The Lancaster Loophole: Pennsylvania Blue Laws Bring the Harrisburg Giants to Rossmere Base Ball Park, 1925–27

The Harrisburg Giants joined the Eastern Colored League in 1924 with a powerful lineup centered around player-manager Oscar Charleston, a future Hall of Famer.1 But the Giants faced a problem: Pennsylvania’s blue laws prevented baseball from being played on Sundays, a significant hit to the team’s fiscal prospects.2 Yet a solution stood just 40 miles away in Lancaster, thanks to a loophole in the commonwealth’s legislation.

Lancaster itself had a history of professional baseball, starting in 1884 with the Lancasters and Ironsides. The Lancaster Maroons, later named Red Roses, were the primary home team in Lancaster from 1905 to 1914.3 The club featured future Hall of Famer Stan Coveleski 1909–11, and later iterations of the team were affiliated with the American and National Leagues.4 Based on the town’s proximity to Harrisburg, along with its infrastructure and interest in baseball, Lancaster was well positioned to host a team like the Harrisburg Giants. Most importantly, the ownership of Lancaster’s premiere baseball grounds, Rossmere Base Ball Park, allowed the Giants to operate under that legal loophole: Their games could be considered charity events.

These circumstances led the Giants to play a significant number of exhibition and Eastern Colored League games in their second home of Lancaster from 1925–27. Across their three seasons at Rossmere, the Giants regularly dazzled fans, who happily claimed them as their home team, with attendance in the thousands.5 Their league games brought future Hall of Famers Martin Dihigo, Biz Mackey, Judy Johnson, Louis Santop, and John Henry Lloyd to Rossmere. Over three seasons, the Giants won 17 of their 20 exhibition games and three of their five league games in Lancaster, with one game suspended due to weather.

Perhaps given their short-lived residency, the greatest team ever to play in Lancaster is largely absent from the town’s history. A century later, the Giants’ exploits are missing from public accounts of Lancaster baseball. The Lancaster County Historical Society mentioned them only in passing in a 2004 celebration of Lancaster’s baseball history and the county baseball historical marker outside the home of the town’s present-day professional team makes no mention of the Giants.6 While brief, the Harrisburg Giants’ time at Rossmere was notable: It was the highest level of baseball ever played in Lancaster.

ORIGINS OF THE HARRISBURG GIANTS

The exact date of the Harrisburg Giants’ founding is unclear, but the strongest evidence points to 1894. Colonel Strothers, a successful Black businessman in Harrisburg, established the team as an independent amateur or semiprofessional team around this time.7 Baseball’s color barrier prevented Black players from playing in many professional leagues, and Strothers built a roster of Black players. By 1906, the club was recognized as one of the top Black professional teams in the Eastern United States.8 Critically, the team signed outfielder Spottswood Poles, a Harrisburg native who was noted as “the Black Ty Cobb” and is today considered second only to Cool Papa Bell for speed on the basepaths.9 The Giants played their home games at Harrisburg’s Island Park, which they would call home until the franchise’s demise. By the early 1920s, the team was playing a regular schedule of games against top teams in the region.

In addition to playing in Harrisburg, the Giants barnstormed throughout the region, including in Lancaster. They played an exhibition against the Lancaster Indians in 1922 at Rossmere and several more games in 1923, against local clubs at Rossmere and at the Eighth Ward club’s Hill grounds.10 This mirrored other Black ballclubs that played exhibitions in Lancaster, including the Camden Black Sox and the York Colored Giants.11 The 1924 acquisition of Charleston by Harrisburg required the erection of new bleachers at Rossmere to accommodate the large crowds when the Giants headlined a series of games there.12 Owner Strothers predicted that “Charleston will bust the fence at Rossmere,” which led Lancaster Red Roses business manager Charlie Deal to retort, “Let him bust…two can play at the same game and we’ll do a little busting on our own hook.”13 Strothers’s prediction came true as Charleston homered and singled in the Giants’ 7–5 win in their second contest of the season against the Red Roses.14

 

Batting practice at Rossmere Park. The original newspaper caption read: “The insert at right is Lefty Murphy, pitcher, of Hilldale fame. He was one of the leading independent pitchers last season, and is expected to pitch brilliant ball this summer for the Frock aggregation.” (Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, April 10, 1920)

 

A SUNDAY HOME AT ROSSMERE

Charleston, one of the game’s greatest players, signed to return as the Giants player-manager in 1925. Like all professional teams in Pennsylvania, the Giants faced an issue that impacted potential weekend revenues: They were prohibited from playing on Sunday. Pennsylvania’s blue laws, which dated back to 1794, strictly prohibited “worldly employment or business whatsoever on the Lord’s Day, works of necessity and charity only excepted.”15 Such laws were rooted in the commonwealth’s Quaker founding.

