Top 15 Negro League Teams
#12: Indianapolis ABCs
League Affiliation: Negro
National League
Established: 1913
Folded: 1926
Based in: Indianapolis,
IN
 |
| 1921 Indianapolis ABCs |
While
the ABCs spent their first seven years as an independent club, they were one of
the charter members of the first Negro National League that was founded in
1920. As an independent, they claimed the Western Championship of Black
Baseball in 1915 and 1916.
They got their name from the
American Brewing Company and by the middle of the 1910s, they were challenging
Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants for Black Baseball supremacy.
After disbanding during the 1919
season, owner C.I. Taylor re-organized the team and entered them into the Negro
National League in 1920 and the team finished with a 39-35 record and managed
fourth place. In 1921, they took a step back and fell to fifth place with a
35-38 finish.
During the offseason, Taylor
died and his wife, Olivia, took control of the club. Ben Taylor became the
manager and the ABCs finished in second place (46-33) in 1922. But after a
fourth place finish in 1923 (44-31) but started to decline shortly after.
During the 1924 season, they
started with a 4-17 record and were dropped from the league before the year was
half over.
Under new ownership, they didn’t
fare much better in 1925 (17-57) but did but forth a noble showing in 1926
(43-45). However, the demise of the franchise was complete as the team folded
after 1926. Several attempts to re-incarnate the ABCs failed.
Follow us on Twitter at @topofthethird
No comments:
Post a Comment