This will be my first summer in nearly a decade that I’ll live within a short distance of Kauffman Stadium. Now instead of trying to schedule trips to KC for Royals games, I look forward to deciding mid-afternoon to take in a game, jumping in the car, and being there in no time.

When living close to the K, one of my favorite things is to check pitching matchups and say “Hey, so-and-so is pitching tonight. We should go to the game.” And actually do it.

Of course another benefit to being close is the occasional chance that someone will offer you a last-minute free ticket. (Take note all you season ticket holders: this doesn’t happen nearly as often as I would like.)

And another benefit of living close is the chance to attend the many promotional events the team hosts. T-Shirt Tuesdays, food and drink specials, giveaways… I’m so glad I can be close for such opportunities.

Futures Game: One of the highlights of last season was the minor league exhibition that was played in Kauffman before the minor league season began. I know that event was held entirely to capitalize on the enthusiasm surrounding the #1 ranking accorded the Royals’ farm system. With so much of that talent now in KC permanently, little such enthusiasm exists. But I still think a pre-season event makes sense. There is a “Futures Game” scheduled for September 14. But what that event will amount to remains to be seen.

Negro League Salute: Thank goodness the Salute to the Negro Leagues will be back this season. I never knew the true reason the event wasn’t held last year, but I guess the Royals realized it is a worthy event because it is back. Seeing the current ballplayers in the throwback uniforms is reason enough to attend. But the Negro Leagues need to be remembered, and Kansas City of all cities should be in the lead of this effort.

All-Star 5K: It appears the Royals 5K charity run will actually be turned into an All-Star Game event this year. On July 8, the run will have an “All-Star” theme and participants will get a medal and T-shirt.

A check of the Royals website gives additional information about some of the events, but not all. I wish some of the events were better explained.

Happy B-Day Slug: Kids might enjoy Sluggerrs Birthday Bash on April 14. But without further explanation, it doesn’t do much for me.

Honoring #42: The Royals offer a Jackie Robinson T-shirt on April 15 – Jackie Robinson day. Robinson is celebrated league-wide, and for good reason. But what the celebration entails isn’t explained. Will the Royals recognize Robinson’s ties to KC? The Dodger great, of course, started his professional career with the KC Monarchs, and also played for a short time with a barnstorming team called, of all things, the Kansas City Royals!

Clothing Giveaways: Judging by the pictures online, one of the best looking items to be given away is the Retro Batting Practice Jersey, available April 21.

I’m not much of a connoisseur of 1960s headwear, so I can’t recommend the giveaway that is part of the Salute to the Kansas City A’s on June 2. But a fan of the history of Kansas City will find that event interesting. The history of that ball club is pretty intriguing.

Celebs?: Another event that needs further explanation is the Celebrity Classic Game. I’m not aware of what such events KC has hosted in the past, but this one better be promoted well when the time comes, or I’ll save my money.

Faith on the Field: Being a parent myself, I always circle the Faith and Family event on my calendar, but then, for one reason or another, we never attend. For those with an interest in religious values, it might be worth attending. Unfortunately I haven’t been there to say if it’s good or not.

Frenchy and Fun Runs: A couple of the regular events are worthy of mention.

Every Thursday this season will be something called Frenchy Quarter Thursday. $21 will get you a t-shirt and Mardi Gras beads and a seat behind Jeff Francoeur in right field.  Judging by the festive atmosphere in the right field box, this will probably be best suited for adults.

If you’ve never done it, you need to try at least one Sunday Fun Run sponsored by Sprint. It’s not just for kids. It’s a chance to set foot on the field. Take a few moments to look up into the stands and try to take it all in from a player’s perspective. It’s pretty impressive.

The product on the field in Kauffman is finally worth the price of admission. But a good promotional event can make going to the ballpark all the more exciting. I hope to take in many games this year, claim some good giveaway items, and enjoy more than ever that we have a team in Kansas City.

It is a subject matter that is ingrained deep inside of the i70baseball history. St. Louis and Kansas City both played important roles in both segregated and desegregated baseball. The history of the Negro Leagues lays deep inside of Kansas City, more than most any city in the nation.

Consistently, the long lasting issue of the National Negro League has been the lack of accurate statistics. There has simply been little way of telling what actually happened.