The Philadelphia Athletics tried to defy them and play on Sundays starting in 1926. They lost their legal battle in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1927 and didn’t play home games on Sundays until 1934, when a new law allowed it—though only between 2:00 and 6:00PM.16

The lack of Sunday games was a significant blow to the Athletics, who estimated the lost revenue at $20,000 per game.17 This was no doubt a concern for the Giants as well. They began skirting the law in 1925 by leasing Rossmere Base Ball Park, where they could take advantage of the charity exception to the Sunday ban.18 Rossmere was owned by St. Joseph Catholic Club, a religious organization that still exists in Lancaster.19 If the religious organization leased the ballpark to the club as a way to raise funds for its charitable works, the ban wouldn’t apply. The organization, an offspring of the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, identified Tommy Shields in 1925 as the point person coordinating baseball games at Rossmere.20 Shields, a former star high school athlete, closed a deal with Strothers in March, and the Giants would call Rossmere their Sunday home for the next three seasons.21

HISTORY OF ROSSMERE BASE BALL PARK

The origins of Rossmere Base Ball Park are not entirely clear. The first public reference to the location serving a sporting purpose is on October 4, 1897, about a football game played on the “Rossmere grounds.”22 The baseball diamond was located just outside of the northeast corner of Lancaster City, within Manheim Township. The area served as a working-class suburb of the city, anchored by several key businesses, with the name “Rossmere” chosen for the suburb in the mid-1890s in honor of George Ross, Lancaster’s sole signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The area was given a boost by the completion of the Rossmere Belt Line in 1895, providing streetcar access to the area and furthering residential and industry development.23 The area hosted a limited number of athletic events in the late 1890s, but blossomed in the 1900s. In 1904, a new ballpark was built at the corner of Frances and Juliette Avenues to host the burgeoning number of events and the local professional baseball team, the Lancaster Maroons, later renamed the Red Roses.24

The baseball diamond’s grandstand measured 17 feet high at the center and 20 feet high at either side. Bleachers measuring 14 feet high, without roofing, extended along the first- and third-base lines.25 In addition to serving as home to the Red Roses, Rossmere also hosted exhibition baseball games. Perhaps the most famous of these took place in September 1919, when Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox lost to the local Klein Chocolate Club, one of the Klein club’s many wins during its impressive 1919 season.26

 

THE 1925 SEASON

The Giants didn’t win the Eastern Colored League pennant in 1925, but they were brimming with talent. The main draw was Charleston, the eventual Hall of Famer. While as a Black ballplayer he was often overlooked, he was an incredible talent. Hall of Famer Buck O’Neill described Charleston as “Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and Tris Speaker rolled into one.”29 Historian Bill James ranked him as the fourth-greatest player of all time, following Ruth, Honus Wagner, and Willie Mays.30 Wagner himself named Charleston as the greatest player he ever saw.31 His greatness was not lost on the Lancaster press, who noted the Indianapolis native as “the greatest colored ball player in the game, known as the Babe Ruth of the Colored League…he is a player who would be in the big leagues if not for his color.”32

Rap Dixon and Fats Jenkins flanked Charleston in the outfield. Dixon is considered by many baseball historians to be worthy of Hall of Fame induction.33 In 2018, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum included Dixon on the Negro League Centennial Team; he and Buck O’Neil, were the only other non-pitchers honored who were not already in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.34 Dixon’s fine 1925 season led New York Giants manager John McGraw to remark that he would be a star in the National League if not for his race and that “he is without question, one of the greatest outfielders in the United States.”35 Jenkins was a two-sport threat who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021. That honor shouldn’t overshadow his impressive baseball career, which stretched 19 seasons during which he compiled a 121 OPS+.36 This combination of talent led contemporaries to dub them “the million-dollar outfield,” and some baseball historians include them among the greatest outfields of all time.37

The lineup featured another eventual member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Ben Taylor. “Old Reliable” was winding down his career by the time he played first base for the Harrisburg Giants.38 Taylor was widely known for being “meticulous in his approach to hitting” and a smooth fielder.39 Shortstop Walter “Rev” Cannady was a revelation in 1925, hitting 13 home runs, third in the league behind Charleston’s 20 and the 15 hit by John Beckwith of the Baltimore Black Sox, who would soon be a teammate. Other solid offensive contributors like Dick Jackson and Mack Eggleston gave the Giants the best offense in the league. They hit 65 home runs, 27 more than the Hilldale Club, who hit the second most.40 The Giants also led the league in slugging, OPS, batting average, and runs. The team was decidedly less impressive from the pitching standpoint, ranking sixth in ERA+, which adjusts for the overall league pitching environment. Still, pitchers like Ping Gardner and Wilbert Pritchett had solid, if unspectacular, seasons for the club.

