1907 CHICAGO LELAND GIANTS TEAM REAL PHOTO POSTCARD W/HOFERS RUBE FOSTER/PETE HILL SGC 20 FAIR 1.5.
Item Description
Presented here with stunning clarity is the Chicago Leland Giants baseball club during their western independents championship season of 1907. Although handwritten team notation at the bottom of the photo indicates "1908", further research from the Baseball Hall of Fame Library archives in Cooperstown, NY identifies the correct date of this photo as 1907, as it appears in a newspaper article published that year. Making this amazing postcard even more desirable is the fact that it represents the first baseball "card" appearance of any kind for two major Negro League Baseball Hall of Famers, Rube Foster (back row, center) and Pete Hill (front row, second from left). In addition, other notable stars of the era also pictured here, include: Jap Payne, Bobby Winston, Danger Talbert, Walter Ball, Mike Moore, Nate Harris, George Wright, Sam Strothers and Pete Booker.
The origin of the Leland Giants ball club dates back to 1901 when two teams, the Chicago Unions and Chicago Columbia Giants were merged into one ball club, known as the Chicago Union Giants. A few years later the team would be renamed as the Leland Giants. Although the Giants were one of the preeminent teams in the west during the 1901-06 time period, the defection of many of the Philadelphia Giants star players in 1907 would mark the beginning of a black baseball powerhouse. Both Rube Foster and Pete Hill came over from Philadelphia that season along with a number of their teammates. Over the next four seasons the Leland Giants would win the western independents championship every year until Rube Foster and owner Frank Leland would go their separate ways after the 1910 season.
Rube Foster is widely regarded as the father of Negro League baseball and a true visionary, without whom organized black baseball would likely have never reached the heights that it ultimately did during the 1920s-40s. At the dawn of the 20th century Foster was one of the top pitchers in the land, starring for the 1902 Chicago Union Giants team before joining one of the earliest black baseball powerhouses, the 1904-06 Philadelphia Giants, where he joined fellow Hall of Famers Frank Grant, Sol White and Pete Hill as well as the legendary middle infield combo of Charlie Grant and Grant "Home Run" Johnson. Rube would eventually leave Philadelphia in 1907 to join the Leland Giants, where he would spend the next three seasons before forming his own new club in 1911. Foster would be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.
Like Rube Foster, Pete Hill would join the American Giants in 1911, following three previous seasons with the Leland Giants from 1907-10, previously starring for the 1904-07 Philadelphia Giants as well. Pete would become a vital cog in the championship club from 1911 to 1918, after which, he would join the Detroit Stars and lead that formidable club from 1919-21. Hill was widely regarded as one of the top hitters for both average and power in black baseball for nearly two decades. Although he was long underappreciated, his accomplishments would ultimately enable him to join Rube in Cooperstown after his 2006 selection.
Postcard is 3.5x5.5 with high quality silver gelatin photo image. The unused reverse has slight aging and trace of glue residue, all of which impacted the overall grade by SGC. Front has a 1.5" vertical hairline crease running from bottom edge to the hands of Mike Moore (bottom row second from the right). This is really only visible in reflected light. Front image remains bold and sharp with extreme clarity. Certainly displays much better than the designated grade. Visual appeal is exceptional.
To the best of our knowledge, this rarity is the only known example featuring one of the earliest, if not the earliest, images of the Chicago Leland Giants baseball club. Back in 2010, Hake's sold a RPPC of the 1909 Leland Giants baseball club (a squad that came two years after this one) for $22,137. Don't pass up this opportunity to own the earliest card of both Hall of Famers, Rube Foster and Pete Hill. The Black Ball Collection.
