The Columbia Giants were a professional, black baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 team based in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century, prior to the Negro Leagues.

Founding

In 1899, a group known as the Columbia Club, organized the Columbia Giants under the direction of John W. Patterson

John W. Patterson

John W. Patterson was an African-American baseball outfielder in the Negro Leagues. He played for major teams from 1893 to 1907....

. Many of the original players including Patterson came from the recently disbanded Page Fence Giants

Page Fence Giants

One of the top black baseball teams of the 1890s, the Page Fence Giants were based in Adrian, Michigan and named after the Page Woven Wire Fence Company. The team was sponsored by the company's founder, J. Wallace Page....

. Patterson also signed Chicago Unions

Chicago Unions

The Chicago Unions were a professional, black baseball team that played in the late 19th century, prior to the formation of the Negro Leagues.- Founding :...

 pitcher Harry Buckner.

1899 season

In 1899, managed by Al Garrett, they beat the Chicago Unions for the western championship, winning game one 4-2 and game two 6-0. Stars included (Grant) Home Run Johnson

Home Run Johnson

Grant "Home Run" Johnson was an American shortstop in baseball's Negro Leagues. He played for many of the greatest teams of the deadball era. Born in Findlay, Ohio, he died at age 88 in Buffalo, New York....

 at shortstop, Charlie Grant

Charlie Grant

Charles Grant was an African American second baseman in negro league baseball. Grant nearly crossed the baseball color line decades before Jackie Robinson when Major League Baseball manager John McGraw attempted to pass him off as a Native American named "Tokohama".-Background:Grant was born in...

 at secondbase, and (George) Chappie Johnson

Chappie Johnson

George "Chappie" Johnson was an African-American baseball catcher and field manager in the Negro leagues. He played for many of the best teams around 1900 and 1910 and he crossed racial boundaries as a teacher and coach....

 at firstbase and catcher. They lost a cross-country title match with the Cuban X-Giants

Cuban X-Giants

The Cuban X-Giants were an African-American professional baseball team for about ten seasons around 1900. Originally most of the players were former Cuban Giants, or ex-Giants....

 by a 7-4 score. Home Run Johnson homered in two of the three major matches.

1900 season

In 1900 no championship was played and the Unions and Columbia Giants both claimed to be number one. Home Run Johnson went to the Union Giants but was replaced by future Hall-of-Famer Sol White

Sol White

* , Personal profiles at Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. – identical to Riley * , by Sol White. Compiled and with an introduction by Jerry Malloy -External links:...

. Pitcher Billy Holland also joined the team that year.

Merge

In 1901, Frank Leland

Frank Leland

Frank C. Leland was an African-American baseball player, field manager and club owner in the Negro Leagues.Leland was born in Memphis, Tennessee...

 combined his Chicago Unions

Chicago Unions

The Chicago Unions were a professional, black baseball team that played in the late 19th century, prior to the formation of the Negro Leagues.- Founding :...

 with the Giants and renamed the team the Chicago Union Giants, which was renamed to the Leland Giants

Leland Giants

The Chicago Union Giants, the top black baseball team in the Midwest or West in the first decade of the 20th century, changed its name in 1905 to the Leland Giants, after manager and owner Frank Leland....

in 1905.