Press reports from the time clearly reflect the local excitement about the Giants and Lancaster’s eagerness to claim them as Lancaster’s home team. Noting in April 1925 that “the team will represent Lancaster on the diamond each week-end,” the Lancaster New Era noted that the “team is much stronger this season than last, and, with many of the league games being staged here, the fans should see real base ball.”41 In advance of the first official Giants practice in Lancaster, the New Era noted, “The Giants are favorites with local base ball fans and in past seasons have played to capacity audiences when pitted against the Eighth Ward and Lancaster teams. They should prove even more popular playing as a home team.”42 The press remained impressed after that initial practice: “To say they looked good in their initial workout on the local park diamond would be putting it mild,” gushed the Lancaster Daily Intelligencer.43

The Giants played their first Eastern Colored League game at Rossmere on April 26, with approximately 3,000 fans in attendance to watch them beat the Wilmington Potomacs, 8–5.44 The game was highlighted by a triple steal by the Giants and a home run by Charleston.45 The Giants returned to Rossmere on May 10 for a non-league game against the Philadelphia Quaker Cracks, a Philadelphia semipro team. The Giants won that game, 7–3. Charleston continued to impress, hitting a triple and a home run, the Daily Intelligencer noting that he’d swung at the “first pitch and sent it over the housetops bordering right field.”46

The Giants returned on May 17 for a game against the Lit Brothers, a white semipro team sponsored by a Philadelphia company.47 The Giants trounced the visitors, 25–1. Jenkins had five hits and scored four runs while Charleston homered yet again.48 The Giants’ next two games at Rossmere were rained out. They’d been scheduled to play on May 24 against Camden, not the Black Sox but a White team that in 1926 would be part of the Interstate League, a short-lived attempt at a six-team integrated circuit with three White teams and three Black ones, including Harrisburg. The Giants also had a rare Friday game at Rossmere, an ECL league game against the Cuban Stars (East), postponed due to rain. They returned on May 31 and beat the Quaker City club, 16–7.49

The Giants played two of their more consequential games in June. They were just behind Hilldale for first place in the ECL heading into their June 14 matchup at Rossmere.50 Hilldale’s formidable team included future Hall of Famers Mackey, Johnson, and Santop. The Giants led, 6–2, when the game was washed out by rain. The rain stopped, but the umpires called the game due to the state of the field, and Charleston was furious. The game was never resumed. The Giants remained in first place as late as July 16 before Hilldale overtook them and pulled away.51

A week after the suspended game against Hilldale, the Giants lost an official ECL game at Rossmere for the first time all season. The Dihigo-led Cuban Stars rallied in the ninth inning for a 15–11 victory, spoiling a two-home run effort by Charleston.52 July brought two additional ECL games. The first was a 3–2 loss on July 5 to the Wilmington Potomacs. Game recaps colorfully describe the heroics of Wilmington’s Pete Washington and sloppy play by the Giants that led to the Potomacs’ victory.53 The Giants held their fourth ECL game at Rossmere on July 12, beating the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants, 5–4, who were led by player-manager John Henry Lloyd. The future Hall of Famer was held to a single.54 The win kept Harrisburg Giants in first place of the ECL, but just a week later Hilldale would overtake them.55 Harrisburg would end the season in second place, never retaking the lead.

While their ECL games were done for the year, the Giants finished out the season by beating the local Eighth Ward team twice. The first of those was a 9–6 win on September 6 as the Eighth Warders’ starting pitcher “floundered worse than Connie Mack’s pennant hopes.”56 After a game against Columbia was canceled, the Giants closed out their season at Rossmere with an 11–1 victory over the Eighth Warders. who “were battered and hammered throughout nine innings of hectic free hitting.”57

The Giants’ first season at Rossmere was undoubtedly a success, with a large amount of support from the local fans and press. The Daily Intelligencer’s Robert D. Prince noted the positive public sentiment midway through the season: “A team of hard hitters, backed by sterling pitching, the Giants are well qualified to put up the kind of game which Lancaster wants and the faithful who enter the turnstiles are proving that that is just what they are doing.”58 Lancaster’s white press spoke of the Giants with respect and admiration. There are numerous references to the quality of the players and notes that they would be playing in the American or National Leagues if not for baseball’s color barrier.