Among the injustices visited upon the ballplayers of the Negro leagues, the lack of a statistical record of their accomplishments might not leap out as one of the worst; but it has proved one of the most lasting. The Negro National League was founded in 1920; it has taken 91 years to find out for sure that Cristóbal Torriente was the batting champion, that Sam Crawford struck out the most batters, that Dave Brown compiled the best ERA, Pete Hill collected the most walks, and Oscar Charleston garnered the most win shares. – Micheal Lynch, Seamheads.com

As of this morning, the website Seamheads.com has made a major announcement concerning this material, this injustice, and their desire to bring some of the nation’s best players back to the forefront of our minds.

We at Seamheads.com and The Baseball Gauge have an exciting announcement to make regarding a new feature we launched this morning – The Seamheads.com Negro Leagues Database, powered by The Baseball Gauge (http://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/index.php).

We are creating the first comprehensive statistical encyclopedia of the great black baseball teams and leagues that operated behind the color line in the days of Jim Crow segregation. The database also collects a vast amount of biographical information about these players, much of it previously unpublished.

Lynch was complimentary of the people that put in long hours to bring this project to fruition and focused on letting fans know just what they can expect when they delve into the database.

Many thanks and much credit should go to Gary Ashwill, Scott Simkus, Kevin Johnson and Dan Hirsch for putting this together. Gary compiled all the statistics for the seasons we’re starting with and he and Scott have done a fantastic job chronicling the Negro Leagues at their respective websites, “Agate Type” and “Outsider Baseball Bulletin.” In fact, according to my friend and Major League Baseball’s official historian, John Thorn, “Gary Ashwill and Scott Simkus are the class of the field these days.” Kevin has also written extensively about the Negro Leagues and created some fantastic databases in his own right, and Dan is the coding genius who puts it all on the site. Even if you’re a Negro league aficionado, you’ll find something new here, from unknown great teams to unknown good pitchers to unexpectedly bad hitters.

This is the beginning of the project, which will grow by leaps and bounds in the near future.

Here at the beginning of our project, we’re presenting four seasons of pre-Negro league play, 1916 to 1919, and the first three seasons of Rube Foster’sNegro National League, 1920 to 1922. You’ll see the likes of Oscar Charleston and Cristóbal Torriente at their very best, as well as two-way star Bullet Rogan. We’ve also got nine seasons of the Cuban Winter League, from a slightly earlier era (1905 to 1913). Cuban pro ball was racially integrated, and featured some of the very best African American ballplayers of the time, like Cyclone Joe Williams, John Henry Lloyd, and Pete Hill. So these numbers give us a rare glimpse of these players in their prime.

We are in the act of putting this encyclopedia together; it’s very much a work in progress, which we’ll be adding to little by little, game by game, season by season. Along with additional seasons Gary has nearly ready – the database will soon be expanded to include Major League and Negro League exhibition series from 1904 through 1915 and pre-Negro Leagues data from 1908 through 1915 – other researchers will be chiming in with their work soon as well. So check back frequently as we post new years and new information. Watch the all-time leader boards change and Hall of Famers’ careers gradually take shape in a way nobody has seen before.

As a special thank you to the loyal readers of Seamheads and to sites like i70baseball for helping to spread the word, Lynch including this free copy of Outsider Baseball Bulletin for our readers.

Bill Ivie hosts Gateway To Baseball Heaven every Sunday night at 930 p.m. Central Time on the Seamheads National Podcast Network.

When the historic meeting to form the Negro National League took place in Kansas City in February, 1920, seven owners of teams collaborated with sportswriters, legal advisers and other influential community leaders. What they created was the premier league in which blacks would showcase their talents, generate economic opportunity, and eventually earn entrance to the segregated major leagues. At that meeting, every face in the group was black. Except for one.

Of course Negro league player and owner Andrew “Rube” Foster deserves much of the credit for bringing the parties together and rallying support with the power of his personality. Foster touted unity and sacrifice amongst the competing owners and insisted upon excellence both on and off the field. For his role in pre-integration baseball, Foster was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.

But the one white man in the room that day, J.L. “Wilkie” Wilkinson, probably ranks second in influence for the formation and success of the Negro National League. The lone white owner in the league, Wilkinson was not just accepted into the ring. He commanded such respect from his black peers, in fact, that he was voted secretary of the league at its inception. Wilkinson was accorded such a position because he was known not just as a proponent of great baseball, but of the betterment of life for blacks.

