Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -

Sale 2697 - Lot 376

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(SPORTS--BASEBALL.) Issue of the Freeman newspaper with photographs of the barnstorming St. Louis Cubs. 8 pages, 23½ x 17 inches, on 4 detached sheets; toned and brittle, separations at folds, moderate edge wear not affecting the baseball content. Indianapolis, IN, 12 June 1915
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Additional Details

The Freeman was the first illustrated Black newspaper in the United States, with a national audience. This issue contains what are likely the only surviving images of the short-lived St. Louis Cubs. They were a strong barnstorming team in 1914 and 1915, in the period before the 1920 launch of the Negro National League and organized high-level Black baseball. The team's manager and officers are shown in suits, and 9 players are shown posing in action. One of the players shown here, first baseman Oscar Hutt, remained in town to play (briefly) with the St. Louis Giants in the inaugural season of the Negro National League. Left fielder Fred Bostic, right fielder Eddie Tyler, and possibly others also later played in the league. Manager James W. Fuqua of Chicago is best known to history for managing the 1911 Louisville Tigers, where he used a woman named Josephine Brown as one of his regular pitchers.

Other baseball content on the same page includes an ad for the Chicago American Giants, with "games during the week while the White Sox are away." Run by Rube Foster, they were the dominant Black team of the era. News articles discuss two lesser clubs, the West Baden Sprudels and the 101 Ranch Baseball Club of Georgia. Another page is devoted mostly to baseball, including an American Giants box score and a photograph of Ben Taylor, "Demon Slugger of the A.B.C.s." Taylor was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.

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