Full Description
The Indianapolis ABCs were formed around the turn of the century, playing company teams from around the city; they soon played other teams in Indiana, including some white teams. Their emergence coincided with the remarkable growth of black baseball, and by 1916 the ABCs won their first major championship.
When the Negro National League was formed in 1920, Indianapolis was one of its charter members. But player raids by the Eastern Colored League, formed in 1923, hurt the ABCs and by the Depression the team was fading into oblivion. The team was briefly resurrected as a Negro league team in the late 1930s, but was otherwise relegated to the semiprofessional ranks until its demise in the 1940s. Through contemporary newspaper accounts, extensive research and interviews with the few former ABC players still living, this is the story of the Indianapolis team and the rise of Negro League baseball. The work includes a roster of ABC players, with short biographies of the most prominent.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Diamonds at the Crossroads
2. Laying the Foundation, 1867-1900
3. The Birth of the Indianapolis ABCs
4. The Home Team
5. Black Baseball and C.I. Taylor at an Indiana Health Resort
6. Difficult Years
7. The Press and Black Baseball in Indianapolis
8. C.I. Taylor Comes to Indianapolis
9. The Glory Years of the ABCs, 1915 and 1916
10. War Years, 1917-1919
11. Negro National League
12. Extra Innings, 1925-1940
Epilogue
Appendix I. Player Biographies
Appendix II. Statistics and Rosters of the ABCs
Appendix III Game Scores, 1902-1932
Notes
Bibliography
Index