And it was Wilkinson who founded and shepherded the legendary Kansas City Monarchs. Buck O’Neil, Satchel Paige, “Cool Papa” Bell… all the greats associated with the Monarchs owe a debt of gratitude to Wilkinson.

Understandably, most who dreamed of creating a Negro league to rival the “white leagues” of the time desired that 100% of league teams be owned by blacks. To preserve unity, promote prosperity of black business owners, and generate pride in the black community, white owners were not to be considered. But Wilkinson would be the exception.

Wilkinson had earned the respect and trust of whites and blacks from day one. As a young pitcher in Des Moines, IA, he was voted by his peers to manage a team that was left in the lurch by a dishonest manager. His desire for racial harmony led him to form the barnstorming All Nations team in 1912, which featured blacks, whites, Cubans, Native Americans, Mexicans, Asians, and even a female player.

The All Nations organization was more than just baseball, it was entertainment. When they rolled into town, often in their own private railroad car, they brought with them an orchestra and a wrestling team, tents, bleachers and fences. The players did everything from setting up, selling tickets and playing the instruments. This team was not just a novelty however – it produced several stars of the soon-to-be-created Negro National League and was purportedly capable of challenging major league teams of the era.

The All Nations moved in Kansas City in 1915 to access the larger black population and transportation center. World War I caused the All Nations, and many other organizations, to disband, and in 1920 Wilkinson was ready to own a new team when the Negro National League came calling.

Foster tried to pull the league together without Wilkinson, but no leader of suitable clout existed in Kansas City, which was viewed as a critical location for the league. A well-entrenched business leader and baseball man, Wilkinson brought instant credibility to his new team, the Kansas City Monarchs, which he pulled together from members of the defunct All Nations team and an army team from Arizona known as the 25^th Infantry Wreckers.

“Wilkie gets credit for being the outstanding baseball promoter in the country and a believer in winning teams,” wrote Fay Young, a sportswriter for the Chicago Defender.

Although some disliked that the white owner was earning a profit off the work of black teams, his own players didn’t seem to mind. While management of Negro league teams was often cut-throat and chaotic, Wilkinson modeled generosity. He once mortgaged his home to make the payroll of his team and was known for loaning money or advancing the salary of players during the off-season. The civic-minded owner scheduled numerous benefit events for organizations such as the Negro National Business League, the Red Cross, the NAACP, the Salvation Army, and a host of churches, hospitals and youth organizations.

Wilkinson astutely empowered black assistants to assume key leadership roles and to represent the franchise in public. He remained in the background while Dr. Howard Smith, superintendent of a Kansas City hospital, and the team’s secretary, Quincy J. Gilmore, took more visible roles.
The Monarchs quickly became a model franchise and the pride of Kansas City’s black community. Wilkinson did his best to make sure the team was professional and respectable. Eager to portray a gentlemanly image, Wilkinson bought each new player from small towns and rural areas a new suit of clothes.

Wilkinson was one of the best at developing potential players at semi-pro “farm clubs.” He revived his All Nations team to season promising youngsters, and he traveled with the Monarchs on barnstorming trips to watch for unsigned players. He spotted O’Neil while playing exhibition matches against a team called Winfield Welch’s Acme Giants of Shreveport, LA.

Everyone in Kansas City wanted to be a Monarch, and Wilkinson held open tryouts. The Monarchs also encouraged many of the semi-pro and community teams in Kansas City as a means not only to feed players to the Monarchs, but also to build pride amongst the black community and to give opportunity to aspiring ballplayers. Often barnstorming teams were sent out under the name “Monarchs” with several of these aspiring players as an opportunity for them to gain experience and to showcase their abilities. Wilkinson also trusted his players to recommend prospects they had met in their travels. He signed Jackie Robinson on the recommendation of one of his star players, Hilton Smith.

The Monarchs were not just one of the teams in the Negro National League. In many ways, they symbolize the game as it was played by blacks before integration. Because the league was formed in the city, and because the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is now located there, Kansas City proudly bears the memory of Negro League baseball.

Truly the team for which everyone wanted to play, the Monarchs fielded some of the greatest players in the Negro league era. Seven current Hall of Famers elected as Negro leaguers – Bell, Bill Foster, Paige, Bullet Joe Rogan, Smith, Turkey Stearnes and Willie Wells — played for Wilkinson’s Monarchs, as did Robinson and Ernie Banks who were voted in for their play in the integrated major leagues.

