Auther: The Oakland Giants of Grove Street Park
From SABR member Ron Auther at Shadow Ball Express on March 15, 2019:
This amazing photograph of the Oakland Giants tells a very unique story in itself. The kids in the photograph differ in race from the men in the photograph. Upon closer scrutiny, we can see the make up of the team, and who played on it; at least on that day. Not much is known about this African American team, other than they were a sight to see when they took the field, and were crowd pleasers to one and all who enjoyed the pleasure of watching them take up the ball and bat.
Their home field was Grove Street Park, which was located on in Oakland, California on 57th & Grove Street, which is now called Martin Luther King Jr. Way. There, they met such teams as Berkeley Independents, Burlingame, the Brock & Lott team, the Clarions, Hirschfields, the Monarchs, the Pennant Bars, Mill Valley, and Watsonville. Grove Street Park was once solely leased out by Cy Moreing of the California State League from the Stockton area, who once owned the Oakland franchise of the California based league.
Read the full article here: https://shadowballexpress.wordpress.com/2019/03/15/where-they-cut-their-teeth-the-oakland-giants-of-grove-street-park/
Originally published: March 15, 2019. Last Updated: March 15, 2019.