-stub