Leland Giants

Negro league baseball team (1901–1910)

Chicago Leland Giants

Information
League|

* Chicago City League (1900–1910)
* Independent (1901–1909)

Location| Chicago, Illinois
Established| 1901
Disbanded| 1910
Nickname(s)|

* Formed via the merger of Chicago Unions and Chicago Columbia Giants 1901
* Split in 1910 to form Chicago Giants and Leland Giants (II)

League titles| 1909, 1910
1905 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 Giants in 1901, and then split in 1910 to form the Chicago Giants and what would become known as the Chicago American Giants. The team was named after its owner and manager, Frank Leland.

## History

[edit]

In a 1910 article, former shortstop Jimmy Smith described the 1905 season by saying the team "made a great record of 43 straight wins" between May 19 and July 16, 1905, when they were finally beat by the Spalding team on their home grounds in Chicago.[1]

Bruce Petway took over catching duties in 1906 and the talent improved dramatically in 1907 as Rube Foster (HOF), Pete Hill (HOF), "Big Bill" Gatewood, "Mike" Moore and four other players came from East Coast teams. The 1907 team compiled a 110–10 record, including 48 straight wins.

The Giants went 64–21 against semipro teams in 1908 and tied a cross-region match-up with the Philadelphia Giants at three games apiece. The team was managed by Foster in 1909 and was just 8–10 against other top black teams.

The team faced off against the Chicago Cubs in a mid-October series. Johnny Evers and Frank Chance sat out. In game one the Cubs' Three-Finger Brown beat Walter Ball 4–1. The Leland Giants were leading 5–2 in the bottom of the ninth the next day as Foster faced Ed Reulbach, but Rube allowed four runs in that frame to fall on a controversial final play at the plate. In game three, Brown beat Charles Dougherty 1–0. The Leland Giants had lost two one-run decisions and another fairly close game against a team that had won 104 games in the National League, showing they could compete with the top white teams in the country.

1910 Leland Giants 1919 Chicago American Giants

In 1910, Foster and Leland split and Foster won the rights to the Leland Giants name;[2] Leland's new team was called the Chicago Giants. The Leland Giants went 11–0 against top black teams that year and said they went 123–6 overall. The club was the most talented to date, as Home Run Johnson and Pop Lloyd (HOF) joined to play the middle infield, Petway, Hill and Foster returned and Frank Wickware joined the staff.

After the season, the team traveled to Cuba for the winter, playing the island's top teams. Cuban teams signed Lloyd, Hill, Johnson and Petway to play with them against the touring Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics. Black players gained recognition in the Detroit series by outhitting Ty Cobb and Sam Crawford.

In 1911, the club was renamed the Chicago American Giants and moved to Schorling's Park. Prior to 1911, the club had played in various small local venues, primarily the first "Schorling's Park", a.k.a. "Auburn Park", at 79th Street and Wentworth Avenue in the Auburn Park neighborhood of Chicago's south side.

### Franchise continuum

[edit]

The Chicago Unions and the Chicago Columbia Giants merged for the 1901 season creating the Chicago Union Giants, who later changed their name to the Leland Giants. The Leland Giants then split into two teams for the 1910 season creating the Chicago Giants and the new Leland Giants, who later changed their name to the Chicago American Giants.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "The Past and Present in Baseball" Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, Indiana, Saturday, May 28, 1910, Page 7, Columns 3 and 4
2. ^ "Frank C. Leland Enjoined From Using the Name Leland Giants" Chicago Broad Ax, Chicago, IL, Page 2, Column 2

* This article includes information from the article of the same name in the Baseball Reference Bullpen, accessed December 5, 2006. It is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
* Holway, John B. (2001). The Complete Book of Baseball's Negro Leagues: The Other Half of Baseball History. Fern Park, FL: Hastings House Publishers. ISBN 0-8038-2007-0.
* Riley, James A. (1994). The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues. Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-0959-6.

## External links

[edit]

* Negro League Baseball Players Association
* 1910 season

* v
* t
* e

Major independent Negro league teams

Pre-1920 teams|

* Algona Brownies
* All Cubans
* All Nations
* Austin Black Senators
* Birmingham Giants
* Chicago Columbia Giants
* Chicago Unions
* Chicago Union Giants/Leland Giants
* Cuban Giants
* Cuban X-Giants
* French Lick Plutos
* New York Lincoln Stars
* Louisville White Sox
* Minneapolis Keystones
* New York Gorhams
* Oklahoma Monarchs
* Page Fence Giants
* Philadelphia Giants
* Philadelphia Pythians
* San Antonio Black Bronchos
* Schenectady Mohawk Giants
* St. Paul Colored Gophers
* West Baden Sprudels

Post-1920 teams|

* Bismarck Churchills
* Boston Royal Giants
* Brooklyn Bushwicks
* Pollock's Cuban Stars
* Ethiopian Clowns
* Gilkerson's Union Giants
* Illinois Giants
* Jamestown Red Sox
* Mineola Black Spiders
* Mobile Black Bears
* Philadelphia Tigers
* St. Louis Giants (1924)
* Zulu Cannibal Giants

* Formal leagues began to organize in 1920

* v
* t
* e

Negro league baseball

Players|

* List of players
* A–D
* E–L
* M–R
* S–Z
* First black players in MLB
* Negro leaguers who played in MLB

Post-season|

* List of Negro league baseball postseason games
* List of league champions
* Negro World Series

International competitions|

* American Series
* Serie Monumental

Teams|

* List of teams by state
* major league teams
* minor league teams
* Timeline of teams

Leagues|

| Major leagues|

* Negro National League (I)
* Eastern Colored League
* American Negro League
* East–West League
* Negro Southern League (I)
* Negro National League (II)
* Negro American League

|

Proto-leagues|

* Southern League of Colored Base Ballists (1886)
* National Colored Base Ball League (1887)
* International League of Independent Professional Base Ball Clubs (1906)
* National Association of Colored Baseball Clubs of the United States and Cuba (1907–1909)

Minor leagues|

* Negro Southern League (1920–1936)
* Texas Colored League (1919–1931)
* Negro American Association (1939)
* Negro Major League (1942)
* United States League (1945–1946)

Post-integration|

* Negro Southern League (1945–1951)
* West Coast Negro Baseball Association (1946)
* Negro American Association (1948–1949)
* Negro American League (1951–1960)

Related|

* No-hitters
* East–West All-Star Game
* Color line
* Museum

* Category

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