Wilkinson never got rich running the Monarchs, and finally sold the team in 1948, at age 74. He had little to show for his 50 years in baseball and died at age 90. But a 1986 Baseball Hall of Fame panel assigned to recognize key contributors to the Negro leagues made Wilkinson one of 17 special inductees. Thus Wilkinson will never be forgotten – the lone white man who helped create the Negro National League and piloted its most successful team, the Kansas City Monarchs.

Much of the information for this article was taken from Janet Bruce’s 1985 book The Kansas City Monarchs: Champions of Black Baseball. I would strongly recommend this book to any KC sports fan.

The following article, Living Legend, by Todd Fertig, was first printed in the Kansas State Collegian on Jan. 25, 1991. The subject of this article, Negro League star George Giles, passed away on March 3, 1992. You can read the precursor to this article by clicking here.

Take a lesson on life from someone who knows. Forgive and forget. Don’t worry about things you have no control over. Enjoy life, rather than trying to interpret it.

It’s this kind of outlook that allows George Giles to laugh when he looks back on his 81 years. Scripture passages and adages about life, with an occasional “That ain’t no kinda thing” reaction, are Giles’ primary means of expression.

Giles’ gruff voice is nearly drowned by the constant banter of the card game at the only other table in the small tavern Giles operates.

“They are my regulars,” Giles said. “You treat other people right,” and they’ll treat you right.

“I didn’t even raise the price of beer when everyone else in town did,” he recalled with a smile.

Giles, like his tavern on the south side of Manhattan, is old, typical, one might almost say forgettable. But as one of Giles’ many quotations goes, “You don’t know me until you’ve walked a mile in my moccasins.”

Along one wall of the tavern are the reminders of where Giles has walked. They are the memoirs from 14 years of his life, which he says people today can not begin to imagine.

Giles is just one of a handful of men still living who played baseball in the Negro Leagues before blacks were allowed to play in the major leagues in 1947. From 1925 to 1939, beginning at the age of 15, Giles was a star first baseman in the Negro Leagues.

Giles has seen the best in baseball. He has seen the world. He has seen success. But most of all, he has seen hard living, and he has seen discrimination.

While the Babe Ruths and Dizzy Deans of his day became celebrities, the stars of the Negro Leagues lived the lives of barnstormers, playing in large stadiums one night and in cow pastures the next.

They made a meager living and traveled hard roads, but Giles said he treasures those memories and feels no bitterness over the discrimination.

“We never thought nothing of it,” Giles said. “That’s just the way it was then. Why go worryin’ about something you got no control over. You’d go crazy tryin’ to figure it out, so we just didn’t think nothing of it.”

Rather than feeling mistreated, Giles said he is thankful for the opportunities he received, and the lessons from baseball.

“If I’d had a different life, I might feel different, but there’s no use in cryin’ over spilled milk,” Giles said. “These guys play today for the money and the publicity, but in those days we played because we loved the game. You had to love it to put up with it all. But it was a better life than working out here on construction. It kept the home fires burning.”

Giles was raised in Manhattan by his grandmother and began playing baseball against grown men at a young age. By the age of 14, Giles was so talented he earned a spot with the Kansas City Monarchs in an amateur tryout.

It took the persuading of a white boyhood friend, Evan Griffith, to convince Giles’ grandmother to allow him to travel to Kansas City for the tryout.

“If it weren’t for Evan Griffith, I might never have gotten where I did. You know he must’ve done some talking, because I hadn’t ever been out of Manhattan,” Giles recalled with a laugh. “I took my own uniform and they thought I was pretty funny. I guess I looked like a hick or something.”

Giles’ knowledge of the game amounted to what he terms “country baseball,” but he impressed the Monarchs enough that they signed him on his 15^th birthday to a contract worth $140 a month.

(note: Giles actually played for the Kansas City Royal Giants and Gilkerson’s Union Giants, teams not in the Negro National League, until he turned 18)

Giles attained as much stardom as the Negro Leagues would offer while playing for several teams in the league and barnstorming throughout the country and Central America.

He helped the St. Louis Stars win league championships in 1930 and 1931, and served as player/manager of the Brooklyn Eagles in 1935.