 

Oscar Charleston playing at Rossmere Base Ball Park. (Lancaster New Era, April 25, 1927)

 

THE 1926 SEASON

The 1926 season brought the return of the Giants to Lancaster. In early April they were announced as the home team for 11 games.59 Many of the team’s mainstays—including the vaunted outfield anchored by Charleston—returned, though the team lost Taylor, who departed for the Baltimore Black Sox.60 The most noticeable addition was Jose Perez, a longtime player for both Cuban Stars teams, East and West. Also new was pitcher Sam Cooper, who was the top performer in a middling pitching rotation.61

Slugger John Beckwith joined the team partway through the season after spending time with the Baltimore Black Sox. Beckwith, nicknamed “The Black Bomber,” was an intimidating slugger known for having “230 pounds of solid home run hitting muscle,” adding to an already formidable lineup.62 The 1926 Giants didn’t live up to their second-place finish the year before. Though the offense again topped the ECL in OPS+, slugging, and isolated power, they ranked sixth out of eight in ERA and walk rate and last in strikeout rate.63

The Giants finished the year in fourth place with a record of 27–22, but continued to impress in Lancaster. On April 18, they beat a fellow Harrisburg team, the white Senators from the New York-Pennsylvania League, in an exhibition game at Rossmere. A estimated crowd of 1,500 fans attended, and while Charleston did not hit a home run, “the smiling Giant leader…kept the crowd in a good humor throughout with his one-handed catches,” reported the Lancaster New Era.64

The Giants returned to Rossmere in early May in front of what the New Era called “a record setting crowd” to dominate Chester, 23–6. Charleston led the way with four hits, including a home run.65 The Giants returned to play the Lancaster Red Roses on July 11, earning a 16–4 victory with Charleston and Beckwith homering.66 While the Giants played several games in the region in August, they did not return to Rossmere until September for a doubleheader against the white Camden team. A few days before the contest, the teams held a “dress rehearsal for their two-act classic,” in the New Era’s words, which ended in a tie, with Charleston noting, “We want to beat ’em twice before the season closes…just to show ’em it can be done.”67

Charleston got his wish when the Giants beat Camden twice in front of a reported 5,000 fans, 5–4 and 2–1, both in thrilling fashion. Camden featured players with American and National League experience, including 49-year-old Wid Conroy, a utility player who had last been with the Washington Nationals in 1911. Charleston hit a home run, which the New Era noted was his 42nd of the season.68

A final doubleheader ended the season at Rossmere for the Giants. They faced the New York PA All Stars in late September, with Lefty George slated to pitch for the All Stars. George, who had pitched briefly for the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Naps, Cincinnati Reds and Boston Braves in the 1910s, noted his team was “confident of beating the Colored Club in a double-header.”69 That confidence was misplaced. The Giants, in front of the largest crowd of the season, beat the All Stars twice, 9–2 and 6–0.70

THE 1927 SEASON

While the Giants hadn’t played at Rossmere as much in 1926, they returned for more significant contests in 1927, their third and final year playing Sunday games there. Initially, it was unclear whether Charleston would return, as he tried to break his contract to join the Homestead Grays.71 This attempt was controversial and risky for Charleston: Any ECL player breaking a contract could be banned from playing in the league for several years. Despite protestations by Charleston, the owners didn’t budge and he returned to the Giants, but only as a player.72 Despite this preseason drama, Charleston put together an exceptional offensive season, slashing .399/.502/.694.73

The Giants’ main 1927 acquisition was Oscar “Heavy” Johnson, a slugger signed away from the Baltimore Black Sox. While he would only spend one season with the Giants, he made it count with the team’s second-best OPS+. Fats Jenkins had another solid season, though Rap Dixon’s was uncharacteristically average.74 The team was an offensive stalwart as usual, with three of the league’s top five players in OPS+. Interestingly, the 1927 team was perhaps the most balanced Giants club of the period, with a pitching staff that led the league in ERA+. This was not enough to win the league, however, as they finished second to Atlantic City.

