Teams of
the Negro Leagues

The Original Eight

The Chicago Union Giants were organized by Frank Leland in 1901, and in 1905 the club became the Leland Giants, under Lelands’s managerial command until he turned the reins over to Rube Foster in 1907.

In 1910 owner rated and formed two distinct teams, with Foster’s group winning the legal right to retain the name of Leland Giants. Leland’s new team was called the Chicago Giants and continued through the deadball era, becoming a charter member of the Negro National League and fielding a league team the first two years (1920-21) of its existence. After dropping out of the Negro National League, the Chicago Giants were no longer a major-league-quality ballclub, although the team continued to function into the later ‘20s.

Honors: None

Duration: 1910 – 1921 

Affiliations: Independent (‘10-’19), NNL (1920 – 1921)

Source: James A. Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1994.