Not until the 1970s had the accomplishments of Negro League stars begun to be recognized by the major leagues and the Baseball Hall of Fame. A recent push for more Negro Leaguers to be inducted into the Hall of Fame may help Giles gain the same honor given to such legends of the league as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and “Cool Papa,” Bell.

“They tell me I’ll make it, but we’ll just have to see how they vote,” Giles said. “In New York they used to call me the black Bill Terry (after the Hall-of-Fame first baseman of the New York Giants in the 1930s). I never could figure out why they didn’t call him the white George Giles.”

The Negro Leagues provided a decent living for Giles’ family in Manhattan and the opportunity to play the game he loved. But finally, in 1939, Giles tired of the travel and conditions of the league. While barnstorming with a team of white all-stars in Nebraska, Giles decided to retire.

“We were playing Dizzy Dean’s All-Stars in Holdrege, Nebraska,” Giles said. “They stayed in the best hotel in town and we had to stay in another town a ways away. They didn’t have showers and we had to change in the jailhouse in town. I said ‘I don’t need this bullshit.’ I made up my mind then to quit.”

“People didn’t understand why I was quitting, but they didn’t know anything about what it was like,” Giles said. “You couldn’t stay in hotels or shop in stores. Playing every day and traveling on buses. You get tired of that kind of life. You just got to try something else.”

Giles and the other remaining stars from the Negro League have recently been the attraction of autograph and publicity sessions to draw more attention to the league. Giles said he is pleased that the league is finally receiving some respect and believes it is important that more by done.

“We’re the only ones left to tell about it,” Giles said. “You’ve got to experience something to know what it’s like and we’re the only ones left. These were great players, but nobody knows about them.

“When people realize what you used to be, they recognize you as different, and that makes you feel good. But I don’t think nothing of it,” Giles said. “That was a long time ago and there’s a lot more important things in life.”

We could all learn a lot from someone like George Giles.

Kansas City and St. Louis’ baseball paths crossed long before the Royals and Cardinals met for the first time. Both cities were home to storied Negro leagues franchises and some of the greatest players in the Negro leagues’ rich history. In 1920, the first successful Negro league was organized at a meeting in Kansas City. Soon after, the Monarchs of Kansas City and Giants of St. Louis opened the season against each other in St. Louis. Later in the year, Bullet Rogan, perhaps the greatest all-around player in baseball history, would make his Negro leagues debut in a Monarchs vs. Giants match. What follows are some of the highlights between the two Missouri clubs in the watershed year of 1920.

February 14—15, Kansas City

Rube Foster, a pre-league black star and kingpin of black ball in Chicago, organized a meeting in Kansas City that brought together some of the leading owners in black baseball, including Charlie Mills of St. Louis and J.L. Wilkinson of Kansas City. An agreement was hammered out that formed the basis for the Negro National League, to begin play in a few short months. Mills’ Giants were an established team that had been playing independently since 1909. Wilkinson scrambled to create the Monarchs in time for the season.

April

The April 17 Chicago Defender had these team previews:

“The St. Louis Giants are busy with preparations for what looks to be the greatest season in the history of their career. The (Giants Park) stands and general seating capacity has been increased more than a thousand over last year’s accommodations and the reservations for boxes are turning in at a good rate of speed. Mills has given the St. Louisans an unusually good-looking team, and under the able tutelage of Dick Wallace are expected to more than hold their own with the best that exist. Hill, (Charles) Scott and (Charlie) Blackwell are a trio of outfielders that are not surpassed by any on the circuit. The infield, with (Tully) McAdoo at first and (Charles) Brooks, with the recruits, presents a formidable front. Pitcher Luther (Farrell) is bound to shine, as he electrified the East last season. (Bill) Drake, (Jimmy) Oldham and (John) Finner are a bunch of speed artists that will show well in any kind of going, while the catching staff, with (W.) Cobb and (Dan) Kennard, looks good to hold with any that may be trotted out.”

“The Kansas City Monarchs are fast rounding into form, and with John Donaldson, (Jose) Mendez, (Hurley) McNair and a huge collection of diamond stars at the training scene, Wilkinson insists that he is going to have the best team in the new organization. All the clubs hit toward K.C. right off the reel, so the far western mag is not going to be caught napping; he has a wealth of material to select from, and from the names gleaned from the roster of the club, the Monarchs will make a runaway race of the affair unless suddenly stopped by some of the travelers.”

