1918 CHICAGO AMERICAN GIANTS TEAM CABINET PHOTO WITH HOF'ERS RUBE FOSTER AND PETE HILL.
Item Description
Addendum:
Please note that the ballplayer previously identified as "Smokey Joe" Williams in the photo (back row, fourth from left) is actually Dick Whitworth, whose name appears with the handwritten identifications below. Shortstop Bobby Williams and starting pitcher Tom Williams are the correct ID's for the two players named "Williams" identified in the photograph. Also important to note that, as previously surmised, this image does depict the preseason version of the 1918 Chicago American Giants as well as the postseason version of the 1917 Chicago American Giants, including "Cannonball" Redding. As the club had done the previous offseason, the team spent the months of January and February 1918 practicing down in Florida, including a 10 day stint when the Chicago American Giants represented the Royal Poinciana Hotel (Palm Beach, FL) in competition against the New York Lincoln Giants club, representing the Breakers Hotel. Other local hotel teams were also added to Chicago's preseason schedule over the next few weeks. Confirmation of this agreement between the team and hotel can be ascertained via the player uniforms, some displaying their regular season Chicago American Giants uniforms, while others present in their Royal Poinciana Hotel threads.
Presented here is a museum quality piece depicting one of the early powerhouse ball clubs in black baseball, the 1918 Chicago American Giants, highlighted by the presence of three future National Baseball Hall of Fame enshrinees, Rube Foster (back row, center), Pete Hill (front row, far right) and "Smokey Joe" Williams (back row, fourth from left). Based on the period ink notations at bottom, this photo was taken either before or after the 1918 season in Palm Beach, Florida. One could certainly expect that two additional ballplayers from this team, Dick "Cannonball" Redding (back row, second from left) and Bruce Petway (Back row, fourth from right), will one day join the aforementioned trio in Cooperstown. In addition, many other stars of the day are also pictured here with players identified in period ink below the photo: Frank Wickware, Bill Francis, Bingo DeMoss, Richard Whitworth, George Dixon, Pete Duncan, Bobby Williams, Leroy Grant and Jess Barbour, not a single unidentified player in the group.
The Chicago American Giants ball club was originally established back in 1910 when Rube Foster, team manager, and Frank Leland, team owner, divided up the previously recognized Leland Giants into two separate teams. Rube's team would continue with the Leland Giants moniker for one more season before officially changing their name to the Chicago American Giants prior to the 1911 season. Beginning that year, the American Giants would claim every western independents title for the remainder of the decade with the exception of 1916, when they lost the championship to the Indianapolis ABC's. Once Foster and several owners joined forces to establish the Negro National League in 1920, Rube would begin selling off some of his star players, thus creating better balance for the remainder of his league. Although they would go through many peaks and valleys over the years, the Chicago American Giants would eventually become the longest running continuous franchise in Negro League baseball history.
As founder of the original Chicago American Giants back in 1910, 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 Famer's 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 Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.
Like Rube Foster, Pete Hill would join the American Giants in 1911, following three illustrious 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.
"Smokey Joe" Williams would be the last of the Hall of Fame trio to join the American Giants, playing just one partial season in Chicago during 1914 before returning to the New York Lincoln Giants, where he would spend most of the 1910s. Williams was not part of the 1918 American Giants regular season roster, further supporting the assumption that this photo was taken during pre-season "spring training" or possibly a postseason barnstorming tour down in Florida. Smokey Joe would later join the early Homestead Grays dynasty of the late 1920s, teaming with a very young Josh Gibson to form possibly the most explosive battery in Negro League baseball history. Williams was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.
10x11.75" original cardboard mount has 6.5x8.5" original matte finish photo at center. Mount shows age/wear, most noticeable at left side which has 8" vertical crease and 4" diagonal crease at top left both with surface paper breaks. Tiny tip off photo at top left corner. Brown stain streak, 1/8x2", running vertically just to left of Petway. Images remain sharp and distinct. Mount is Good/VG while photo is Fine.
To the best of our knowledge, this beauty is the only known example of this image. It was originally offered as part of the Richard Merkin Collection in our Feb. 2011 auction where it realized $10,547. Don't pass up this opportunity to own an extremely important and unique piece of Negro League baseball history. The Black Ball Collection.
