The Kansas City Giants were a professional

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 ...

baseball team, based in

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

. From 1909 to 1911, the Kansas City Giants played as a member of the Western Independent Clubs. The Kansas City Giants played home games at Riverside Park. The Giants were a rival of the

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

based Kansas City Royal Giants.

History

Negro leagues baseball began in Kansas City, Kansas in 1909. Early negro leagues teams weren't formed together into traditional leagues, where teams only play other teams within their league. It was common for teams to " barnstorm" on long road trips against a variety of teams or host games against semi–pro or other local teams, so, statistics and records for teams can vary. The 1909 Kansas City Giants were noted to have played as members of the Western Independent Clubs. Tobe Smith and Felix Payne were co–owners of the team, which evolved from a semi–pro, barnstorming team of the same name, which began play in 1907. When the Giants turned fully professional, Kansas City Giants owner Tobe Smith signed numerous local players who had played for the Jenkins and Sons and a Kansas City Monarchs semi-pro teams. In their first season of "league" play, the 1909 Kansas City Giants were noted to have a record of 12–12 within the Western Independent Clubs, placing 5th among those teams. "Topeka Jack" Johnson was the manager of the Giants. Counting all games in 1909, it was reported the Giants compiled an overall record of 128–19. Beginning on August 25, 1909,

Rube Foster Andrew "Rube" Foster (September 17, 1879 – December 9, 1930) was an American baseball player, manager, and executive in the Negro leagues. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981. Foster, considered by historians to have been per ...

and his

Leland Giants The Leland Giants, originally the Chicago Union Giants, were a Negro league baseball team that competed independently during the first decade of the 20th century. The team was formed via a merge of the Chicago Unions and the Chicago Columbia Gian ...

team played a three–game series at Riverside Park. The Kansas City Journal labeled the series as the "Colored Championship of the United States" with the winning team receiving a $1,000 purse. Leland won the first game 5–0, with Kansas City winning the second game 3–1, as

Bill Lindsay William Hamilton Lindsay (born May 17, 1971) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Quebec Nordiques, Florida Panthers, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, Montreal Canadiens and t ...

struck out 16. In front of 5,000 fans on August 27, 1909, Kansas City won the third game 3–2. Player/manager "Topeka Jack" Johnson was a former professional boxer, known to have been a boxing sparring partner of heavyweight champion Jack Johnson. In the winter of 1909, Johnson helped form the Kansas City Royal Giants negro leagues team in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royal Giants began play in the 1910 season, immediately becoming a local rival of the Kansas City Giants. The Kansas City Giants continued play in 1910. Their record among Western Independent Clubs was reported to have been 6–7 and placed the team 5th. The new manager for the Giants was Jim Norman. The Kansas City Giants were reported to have compiled a 9–5 record against their new rival, the Kansas City Royal Giants. In November 1910, the Giants played two Sunday games against the "

Johnny Kling Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Variant ...

All–Stars." Kling was a Kansas City native.

Zach Wheat Zack or Zach may refer to: People * Zach (surname), various people * Zack (surname), various people * Zack (personal name), lists of people and fictional characters named Zack, Zach, Zac, Zak or Zakk * Záh (gens) or Zách, a ''gens'' (clan) in th ...

and

Casey Stengel Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975) was an American Major League Baseball right fielder and manager, best known as the manager of the championship New York Yankees of the 1950s and later, the expansion New York ...

played for the Johnny Kling team. The first game ended in a 1–1 tie with

Bob Harmon Robert Green Harmon (October 15, 1887 – November 27, 1961) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He played nine seasons in the majors, between 1909 and 1918, for the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an ...

striking out 25 Giants in the game. The teams played again the next week, with the All–Stars winning 6–1 as Harmon struck out 14. In 1910, the Kansas City Giants released three players who attempted to play for the rival Kansas City Royal Giants in a morning game and then travel across the city to play for their own club. The players were said to have played the morning Royal Giants game and then arrived late for the second game and were released by the Giants. In their final season of play, Topeka Jack Johnson, returned to manage the 1911 Kansas City Giants. The Giants placed 2nd with an 18–7 record among Western Independent Clubs. It was reported the Giants did not lose a game until April 26, 1911 and defeated a team from

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowmen ...

from

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in late May. With a winning streak of over 30 games, the Giants compiled a 46–9 record playing against other African American baseball teams in 1911. Beginning on August 27, 1911, the Kansas City Giants and

St. Paul Colored Gophers The St. Paul Colored Gophers was a small club of black baseball players formed in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1907. They were not a formal Negro league baseball, Negro league team, as the commonly referred-to "Negro leagues" were not created until 1 ...