The Giants primarily played exhibition games at Rossmere in 1927. They opened their season at Rossmere on April 17 with 1,500 fans in attendance to watch them beat Kensington, 7–0.75 While there are no surviving box scores, the team split two games against the Harrisburg Senators on April 24 and May 1.76 One highlight from that opening month is the only known photograph of Charleston playing at Rossmere Base Ball Park (reproduced at left), published in the New Era on April 25 to remark on the team falling to the Senators.77

The Giants returned to face Camden on June 5. “Little need to be said of this colored group of stars,” the Daily Intelligencer wrote, “as Lancaster fans like their brand of baseball and have alays [sic] patronized them in the past. They will all be back, including Charleston, the colored Babe Ruth, [Hen] Jordan, Williams, Cannady [sic] et. al.”78 That praise notwithstanding, the Giants lost to Camden, 6–5, despite scoring three in the ninth inning.79

The Giants played their only ECL game of 1927 at Rossmere against the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants on Independence Day. The Giants gave up three runs in the first inning but fought back in the fifth and sixth to take the lead, which they relinquished in the eighth on a wild pitch. With two outs in the ninth inning, Beckwith and Charleston singled to bring Heavy Johnson to the plate. He smacked a line drive and White, the Bacharach center fielder, knocked it down but could not make the catch. The Giants won, 5–4.80 This marked the last of five Eastern Colored League games played at Rossmere.

Harrisburg returned to Rossmere in mid-August for a scheduled game against Camden with the Daily Intelligencer highlighting the return of “Fence Bustin’ Charleston.”81 The Camden club rescheduled and were instead replaced by Corley Catholic Club; Charleston lived up to his name with a three-run homer in a 6–2 win.82 Late August was supposed to see a second ECL game between the Harrisburg Giants and the Brooklyn Royal Giants. Harrisburg would have no doubt welcomed facing the last-place team, but the game was “washed out” due to poor weather.83

Instead, the Giants were announced as returning the following week to play the local Philadelphia Elks, a game the Giants won, 12–1, on September 4.84 A poetic game summary in the Daily Intelligencer spoke to the overwhelming offensive power of the Giants:

There seems to be nothing much to a ball game when the Harrisburg Giants play. Just step up, rap out a bunch of hits, and win the old ball game. The Philadelphia Elks found, much to their sorrow, that that is just how the Giants do it. For yesterday on the Rossmere diamond the Giants gave a great exhibition of how to salt away a game, pounding out a 12 to 1 victory over the Philly outfit.85

The team topped that offensive output on September 18 in their last game of the season. The Giants came into the game against the Harrisburg Senators with each having won a game at Rossmere. The Giants dominated the season finale, beating the Senators, 16–1, in their last game of the year in Lancaster.86 The end of 1927 would mark the end of the most esteemed iteration of the Harrisburg Giants. Over three short seasons, however, their record was impeccable. The Giants went 20–5, including 3–2 in ECL games. While exact attendance records are unclear, newspaper reports regularly remarked on large crowds, topped by 5,000 attending the doubleheader against Camden in 1926.

 

The former site of Rossmere Base Ball Park is now the parking lot of Lancaster Catholic High School.

 

1928 AND BEYOND

In early 1928, the Giants dropped out of the Eastern Colored League and announced they would play an independent schedule instead. But in March, Ben Faltine, the promoter for Rossmere, announced that the Giants had disbanded and would no longer use the field. The Daily Intelligencer stated, “Colonel Strothers, of the Giants, apparently found the going too tough and has broken up his great colored aggregation of tossers.”87 Further reporting noted that Strothers disbanded the club “because he lost money last year, and that he has severed all connection with the club.”88

The team was, however, quickly revived under new management with the same name. The Giants announced they would return to Rossmere for exhibition games and over the course of the season re-signed some of their past players, including Spottswood Poles, Rap Dixon, and Hen Jordan. While stars like Charleston and Jenkins left for other ECL teams and the quality of play was lower, the Giants still outplayed their competition in Lancaster, winning eight of 10 contests at Rossmere, beating local and regional teams.89

The Giants ended their time in Lancaster unceremoniously on August 26, losing, 11–2, to the Eighth Ward team as the “highly touted attack of the Giants was absolutely helpless in the face of the Warders.”92 This was an inauspicious end to the Giants’ time at Rossmere, beaten badly by a team of local semipros. Rossmere Base Ball Park was also reaching its endpoint. In December 1928, the St. Joseph’s Catholic Club authorized the transfer of the Rossmere field to the Retired Reverend Phillip R. McDevitt, Bishop of Harrisburg, for the purpose of erecting Lancaster Catholic High School. The donation was finalized in late 1928 or early 1929, with the club’s internal record of receiving thanks for the donation from the chairman of Lancaster Catholic High School dated February 24, 1929.93

