The Lincoln Giants were a

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 based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

from 1911 through 1930.

Founding

The Lincoln Giants can trace their origins back to the Nebraska Indians, of

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 ...

, from the 1890s. According to Sol White's ''History of Colored Base Ball,'' in 1890, the Lincoln Giants were founded as the first colored professional team in the west. In the early 1910s,

Jess McMahon Roderick James "Jess" McMahon Sr. (October 29, 1882 – November 21, 1954) was an American professional wrestling and professional boxing promoter, and the patriarch of the McMahon family. It is not certain if either he or his son Vincent J. ...

, a white promoter, hired

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 ...

, former manager of 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 ...

, to put together a club. White signed eventual Hall of Famers

John Henry Lloyd John Henry Lloyd (April 25, 1884 – March 19, 1964), nicknamed "Pop" and "El Cuchara", was an American baseball shortstop and manager in the Negro leagues. During his 27-year career, he played for many teams and had a .343 batting average. Lloy ...

, the greatest shortstop in Negro league history,

Cyclone Joe Williams Joseph Williams (April 6, 1886 – February 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cyclone Joe" and "Smokey Joe", was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. He is considered one of the greatest pitchers of all-time and was elected to the Nat ...

, perhaps the greatest pitcher, and slugging catcher

Louis Santop Louis Santop Loftin (January 17, 1889 – January 22, 1942) was an American baseball catcher in the Negro leagues. He became "one of the earliest superstars" and "black baseball's first legitimate home-run slugger" (Riley), and was elected to the B ...

, together with pitcher Cannonball Dick Redding, center fielder

Spotswood Poles Spottswood Poles (December 27, 1887 – September 12, 1962) was an American outfielder in baseball's Negro league baseball, Negro leagues. One of the fastest players of his era, Poles was sometimes referred to as "the black Ty Cobb." Career Accor ...

, and catcher/first baseman

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 ...

. Lloyd took over from White as manager midway through the 1911 season. With their powerful lineup, the Lincolns were the dominant team in African-American baseball in 1911, 1912 and 1913, winning the unofficial eastern championship each of those years. In 1913, with second baseman Grant Johnson joining the club, the Lincolns defeated

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 ...

Chicago American Giants The Chicago American Giants were a Chicago-based Negro league baseball team. From 1910 until the mid-1930s, the American Giants were the most dominant team in black baseball. Owned and managed from 1911 to 1926 by player-manager Andrew "Rube" Fo ...

for the national black championship.

Split and new management

In 1914, McMahon lost control of the Lincoln Giants name, and formed a rival team, the

Lincoln Stars The Lincoln Stars are a Tier I junior ice hockey team playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL). The Stars' home ice is the Ice Box on the former Nebraska State Fair grounds and adjacent to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. History ...

, signing away several of the Giants' players. Jim Keenan continued to run the Lincoln Giants. Joe Williams had taken over as manager when Lloyd left for the American Giants after the 1913 season, and Williams would run the club for several years. In 1920, the Lincolns moved from their old home park, Olympic Field (at Fifth Avenue and 136th Street), to the

New York Catholic Protectory A protectory was a Roman Catholic institution for the shelter and training of the young, designed to afford neglected or abandoned children shelter, food, raiment and the rudiments of an education in religion, morals, science and manual training o ...

Oval in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

League play

In 1923, Keenan brought the team into the

Eastern Colored League The Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Clubs, more commonly known as the Eastern Colored League (ECL), was one of the several Negro leagues, which operated during the time organized baseball was segregated. League history Founding The ECL ...

(ECL) for its inaugural season; the formerly dominant club performed unexpectedly poorly, finishing with 16 wins and 22 losses for fifth place (out of six teams). Unceremoniously dumping the 38-year-old Williams (who continued his career into the 1930s, first with 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. ...

, then the

Homestead Grays The Homestead Grays (also known as Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays) were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues in the United States. The team was formed in 1912 in sports, 1912 by Cumb ...

), the Lincolns rebounded to third, winning 31 and losing 25 under new manager Jude Gans. But 1925 saw the team plummet to last place with a dismal 7-39 record. In 1926

Silas Simmons Silas Joseph Simmons (October 14, 1895 – October 29, 2006) was an American semi-professional and professional baseball player for African-American teams in the pre-Negro leagues era, and became the longest-lived major league player in history. ...

pitched for the Lincoln Giants. For the 1927 season Keenan kept the Lincolns out of the ECL, but rejoined in 1928, only to have the league fold by the beginning of June. The Lincolns' signing of

Fats Jenkins Clarence Reginald Jenkins (January 10, 1898 - December 6, 1968), nicknamed "Fats", was an American professional baseball and basketball player from about 1920 to 1940. He played when both professional sports were racially segregated as an African ...

, who had been assigned by the league to the

Baltimore Black Sox The Baltimore Black Sox were a professional Negro league baseball team active between 1913 and 1936, based in Baltimore, Maryland. Founding The Black Sox started as an independent team in 1913 by Howard Young. They were one of the original six ...

, fanned the flames of dissension among the circuit's owners.

Demise

The Lincoln Giants joined the

American Negro League The American Negro League (ANL) was one of several Negro leagues established during the period in the United States in which organized baseball was segregated. The ANL operated on the East Coast of the United States in 1929. History The Easter ...

for its only season in 1929, then put together a powerful independent team for 1930 before succumbing to Depression-era economics.

References

External links

1920 Lincoln Giants Calendar
{{Negro League teams, Majorleague Negro league baseball teams Defunct baseball teams in New York City Baseball teams disestablished in 1930 Baseball teams established in 1911