played a four–game series. Kansas City won the first three games at Riverside Park by scores of 8–2, 13–10 and 12–0. The fourth game was played at Stevens Park in Kansas City, Missouri, with the Giants winning 11–0 to sweep the series. The Giants followed with winning four of five games against the Leland Giants at Riverside Park. In early October 1911, the Giants played a three–game series against the Kansas City Blues of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

, with each team winning a game and the final game ending in a tie because of darkness. After the 1911 season, Kansas City Giants player Dee Williams was shot to death in Kansas City. In subsequent seasons the Kansas City Giants continued play, but as a semi–pro barnstorming level team with a depleted roster. The Kansas City Giants were paralleled in Kansas City negro leagues baseball by the Kansas City Royal Giants, who played from 1910 to 1912 in the Western Independent Clubs. In 2016, it was reported that the

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

(SABR) dedicated a new grave marker for "Topeka Jack" Johnson at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Topeka, Kansas.

The ballpark

The Kansas City Giants hosted home games at Riverside Park. The ballpark was located in Kansas City, Kansas and the team was noted to have averaged 1,700 fans for Sunday home games, with other crowds of up to 5,000. The ballpark was said to have had an enclosed grandstand. Riverside park was located at 2nd Ave and Franklin Avenue, near the Missouri River, Kansas City, Kansas. Kansas City Kansas aerial view

Timeline

Year–by–year records

Notable alumni

Bingo DeMoss Elwood "Bingo" DeMoss (September 5, 1889 – January 26, 1965) was a baseball player and manager in the Negro leagues from 1905 to 1943. Early life DeMoss was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1889 and began his playing career in 1905 with the Topeka ...

(1909–1911) * Roy Dorsey (1911) *

Bob Gilkerson Robert Paul Gilkerson (February 10, 1886 – March 21, 1944) was an American Negro league second baseman in the 1900s and 1910s, and later owner of the eponymous Gilkerson's Union Giants club. A native of Newtown, Virginia, Gilkerson played fo ...

(1909) * Arthur Hardy (1911) * Chick Harper (1911) *

Fred Hicks Fred Hicks is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Fred Hicks discovered the ''Fudge'' role-playing game system while online and used it for his games based on Roger Zelazny's ''The Chronicles of Amber''. Hic ...

(1909) * Ashes Jackson (1909–1911) * "Topeka Jack" Johnson (1909, 1911, MGR) *

(1909–1911) * Frog Lindsay (1909–1910) * Jim Norman (1909), (1910, MGR) *

Tullie McAdoo Tullie McAdoo (November 24, 1884 – June 16, 1961) was an American baseball first baseman in the Negro leagues. He played from 1908 to 1924 with several teams, playing mostly with the St. Louis Giants. McAdoo played the first part of the 1910 sea ...

(1909) *

Hurley McNair Hurley Allen McNair (October 28, 1888 - December 2, 1948) was a baseball player in the Negro leagues and the pre-Negro leagues. At the age of 21, he was pitching for the Minneapolis Keystones. He left the Keystones halfway through the 1911 season ...

(1911) *

Eugene Milliner Eugene J. "Gabbie" Milliner (November 27, 1878 – January 15, 1921) was a Negro leagues outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders a ...

(1911) *

Bill Pettus William Thomas Pettus (August 13, 1884 – August 22, 1924) was an American baseball first baseman in the Cuban League and Negro leagues. He played from 1902 to 1921 with several teams. Career Pettus began playing baseball in 1902 for the Albuque ...

(1909) *

Ginney Robinson Robert "Ginney" Robinson (birthdate unknown) was an American baseball catcher and in the pre-Negro leagues. Robinson was on teams lists in Chicago from 1902 to 1908. He then moved to Kansas City to play for the Kansas City Giants from 1909 to 1 ...

(1909–1910) *

William Sloan William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

(1909) *

Andrew Skinner Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...

(1909, 1911) * Tom Stirman (1909) * Walter Taylor (1909) * William Tenny (1909–1911) * Rabbit Wilkins (1909–1910) * Dee Williams (1911)

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Team History
Baseball teams in Kansas Baseball teams established in 1909 Baseball teams disestablished in 1911 Defunct baseball teams in Kansas Professional baseball teams in Kansas Sports in Kansas City, Kansas Negro league baseball teams African-American history of Kansas 1909 establishments in Kansas 1911 disestablishments in Kansas

History

The ballpark

Timeline

Year–by–year records

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links