leland giants, 1905

Spalding Chicago Annual 1905If you haven’t already, check out the baseball books available at the Internet Archive.  In the 1900s and 1910s Spalding published a number of guides for local city baseball scenes, and the Internet Archive has volumes for Denver, Cleveland, Chicago, and New York. 

In particular, the 1905 Chicago Amateur Base Ball Annual and Inter-City Baseball Association Year Book is a treasure trove for anyone interested in semi-pro and independent professional baseball in that era.  There are team photographs of well-known semi-pro clubs like the West Ends, Gunthers, Spaldings, and All-Chicagos.  And, right in the middle of all these white teams, there is this photo of the 1905 Leland Giants:

Leland Giants 1905

2 responses

  1. james e. brunson Avatar
    james e. brunson

    Beautiful! Great archaeological digging!

  2. Bill Mullins Avatar
    Bill Mullins

    Google Books has similar volumes. Go to http://books.google.com/books?id=E6gpAAAAYAAJ and download the PDF file (the pagination for the online version is weird). Go to p 473 for a different picture of the Leland Giants (from 1907 guide?).

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