The Negro Leagues' Best Baseball Clubs: #9: Indianapolis Clowns

Top 15 Negro League Teams

#9: Indianapolis Clowns

League Affiliation: Negro American League

Established: 1930s?

Folded: 1962

Based in: Indianapolis, Indiana

 

1941 Indianapolis Clowns

                While the exact date of the club’s formation is not known, it is believed that the team began in either 1935 or 1936 in Miami as the Giants. They soon became an independent barnstorming club and changed their name to the Ethiopian Clowns. Due to their antics on the baseball diamond, the clowns were referred to as the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball.

                In 1943, they moved to Cincinnati, kept the name Clowns, and joined the Negro American League. In 1944 and 1945, they operated between Cincinnati and Indianapolis and officially moved to Indy in 1946. The won the NAL Championship in 1950.

                As the Negro Leagues began to decline in the late 1940s and early 1950s due to the integration of Major League Baseball, the Clowns became an independent team once again. But as all the other Black ballclubs folded or disbanded, the Clowns continued to operate. By 1966, they were the last Negro League team playing and although barnstorming became a dying baseball operation, the Indianapolis Clowns continued to play exhibition games, again as a Glotbetrotter-type team, until the 1980s.

                They officially ceased operations in 1989.

                Some notable players included Hank Aaron, Buster Haywood and Choo-Choo Coleman.

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The Negro Leagues' Best Baseball Clubs: #10: Baltimore Elite Giants

Top 15 Negro League Teams

#10: Baltimore Elite Giants

League Affiliation: Negro National League

Negro Southern League

Negro National League II

Negro American League

Established: 1920

Folded: 1950

Based in: Baltimore, Maryland

                The Baltimore Elite Giants were formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1920 and named the Nashville Standard Giants. In 1921 they were re-named the Nashville Elite Giants and would play 19 years in Tennessee before moving to Baltimore in 1938. Up until 1929, they were an independent semi-professional team.

                They were granted entry into the Negro National League in 1930 and finished in seventh place with a record of 39-47. The following season, they moved to Cleveland and nicknamed the Cubs, but the relocation didn’t improve the team’s fortunes and they finished seventh again (25-28).

                After the NNL folded, the team moved back to Nashville, took back the Elite Giants moniker and joined the Negro Southern League for 1932. In 1933, the second Negro National League was formed and Memphis was one of the clubs granted membership. They tied for first in the second-half standings and played the Pittsburgh Crawfords in a best-of-three series. Nashville lost the series and tumbled to fourth in the standings in 1934.

                In 1935, they moved to Columbus and finished in fourth place with a 16-17 record. Then it was on to Washington, DC, for two seasons, where they finished fifth in 1936 (21-24) and third in 1937 (27-17). Finally, in 1938, they moved to Baltimore where they would play for the next 13 seasons.

                They won the NLL Championship in 1939, defeating the Homestead Greys in the championship series. In 1948, they made the championship again, but this time lost to the Greys.

                In 1949, the NLL ceased operations and the Baltimore franchise joined the Negro American League. In their first year in the NAL, the Elite Giants won the championship. In their thirteen seasons in Baltimore, they team finished in the top three in the standings in nine of those years.

                Notable players included future Major League players Roy Campanella, Junior Gilliam and Joe Black.

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The Negro Leagues' Best Baseball Clubs: #11: Detroit Stars

Top 15 Negro League Teams

#11: Detroit Stars

League Affiliation: Negro National League

Established: 1919

Folded: 1931

Based in: Detroit, Michigan

1921 Detroit Stars

                 The original version of the Detroit Stars was formed as an independent team in 1919, joined the Negro National League in 1920 and folded at the end of the 1931 season. There were three attempts to start the franchise again. The experiments of 1933 and 1937 failed, while the third attempt had a bit more success (1954-1961) but the Negro Leagues by that point were not much more than minor leagues.

                The Stars were founded by Tenny Blount, and they immediately became one of the best teams in Black Baseball. They were a charter member of the first Negro National League in 1920, and finished in second place with a 35-23 record. But they never achieved more success than that. Two more second place finishes occurred, but the Stars were never good enough to win the Pennant.

                The team disbanded when the NLL collapsed after the 1931 season. The first attempt to re-incarnate the Stars happened in 1933, joining the second Negro National League, but the experiment only lasted on year. In 1937, there was another effort to get the Stars going again, this time in the Negro American League. Again, the club lasted all of one year.

                Some notable players for the Detroit Stars included: Joe “Prince” Henry, Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, Norman “Turkey” Stearnes and Sam Crawford.

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