May 9—10, St. Louis

The St. Louis Argus said the season opener “will mark a new era in the history of baseball, the national pastime, so far as Colored people are concerned…After years of promiscuous games by athletes of the race, the sport has at last taken tangible and definite form.” The Monarchs and Giants opened the season at Giants Park on Sunday May 9^th. Excited baseball fans turned out in droves, setting quite a scene at the park:

“…hillsides, housetops adjacent to the enclosure, trees and motor truck tops upon the outside were ushered into service…The walls that enclose the baseball arena were choked and clogged to the point where the crowd had to be turned upon the field, making ground rules necessary. The throng completely encircled the playing field, so there remained no more than ten feet of space for the outfield to romp over, and the first and third base lines were fairly teeming with masses of excited humanity…” (May 15 Chicago Defender).

The hurlers selected to open the season were Bill Drake for St. Louis and Sam Crawford for KC. Both were veterans of pre-league black ball, Drake mostly with the Giants and Crawford with a long list of teams. Dave Wyatt reported on the game for the Chicago Defender with incredible style: “…the two teams appeared about evenly matched in hitting strength, fielding and general field experience. As it was, the show developed into a contest of skill between the two pitchers…in the second inning…Center Fielder Blackwell of the home team stung one ticketed for the circuit. Donaldson, playing the center garden for the Monarchs, tore out for the fast fleeting sphere and with apparently no chance for a catch, he stuck out one hand, thereby instituting a severe localized pain when the pellet clung to his glove for a put-out.”

A scoreless deadlock was broken in the sixth when the Monarchs managed to plate a run thanks to back-to-back doubles from Blue Washington and Donaldson. (Washington’s son Kenny would later star in football at UCLA alongside Jackie Robinson.) The Monarchs added a second run in the seventh. The Giants were threatening in the eighth, prompting Monarchs manager Jose Mendez to lift Crawford in favor of Rube Currie. One run scored for St. Louis, and the score remained 2-1 in KC’s favor with the Giants up in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs, Cobb singled and stole second. Currie beaned the next Giants batter, “and the crowd broke loose and swarmed upon the field. After order was restored Currie relieved the throng of much of their steam when he fanned Hill, ending the game” (Defender). The Giants evened the score the next day with a 6-5 victory.

June 12—16, Kansas City

The two teams next met at Kansas City’s American Association Park for a five game series. Baseball historian Gary Ashwill reports these scores:

Wilber "Bullet" Rogan

12^th: KC 12, StL 2
13^th: StL 4, KC 3
14^th: KC 7, StL 5
15^th: StL 14, KC 9
16^th: KC 7, StL 4

July 3—4, St. Louis

The Missourians hooked up for the two final matches in the season series over the July 4^th holiday. The July 3^rd game holds import for being Wilber “Bullet” Rogan’s Negro leagues debut. Rogan had recently been released from the Army, and quickly transitioned from playing great ball for the 25^th Infantry team to playing great ball for the Monarchs. Rogan had the rare combination of elite pitching and hitting skill. Imagine if Babe Ruth had continued to pitch at a high level every fourth day after going to the Yankees, manned the outfield on days he wasn’t pitching and still slugged at a record rate, and you’ll have an idea of the kind of player Bullet Rogan was. Rogan did not pitch in either of the games in St. Louis, instead handling outfield duties. On the 3^rd, the Monarchs touched Bill Drake for 14 hits (two by Rogan) and two walks, but could only manage five runs (one by Rogan) which were not enough to overcome the Giants seven run attack.

The season series was split four-to-four before the final game on the 4^th, in which the Giants clung to a 1-0 lead in the eighth inning. The Monarchs broke through with three hits and, aided by three Giants errors and a wild pitch in the frame, four runs. They hung on to prevail 4-2. The teams traded victories and losses in each of the nine games during the season.

According to The Complete Book of Baseball’s Negro Leagues, the Monarchs finished the season 45-33, the Giants 22-26. The Giants changed ownership and were renamed the Stars beginning with the 1922 season. The teams continued battling it out in the Negro National League through 1931, after which the Depression spelled the demise of the original Giants/Stars.

Thanks to Gary Ashwill and Dwayne Isgrig for assistance with this article.