CONCLUSION

The Giants continued to play in some fashion throughout the 1930s and 1940s, but at a greatly diminished capacity. The team was reincarnated in 1952, with former player Spottswood Poles serving as manager, before shuttering for good in 1954.94 As for the one-time Sunday site of their legendary exploits, Rossmere Base Ball Park remains largely forgotten in Lancaster history. The former home to some of history’s greatest baseball players is now a parking lot at Lancaster Catholic High School, with no markers to indicate its past glory. The Giants’ time calling Lancaster home was short, encompassing Sundays only for three seasons. Yet, as the centennial of the arrival of the highest-level baseball team to ever call Lancaster home nears, there are plans being made by local baseball history enthusiasts—the author included—to at long last remember and celebrate the Harrisburg Giants’ time at Rossmere by placing a historic marker and holding a series of community events.

JEREMY RAFF is the Director of Data Analytics and Strategy at School District of Lancaster in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He is a longtime Baltimore Orioles fan, enjoying the team’s recently improved fortunes. He is currently spearheading a local effort to honor the history of the Harrisburg Giants’ time calling Lancaster their Sunday home.

 

Notes

1. James Overmyer, “1923–29 Winter Meetings: The Negro Leagues Come East,” in Baseball’s Business: The Winter Meetings: Volume 1, 1901–1957, eds. Steve Weingarden and Bill Nowlin (Phoenix: Society for American Baseball Research, 2016). https://sabr.org/journal/article/1923-1929-eastern-colored-league-winter-meetings/.

2. Stanley A. Smith, “Recent Developments,” Constitutional Law-Pennsylvania Constitution-Equal Protection 24, no. 5 (1979), 992–1007.

3. Carl Gordon Moore Jr., “140 Years of Lancaster Baseball,” Historic Marker Database, October 7, 2020, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=157459.

4. “1932–1961: The Red Roses and the Nation,” Lancaster County Historical Society, https://web.archive.org/web/20060503184459/http://www.lancasterhistory.org/collections/exhibitions/Baseball/baseballx.htm.

5. “Giants-Senators Clash Sunday,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, May 1, 1925, 9.

6. Moore Jr., “140 Years of Lancaster Baseball;” “Playing America’s Game: 140 Years of Lancaster Baseball,” Lancaster County Historical Society, https://web.archive.org/web/20041018235248/http://www.lancasterhistory.org/collections/exhibitions/Baseball/baseball1.htm.

7. Dr. Layton Revel and Richards J. Puerzer, “Early Pioneers of the Negro Leagues: Colonel William ‘C.W.’ Strothers,” Center for Negro League Baseball Research, 2017, 2, https://irp.cdn-website.com/33d0c3d0/files/uploaded/Colonel%20Strothers%202018-04.pdf.

8. Revel and Puerzer, 4.

9. Revel and Puerzer, 4; Matt Monagan, “The little-known legend of Spottswood Poles,” MLB.com, January 2022, modified December 26, 2023, https://www.mlb.com/news/the-story-of-spottswood-poles.

10. “Teams Well Matched Here This Week-End,” Lancaster News Journal, August 12, 1922, 8; “Atlantics Meet Colored Giants,” Lancaster New Era, April 20, 1923, 22; “8th Ward Trips Colored Giants,” Lancaster New Era, July 16, 1923, 10.

11. “Warders To Play Camden Black Sox,” Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, May 1, 1923, 8; “Rohrerstown In Twin Victories,” Lancaster Examiner-New Era, May 21, 1923, 10.

12. “Erecting New Bleachers,” Lancaster New Era, July 17, 1924, 6.

13. “To Decide Feud At Local Park,” Lancaster New Era, July 18, 1924, 19.

14. “Jordan Breaks Up ‘Bully’ Game,” Lancaster New Era, July 21, 1924, 9.

15. Smith, “Recent Developments.”

16. John A. Lucas, “The Unholy Experiment: Professional Baseball’s Struggle Against Pennsylvania Sunday Blue Laws 1926–1934,” Pennsylvania History 38, no. 2 (April 1971), 163–75.

17. Lucas.

18. Revel and Puerzer, “Early Pioneers.”

19. Saint Joseph Catholic Club, http://stjosephcatholicclub.com/.

20. “Giants Want Local Game,” Lancaster New Era, March 16, 1925, 8.

