Grand Rapids Colored Athletics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Ramona Athletic Park
- Island Park
- Bigelow Field
- Valley Field Park
- Beverly Park
| Grand Rapids Colored Athletics | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| League | Grand Rapids City League |
| Location | Grand Rapids, Michigan |
| Ballpark |
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| Established | 1900 |
| Disbanded | 1958
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| Nicknames |
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The Grand Rapids Colored Athletics or Jess Elster's Colored Athletics was an African American semi-pro baseball team founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The aggregation played competitive league games in the city and barnstormed throughout the western part of Lower Michigan in the first half of the twentieth century. Several players on the team went on to play in the professional Negro Leagues. The team is also notable for the impact that its members had on the Grand Rapids African American community.
The Grand Rapids Colored Athletics was established in 1900 by William Mabin.[1] The formation of the Colored Athletics followed the success of another Michigan African American baseball team, the Paige Fence Giants. The Giants dissolved in 1898, but the success they had on the field created a blueprint for black teams that followed.[2] The Grand Rapids team was originally called the Colored Invincibles.[3] In 1905 the name was changed to the Colored Superior Athletics.[4] The following year the squad was reorganized. Ira Lewis, from Hot Springs, Arkansas, was named manager and several new ball players were placed on the rooster.[5] The reorganized ball team was known, in the Grand Rapids newspapers, simply as the Colored Athletics.[5] In 1905, a young Kentuckian with little knowledge of baseball joined the Colored Invincibles.[4] Although the twenty-two year old, Jesse Elster, was new to baseball, he became the Colored Athletics manager after only a few years of playing for the team. In 1922, Elster retired from playing full-time, but he would remain the team's manager till his death in 1950.[6]
The team functioned as most semipro teams in Grand Rapids in the early 1900s. The team manager would request games and provide information about games to be played in the local newspaper.[7][3] The team found early success, winning the Grand Rapids City League Pennant in 1908.[8] Acknowledgment of the team's high caliber of performance did not occur till the 1917 season.[9] During that year, the Athletics played their regular weekend game at Ramona Athletic Park. Behind the pitching of Clearance Mabin and the slugging of the catcher Walter Coe, they finished the season with 22 wins and 3 losses.[10][11] From the late 1910s till the end of the 1920s, the Colored Athletics were a prominent fixture in the Grand Rapids baseball community. One of the most talked-about non-state championship games of the 1920s was the clash between the Colored Athletics and the Kelly Ice Creams.[12] The Kellys had won the state championship that year, but the Athletics, who finished second in the championship were angered that, due to drawing a by week, the Kellys played one less game. For the game against the Colored Athletics, the Kellys used pitcher Walter "Lefty" Anderson.[13] Anderson had played five years in the minor leagues and two years in Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics.[14][15] The Kellys baseball club also featured Ted Olsee, Joe Grodick, Johnny Mate, and Louis Corsiglia. All four played professional minor league baseball in the Central League.[12] The Colored Athletics fielded three players who had professional Negro League experience as well: Elbert Norman, Jack Matthews, and Nat Rogers.[16] The Grand Rapids Herald lauded Rogers' hitting ability. The paper stated that, "but for the color line being drawn in organized baseball, he might be playing in the majors."[13] Although the game was close, the Colored Athletics lost. Rogers led both teams with two hits, but the final score was 2-0.[13] The success of the Colored Athletics in the 1920s led to the formation of the Fox Jewelry Colored Giants baseball team in 1928.[17] Several of the Athletics' star players joined the Giants due to the team's higher pay. This, combined with the start of the Great Depression, led the Athletics to disband in 1930.
During, the early 1930s Grand Rapids had several African American semipro baseball teams. The Fineis Oil Giants, the Dixie Gas Giants, the Pere Marquette Giants, and the Chicky Bar Giants all played in the Grand Rapids area from 1931 to 1937.[18][19][20] None of the teams, though, lasted for more than couple of years before disbanding. In 1938, with a lack an African American baseball teams in Grand Rapids, Elster reorganized the Colored Athletics.[21] Throughout the 1940s, Elster and the Colored Athletics continued to play across western Michigan. Several communities celebrated "Jess Elster Day" when the Colored Athletics were in town, and in the mid-1940s the two Grand Rapids newspapers began to refer to Elster as "Grand Rapids' Mr. Baseball."[22][23] The team's last winning season with Elster as their skipper came in 1946. During the that season, the Athletics had 38 wins and 21 losses.[24] They were also runners up to the Michigan Semipro Championship. They were beaten that year by the St. Joseph Autos.[25] The Autos team featured four former major league players: Roy Henshaw, Al Piechota, Ernie Rudolph, and Benny McCoy.[26][25] Interest in the Athletics began to wane as newer baseball teams emerged in the second half of the 1940s. The Grand Rapids Chicks of the All-American Professional Girls Baseball League, the Grand Rapids Jets, a minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, and the newly formed Grand Rapids Black Sox all drew spectators and fans away from the fifty year old club.[1]
At the end of the 1950 season, Jess Elster, the long-time manager of the Colored Athletics died.[6] The team, though, continued to play into the late 1950s. In 1955, the Colored Athletics played several games against the newly formed Sullivan Furniture Baseball Club. The Sullivans would go on to win four National Baseball Congress semipro championships over the next three decades. Future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher and Grand Rapids native, Jim Kaat, played against the Athletics in Grand Rapids during the 1950s as a teenager. The Grand Rapids Press reported in late August 1956 that the Colored Athletics were to face the Sullivans at Valley Field. The team's record up to that point was 17 wins and 3 losses. After 1956, reports of the team's games are spars. The team played in 1957 and took the field in 1958 for the last time.
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