Top 15 Negro League Teams
#13: Brooklyn Royal Giants
League Affiliation: National
Association
Eastern Colored League
Established: 1905
Folded: 1942
Based in: Brooklyn,
New York
 |
| 1917 Brooklyn Royal Giants |
The
Brooklyn Royal Giants were originally established as an independent, barnstorming
team, and even though they played in various leagues, they maintained that
independent status throughout most of their existence. They were formed in 1905
by John Conner, the owner of the Brooklyn Royal Café in the New York borough.
During the first two seasons, they played mostly against semi-professional
white teams.
They joined the National
Association of Colored Clubs of the United States and Cuba (National
Association for short) and played the three years that the National Association
was around (the league folded after the
1909 season).
They became an independent team
again until 1923 when they joined the Eastern Colored League (ECL). However,
the club was now owned by a booking agent, Nat Strong, and they did very poorly
in the six seasons they were a member of the league. They finished third in
1923 with an 18-18 season, but never managed to win more than they lost. In
fact, the final year of the ECL (1928), they only played nine games.
In 1929, they became independent
once again and attempted to rebuild the roster, but the quality of play never
reached the status they had achieved before joining the ECL. By the early
1940s, they were reduced to semi-pro status and the team folded during the 1942
season.
Some notable players on the Royal
Giants were Smokey Joe Williams, “Cannonball” Redding and “Pop” Lloyd.
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