The New York Gorhams were a

Negro league 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 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 ...

team that played from 1886 to 1892. During their short existence the Gorhams grew to be one of the most successful black professional clubs in the country and challenged the supremacy of 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 ...

Founding

Founded by Ambrose Davis as a barnstorming club that ranged from

Newburgh, New York Newburgh is a city in the U.S. state of New York, within Orange County. With a population of 28,856 as of the 2020 census, it is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area. Located north of New York City, a ...

, to

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river that joins the Delaware R ...

, in 1887 the Gorhams became founding members of the short-lived

National Colored Base Ball League The National Colored Base Ball League, the National Colored League, or the League of Colored Baseball Clubs was the subsequent attempt, after the Southern League of Colored Base Ballists, to have a league consisting of all-black teams. It predated ...

. The Gorhams also spent two brief periods as members of organized minor leagues, playing in the Middle States League of 1889 and representing Norwalk, Connecticut, in the 1891

Connecticut State League The Connecticut League, also known as the Connecticut State League, was a professional baseball association of teams in the state of Connecticut. The league began as offshoot of the original Connecticut State League, which dates back as far as 1884 ...

Big Gorhams

The 1891 Gorhams, managed by

S. K. Govern S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet. S may also refer to: History * an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics * Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where "s ...

, formerly of the Cuban Giants, were often billed as the "Big Gorhams", and featured two future Hall of Famers,

Sol White King Solomon "Sol" White (June 12, 1868 – August 26, 1955) was an American professional baseball infielder, manager and executive, and one of the pioneers of the Negro leagues. An active sportswriter for many years, he wrote the first definit ...

and Frank Grant. White later wrote that he considered the Big Gorhams "without a doubt one of the strongest teams ever gotten together, white or black." White continued: "Their ages ranging from 22 to 32; every man placed where he was strongest, pitchers and catchers strong in field and at bat, every man a student of the game and experienced, they were a hard team for any club to beat." The Big Gorhams "played over one hundred games and lost four", according to White. They also won 39 straight games at one point.

President Harrison

On August 15, 1891, they defeated the Cape May white semipro team at

Cape May, New Jersey Cape May is a city located at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations, and part of ...

, while President

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...

looked on—the only sitting President of the United States to witness an African American professional baseball team play during the era of segregated baseball."Mr. Harrison at a Ball Game," ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', August 16, 1891.

Notable players

Bud Fowler Bud Fowler (March 16, 1858 – February 26, 1913), born "John W. Jackson", was an American baseball player, manager, and club organizer. He is the earliest known African-American player in organized professional baseball. He was elected to the ...

* Frank Grant * Oscar Jackson *

George Stovey George Washington Stovey (May 1866 – March 22, 1936) is widely considered the best African-American baseball pitcher of the 19th century, but discrimination barred him from the majors, forcing him to play for various minor league teams througho ...

* Clarence Williams * George Williams

Notes

References

* * * * {{Negro League teams, Independent Defunct baseball teams in New York (state) Negro league baseball teams Baseball teams established in 1886 Baseball teams disestablished in 1892