The Seattle Steelheads were a Negro league baseball team from

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. Owned by Abe Saperstein, they were also known as the Harlem Globetrotters and Cincinnati Crescents, though occasionally the teams split and played each other.

Founding

Abe Saperstein founded the Harlem Globetrotters baseball team in 1944 to complement his world-famous

basketball team Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

of the same name. Also owned by Saperstein, the Cincinnati Crescents were an All-Star

barnstorming Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in ...

baseball team that played in the mid-1940s. The team was managed by Winfield Welch, and featured players such as Bill Blair, Sherwood Brewer, Luke Easter, Alvin Gipson,

Bill Jefferson William Jennings Jefferson (born March 14, 1947) is an American former politician from Louisiana whose career ended after his corruption scandal and conviction. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 ...

Leaman Johnson Leamon Walter Johnson (August 5, 1916 – death date unknown) was an American baseball shortstop in the Negro leagues. He played from 1941 to 1950 with the Newark Eagles, New York Black Yankees, Birmingham Black Barons, St. Louis Stars, Harlem ...

, and

Johnny Markham John Matthew Markham (October 1, 1908 – March 10, 1975) was an American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. He played from 1930 to 1946 with several teams, including the Kansas City Monarchs and the Birmingham Black Barons The Birmingham B ...

. The Globetrotters and Crescents combined operations and were charter members of the

West Coast Negro Baseball League The West Coast Negro Baseball Association (WCNBA) was one of the several Negro baseball leagues created during the time organized baseball was segregated. The WCNBA was organized as a minor league in 1946 by Abe Saperstein and Jesse Owens as a mea ...

, changing their name to the Seattle Steelheads. The Steelheads played in the

and played their first game on June 1, 1946, against the

San Diego Tigers The San Diego Tigers were a Negro league baseball team in the West Coast Negro Baseball League, based in San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to ...

, in front of 2,500 fans at Sick's Stadium. Its players included

Cannonball Berry Timothy Mike "Cannonball" Berry (August 23, 1911 – May 2, 1992), also nicknamed "Showboat Mike", was an American baseball pitcher in the Negro leagues. Early life Timothy Mike Berry was born on August 23, 1911, in Kansas City, Kansas. Play ...

Nap Gulley Napoleon Gulley (August 29, 1924 – August 21, 1999) was an American Negro league pitcher in the 1940s. Early life Napoleon Gulley was born on August 29, 1924, in Huttig, Arkansas, to parents Roland G. Gulley and Cinderella Fountain. He a ...

Zell Miles Zell Miles (October 6, 1909 - December 18, 1970) was a professional baseball left fielder and pitcher in the Negro leagues. He played with the Chicago American Giants from 1937 to 1940. He also played for the Seattle Steelheads in the West Coast N ...

Rogers Pierre Rogers Joseph Pierre (July 26, 1913 – July 27, 1996) was an American Negro league pitcher between 1939 and 1946. A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Pierre made his Negro leagues debut in 1939 with the Chicago American Giants, and played for t ...

Herb Simpson Herbert Harold Simpson (August 29, 1920 – January 7, 2015) was an American baseball player in the Negro leagues. He played for the Seattle Steelheads in the West Coast Negro Baseball League. He also played for the Birmingham Black Barons and th ...

, and

Fay Washington Lafayette Washington (January 26, 1915 – April 11, 1975) was an American Negro league pitcher in the 1940s. A native of Alma, Arkansas, Washington made his Negro leagues debut in 1940 with the St. Louis–New Orleans Stars. He went on to play ...

. The league folded after a month of play.

Controversy

Catcher and manager Paul Hardy joined the Steelheads while still under contract with the

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" F ...

, causing the Negro American League to ban its teams from playing games in Seattle.

Home fields

Their primary home ballpark was Sick's Stadium. They also planned home games in Tacoma,

Bremerton Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,405 in 2019, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremer ...

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

, and Bellingham.

MLB throwback jerseys

The

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

honored the Steelheads when they wore 1946 Steelheads uniforms on September 9, 1995, at home against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals wore

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 ...

uniforms. The Mariners beat the Royals 6–4 in front of 39,157 fans at the Kingdome. The game was attended by former Steelhead player Sherwood Brewer. The Mariners wore a different variety of the Steelheads uniform on May 16, 2015 on "Turn Back the Clock Night" against the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

Safeco Field T-Mobile Park is a retractable roof stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners and has a seating capacity of 47,929. It is in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood, near the western ...

, and lost to the Red Sox 4–2. On June 19th, 2021, the Mariners again wore the 1946 uniforms as part of

Juneteenth Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Deriving its name from combining "June" and "nineteenth", it is celebrated on the anniversary of General Order No. 3, i ...

References

External links