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Harrisburg Giants

Harrisburg Giants
Information
League
LocationHarrisburg, Pennsylvania
Ballpark
  • West End Grounds (4th & Seneca Street)
  • Island Park at City Island (1922–1927)
Established1906
Disbanded1927

The Harrisburg Giants were a U.S. professional Negro league baseball team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

History

For a list of annual win-loss records, see List of Harrisburg Giants seasons.

Originally formed in April 1890 by Colonel William "C.W." Strothers as an amateur team, they became semi-professional by 1894, and by 1906 were known as one of the East's top teams.[1] They joined the Eastern Colored League (ECL) for the 1924 season with Hall of Fame center fielder Oscar Charleston as playing manager. The Giants became known primarily for their hitting; along with Charleston, outfielder/first baseman Heavy Johnson, winner of the batting triple crown for the 1923 Kansas City Monarchs, was signed away from the rival Negro National League.

In the 1920s, the outfield for the Giants was considered one of the best of all time: Rap Dixon, Oscar Charleston, and Fats Jenkins.[2] The lineup, in its entirety, scored runs at a higher pace than the 1927 New York Yankees. Additionally, they are the only Negro League outfield which remained intact for four years--only nine MLB outfields have met the four-year standard.[2]

Team photograph of the 1906 Harrisburg Giants. Colonel William "C.W." Strothers is in the center.

Harrisburg finished in the middle of the pack in its first season, winning 26 and losing 28 for a fifth-place spot (out of eight teams). In 1925, however, the Giants picked up the pace, challenging defending champion Hilldale before falling just short with a 37-18 record. 1926 saw the Giants add shortstop/third baseman John Beckwith from the Baltimore Black Sox, and finished second again, this time behind the Bacharach Giants.

In 1927, the Harrisburg Giants fell in second place again behind the Bacharach Giants, with a 41-32 record. The club dropped out of the ECL in 1928 and intended to play an independent schedule, whereupon most of its best players signed with other teams leading Strothers to disband the Giants.[3][4][5]

Reincarnates

A new Giants team was formed mid-way through the 1928 season, led by Spottswood Poles, but it was rumored this team did not have "deep enough pockets" as Colonel Strothers did. After Colonel Strothers' death in 1933, there were several other black professional “Giants” teams representing Harrisburg, but baseball slowed as World War II arose in the 1940s.

Following World War II, there weren't any Negro teams in Harrisburg, so the Harrisburg Giants were reincarnated in the 1953 by Richard Felton with Spottswood Poles again managing the team. By the next year this version of the Giants were an inaugural team of the new Eastern Negro League, where they won the title with a 16-6 season. They continued to play on City Island through 1957.[6][7][8]

Players

For a more comprehensive list, see Harrisburg Giants all-time roster.

Hall of Famers

See also

References

  1. ^ "Early Pioneers of the Negro Leagues: Colonel William "C.W." Strothers" (PDF). Center for Negro League Baseball Research. Retrieved 2021-10-13.
  2. ^ a b homeplatedontmove (2014-12-04). "The lowdown on Rap Dixon". The Negro Leagues Up Close. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  3. ^ The Negro Leagues book. Dick Clark, Larry Lester, Society for American Baseball Research. Negro Leagues Committee. Cleveland, Ohio: Society for American Baseball Research. 1994. ISBN 0-910137-55-2. OCLC 32910699.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ Loverro, Thom (2003). The encyclopedia of Negro league baseball. New York, NY: Facts of File. ISBN 0-8160-4431-7. OCLC 51511182.
  5. ^ "Eastern Colored League (1923-1928)" (PDF). Center for Negro League Baseball Research. Retrieved 2021-10-13.
  6. ^ Thurber, Miriam. "Harrisburg Giants Film". www.messiah.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-13.
  7. ^ Gnoza, Al (2018-07-31). "Gnoza Knows It | A look back at the Harrisburg Giants". WHP. Retrieved 2021-10-13.
  8. ^ "Early Pioneers of the Negro Leagues: Colonel William "C.W." Strothers" (PDF). Center for Negro League Baseball Research. Retrieved 2021-10-13.
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