Agate Type

1902 philadelphia giants

Here’s a photo of the 1902 Philadelphia Giants, the first edition of that soon-to-be great ballclub, from the October 5, 1902, Philadelphia Inquirer.  It was later printed in Sol White’s History of Colored Base Ball (1907), but without the players identified. Perhaps most importantly, that’s the veteran Frank Grant, second from left in the middle row.

You can click to enlarge the team photo, but in case the print is still too small, here are the players:

Top row, L to R: Farrell, 1B; John Nelson, 3B; Sol White, SS & captain; Kid Carter, P; Warrick, P.

Second row: W. Smith, CF; Frank Grant, 2B; H.W. Schlichter, manager; William Bell, P; Harry Smith, asst. manager; Andrew Payne, LF.

Front: Day, RF; Pete Burns, C.

Pete Burns, of course, is one of the people who blew the whistle on Charlie Grant’s attempt to pass as Indian.

 

frank grant: the novel

If you haven’t, you should check out this essay by John Thorn on Frank Grant, probably the best African-American player of the nineteenth century.  See especially how Grant served as the model for a character in an 1895 novel by a childhood acquaintance, a novel that, strangely, predicted the 1901 “Chief Tokohama” incident involving not Frank, but Charlie Grant.