A Scarce Photo Group of the Negro Baseball Club Silver City Giants

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/7/2023

Best explained by starting with a printed card,5-1/2" x 3", being an invitation "Yourself and a Friend are Cordially invited to attend the First Dance ... to be given by the SILVER CITY GIANTS BASEBALL CLUB Thanksgiving, November 29th 1922 ..." The photo group consists of seven snap shot photos of the Silver City Negro Baseball Club which removed from a photo album as evidenced by the residue on the back. Several of the photos have pencil notations; (1) Team photo of 11 player, pencil "Silver City Giants", (2) Another team photo, 11 players, (3) Another team photo, 10 players, (4) Another team photo, 10 players, (5) Several players on the field, pencil "At The Ball Game, Meaderville", (6) Two players, pencil "Walker and Woodruff", (7) Single player, pencil "Mouriel Freeman".Background: Frank Yamer had come to Butte from Louisiana about 1916 and established the Silver City Club for his fellow African Americans by 1917. The second-floor club was a combination dance hall, saloon, pool hall, and cardroom and became a popular venue. Yamer also sponsored and managed a Black baseball team initially called the Silver City Giants, but they played in Montana leagues as the Butte Colored Giants, one of the few Black teams in the country to play in otherwise all-white leagues. The Giants attracted Black players especially from Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Girlie Fenter, one of the most prominent team members, hailed from Arkadelphia, and was joined in Butte by three brothers-in-law, McKinley, Hobart, and Ernest Walker, all from Arkadelphia. In 1922, the team entered the otherwise all-white Butte Independent League, defeating five other local teams to lay claim to the league championship. Returning to league play again in 1923, the Colored Giants successfully defeated Meaderville in the playoffs, securing back-to-back championships and a place in Butte baseball lore.

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