Brian Campf has shared one of his latest acquisitions, a 1914 postcard showing the Hubbard Giants of Portland, Oregon, featuring Jimmy Claxton (bottom row, farthest right).
And for comparison, here’s a photo of the Hubbard Giants from the Oregon Daily Journal (May 31, 1914, p. 25). Claxton is seated in the middle of the bottom row, with the team mascot:
Claxton, of course, played a couple of games for the Oakland Oaks in 1916, and was both the first black player known to have appeared in organized baseball in the 20th century and the first black player pictured on an American baseball card.
His pitching career lasted well over two decades; in 1932, at the age of 39, he made his first appearance in the Negro leagues, pitching briefly for the Washington Pilots and Pollock’s Cuban Stars of Cumberland Posey’s East-West Colored League.
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