21. “Colored Giants Will Play Here,” Lancaster New Era, March 19, 1925, 16.

22. “A Game at Rossmere,” Daily New Era, October 4, 1897, 10.

23. Gary Hovinen, “Lancaster’s Streetcar Suburbs, 1890–1920,” Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society 82 (1978), 50–52.

24. “The New Base Ball Park,” Daily New Era, April 18, 1904, 2.

25. “Dry Docks Taking Practice Fling,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, April 10, 1920.

26. “Klein Maulers Treat Ruth Badly and Beat Boston,” Lancaster New Era, September 26, 1919; Russ Walsh, “The Klein Chocolate Company Baseball Team’s Remarkable 1919 Season,” SABR Baseball Research Journal 51, no. 2 (Fall 2022), https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-klein-chocolate-company-baseball-teams-remarkable-1919-season/.

27. “Boxing poster: Lancaster, Rossmere Ball Park, June 15. Leo Houck vs. Joe Thomas,” Lancaster History, https://collections.lancasterhistory.org/en/permalink/6f96e8af-66b8-4082-8532-775053351970.

28. “Insurance Maps of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1912,” Penn State University Libraries, https://digital.libraries.psu.edu/digital/collection/maps1/id/12871/rec/3.

29. Tim Odzer, “Oscar Charleston,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/oscar-charleston/.

30. Bill James, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (New York: Free Press, 2003), 358.

31. Jeremy Beer, Oscar Charleston: The Life and Legend of Baseball’s Greatest Forgotten Player (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019).

32. “Colored Giants Ready for Start,” Lancaster New Era, April 4, 1925, 8.

33. “42 for 21 Poll Results,” 42 for 21 Committee, December 15, 2021, https://www.42for21.org/results.

34. Ted Knorr and Chris Rainey, “Rap Dixon,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/rap-dixon/.

35. “M’Graw Praises Herbert Dixon, Star Outfielder,” Harrisburg Telegraph, February 2, 1926.

36. “Fats Jenkins,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Database, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=jenki01fat.

37. “Harrisburg Giants May Lose Stars, Charleston is One,” Harrisburg Sunday Courier, January 31, 1926; Ted Knorr, “The Greatest Outfield in Baseball History,” The National Pastime 37, no. 1 (2018), https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-greatest-outfield-in-baseball-history/.

38. Tim Hagerty, “Ben Taylor,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ben-taylor-3/.

39. Isabelle Minasian, “The Taylors, Including Hall of Famer Ben Taylor, Helped Define a Generation of Baseball in the Negro Leagues,” National Baseball Hall of Fame, https://baseballhall.org/discover/family-rules-taylor-brothers-negro-leagues.

40. “1925 Harrisburg Giants,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Database, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/team.php?yearID=1925&teamID=HBG&LGOrd=3.

41. “Shields Books Strong Teams,” Lancaster New Era, April 15, 1925, 9.

42. “Giants Open Up With Potomacs,” Lancaster New Era, April 22, 1925, 9.

43. “Giants Display Form in Workout,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, April 24, 1925, 9.

44. “Giants-Senators Clash Sunday.”

45. “Harrisburg Giants Defeat Wilmington Potomacs in Thrilling Contest,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, April 27, 1925, 8.

46. “Harrisburg Giants Defeat Philadelphia Nine, 7 to 3,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, May 11, 1925, 6.

47. Rebecca Alpert. “Passon Field (Philadelphia, PA),” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/park/passon-field/.

48. “Giants Trounce Lit Nine, 25–1,” Lancaster New Era, May 18, 1925, 8.

49. “Sunday Games Halted By Rain,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, May 25, 1925, 8; “Rain Halts Local Game,” Lancaster New Era, May 30, 1925, 8; “Giants Tumble Quakers Easily,” Lancaster New Era, June 1, 1925, 8.

50. “Rain Keeps Giants From Winning Game,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, June 15, 1925, 8.

51. Beer, Oscar Charleston.

52. “Giants Beaten By Cuban Stars,” Lancaster New Era, June 22, 1925, 8.

53. “Giants Last Rally Fails and Wilmington Wins, 3–2,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, July 6, 1925, 8.

54. “Hitting Features Rossmere Battle,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, July 13, 1925, 8.

55. “Giants Lose Lead in Colored League Race,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, July 18, 1925, 9.

56. “Giants Tumble 8th Ward, 9–6,” Lancaster New Era, September 7, 1925, 8.

