Dallas Black Giants history: the players to know
The Dallas Black Giants had some incredible players don their uniform in the early to mid-1900s. Here are four notable players to keep in mind when you see the RoughRiders wear similar uniforms during the 2022 season.
Where should we start? No better place than Ernie Banks. Not only is Banks the most well-known player to have donned a Dallas Black Giants uniform, but “Mr. Cub” is one of the best shortstops in the history of baseball. The two-time Major League Baseball MVP and 14-time All-Star broke into semi-pro baseball at the tender age of 17 with the Black Giants in 1948. He was so impressive that he caught the eye of Negro League legend Cool Papa Bell, who was the manager and scout for the farm team of the Kansas City Monarchs — the most legendary of all Negro League teams.
Bell then introduced the young Banks to another legendary figure, Baseball Hall of Famer Buck O’Neil — the player-manager for the Monarchs — who immediately took Banks under his wing.
Following three seasons with the Monarchs, Banks debuted with the Cubs in 1953 as a 22-year-old and went on to play 19 seasons, all in Chicago, accumulating 512 home runs and 67.7 WAR on his way to being voted into the Hall of Fame in 1977. Banks passed away in 2015.
While Blair was a force on the mound and as a manager during his years with the Black Giants and his one season in the Negro American League with the Indianapolis Clowns in 1948, he became most well-known for his work outside of baseball. After going to Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas (the same high school as Ernie Banks), Blair went on to be the youngest black sergeant to serve in the Army during 1945 in World War II.
Following his baseball career, the man known as “Skinny Legs” was a key piece in the Dallas Civil Rights Movement for 50 years, organizing the first local media awards for African Americans in 1975 — the Elite News Awards ceremony — as well as the first Dallas Martin Luther King Jr. Parade in 1986. Blair passed away in 2014.
James Raliegh “Biz” Mackey, who would soon be known as one of the best defensive catchers in the history of baseball, grew up in Caldwell County just south of Austin, Texas. While there is some speculation as to whether he played for the Black Giants in 1918 and 1919 (newspapers referred to a “Riley McKey” who was believed to be Biz), there is no doubt that he was a mammoth in the history of the Negro Leagues.
Mackey went on to win two Negro Leagues World Series titles, a batting title (hitting .423 in 1923 with Hilldale) and was voted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.
Mackey was so talented behind the plate, that some writers of the time picked him as the catcher on their All-Negro Leagues Team over the incredible Josh Gibson — who was said to be the Babe Ruth of Black baseball.
A Waco, Texas native, Cooper was a pitcher best known for his immaculate control with the Detroit Stars and Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League and Negro American League in the 1920s and 30s. After he started with the Black Giants in 1919, Cooper once went 43 consecutive innings without walking a batter in Negro Leagues play. He was named as the best pitcher in the Negro Leagues during the 1923 season by statistician Bill James.
Known for his ability to change speeds and throw a variety of pitches, Cooper made the All-Star team at the age of 40. He won Negro American League pennants in 1937, 1939 and 1940 before passing away in the spring of 1941 at the age of 45.
The man nicknamed “Lefty” was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Tickets are now on presale for Dallas Black Giants Nights (June 19th, August 14th and September 7th)! Visit the website by clicking here or call 972.334.1993 to secure your seats now!