57. “Columbia-Athletics Close Ball Season,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, September 23, 1925, 11; “Three Ward Hurlers Feel Sting of Giant Bludgeons,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, September 28, 1925, 8.

58. Robert D. Price, “No Cause to Kick,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, June 4, 1925, 8.

59. “Harrisburg Club of N.Y.P. Loop Play Giants This Week,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, April 13, 1926, 16.

60. “Ben Taylor,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Database, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=taylo01ben.

61. “1926 Harrisburg Giants,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Database, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/team.php?yearID=1926&teamID=HBG.

62. Dr. Layton Revel and Luis Munoz, “Forgotten Heroes: John Beckwith,” Center for Negro League Baseball Research, 2014, https://irp.cdn-website.com/33d0c3d0/files/uploaded/John-Beckwith.pdf.

63. “1926 Harrisburg Giants,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Database.

64. “Giants Defeat Senators Again,” Lancaster New Era, April 19, 1926, 9.

65. “Pritchett In Unusual Form,” Lancaster New Era, May 10, 1926, 8.

66. “Giants Plaster Deal’s Flowers,” Lancaster New Era, July 12, 1926, 9.

67. “Yorke Will See Action Sunday,” Lancaster New Era, September 10, 1926, 14.

68. “Camden Bows to Giants Twice,” Lancaster New Era, September 13, 1926, 9.

69. “‘Lefty’ George Will Twirl For All-Stars,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, September 17, 1926, 14.

70. “Giants Capture Pair of Games,” Lancaster New Era, September 20, 1926, 10.

71. Beer, Oscar Charleston.

72. “Charleston to Remain With Harrisburg Club,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, March 8, 1927, 14.

73. “Oscar Charleston,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Database, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=charl01osc.

74. “Rap Dixon,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Database, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=dixon01rap.

75. “Lancaster Black Sox Club Tumbles Frey and Weaver,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, April 18, 1927, 9.

76. “Sports,” Lancaster Sunday News, May 1, 1927. 8.

77. “Not This Time, Charleston!” Lancaster New Era, April 25, 1927, 17.

78. “Camden Club Meets Harrisburg, Sunday,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, June 2, 1927, 15.

79. “Jersey Lads Hold Four Run Lead in Last Half of Ninth,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, June 6, 1927, 8.

80. “Harrisburg Giants Defeat Bacharach’s,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, July 5, 1927, 10.

81. “Harrisburg Colored Giants to Meet Camden Nine at Camden,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, August 16, 1927, 10.

82. “Homers Decide Rossmere Game,” Lancaster New Era, August 22, 1927, 11.

83. “Inclement Weather Halts Local Games,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, August 29, 1927, 9.

84. “Harrisburg Giants Easily Triumph Over Philadelphia Elks, 12 to 1,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, September 5, 1927, 5.

85. “Harrisburg Giants Easily Triumph.”

86. “Giants Swamp Senators, 16–1,” Lancaster New Era, September 19, 1927, 15.

87. “8th Ward Not To Pace Ball Team on Field,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, March 6, 1928, 17.

88. “New H-Burg Giant Nine is Organized,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, April 6, 1928, 20.

89. “Holtwood Shut Out,” Lancaster New Era, July 25, 1928, 11; “Giants and Ward Nines to Battle,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, July 28, 1928, 12; “N. Shuman Holds Foe Until Eighth Inning,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, July 9, 1928, 10; “Close to 800 Fans See Giants Win, 8–1 Score,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, June 11, 1928, 12; “Sports Results,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, June 18, 1928, 10; “Harrisburg Ball Club Registers Four Run Spree in Second Frame,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, June 25, 1928, 12.

90. “Stoke’s Twirling Enables C-Ville To Capture Fray,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, August 6, 1928, 11.

91. “General Laundry Bows to Giants,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, August 18, 1928, 11.

92. “Saltenberger Masters Giants in Fine Style,” Lancaster Daily Intelligencer, August 27, 1928, 10.

93. St. Joseph’s Catholic Club Records, obtained via email from board member Denny Kaiser.

94. Dr. Revel Layton and Luis Munoz, “Forgotten Heroes: Spottswood Poles,” Center for Negro League Baseball Research, 2013, https://irp.cdn-website.com/33d0c3d0/files/uploaded/Spottswood-Poles-Book.pdf; Scott Orris, director, “They Were Giants,” Lineage Line Films, 2016, https://vimeo.com/386357211.