Rhode Island College Professor Emeritus Documents State’s History of Black Baseball

The history of Black baseball in Rhode Island is documented in the book “Black Greys and Colored Giants: A Comprehensive Guide to Black Baseball in Rhode Island, 1870-1949.” It was written by Robert Cvornyek, Professor Emeritus of History at Rhode Island College. He’s doing a virtual talk Tuesday for the Rhode Island Historical Society, and he discussed the book with The Public’s Radio Morning Edition Host Luis Hernandez.

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

TRANSCRIPT:

Luis Hernandez: When did black baseball players start playing professionally or even organized baseball in Rhode Island?

Robert Cvornyek: Well, when you take a look at a state like Rhode Island and Massachusetts, also, you know, they never had teams in the professional Negro Leagues as they were called in Rhode Island.You had teams that played at multiple levels, amateur or sandlot semi-professional. But I will make an argument that in 1931, Providence did have a professional black baseball team. And that’s a really sort of fascinating story. In Rhode Island, you have a very wealthy numbers runner, Arthur Black, who is also owner of the Providence Colored Giants, and he brings a number of professional ballplayers up to Providence. So if we’re taking a look at when the game begins, you know, the amateur game begins, or at least the first recorded game in 1870–in Providence, by the 1880s–you’re kind of inching towards semi-professional with the Providence Colored Greys, you know, they’re playing really for prize money. But the significant transition and a significant moment, I would say a turning point in Rhode Island, black baseball comes in 1905, when Daniel Whitehead creates the Providence Colored Giants and incorporates them in the state of Rhode Island at the Secretary of State’s office, as a money-making operation, as a business. So in 1905, you have an African American sports commercial venture.

Hernandez: I read that Whitehead was considered the father of Black baseball in Rhode Island. Is that true? Who is he?

Cvornyek: Dan Whitehead is the person who creates, you know, probably the most famous Black team in Rhode Island, the Providence Colored Giants. I mean, that team has almost an uninterrupted run from 1905 to 1932. And he is the person sort of responsible for the commercialization of Black baseball. Whitehead is a ballplayer himself. He travels north, he’s got offers from teams in Brooklyn, he’s got offers from teams in Boston, winds up in, in Providence, and creates his own team. But he’s very, very good at two things. And this is what I think really makes him, you know, the father of Black baseball, and that’s, and that’s not a term that I coined. I mean, that’s a term that was coined by Armando Perry, who was the foremost Black sports writer at the time. He has wonderful connections to get really top quality ballplayers to Providence, he always manages to have enough Providence players as a local draw. But he is bringing in top flight players from Philadelphia, from Boston, from New York. So his teamsare exceptionally good. And the other thing is, he’s really wonderful at working that promotional angle. So his ability to bring players in and his ability to schedule, you know, really makes him a significant figure in the history of the game.

Hernandez: The first professional game, played at Providence is Kinsley Park, was 1921. And it was between the Cleveland Colored Giants, a team mostly of Black players in the Providence Independence, a team made up of mostly white players. Is that correct?

Cvornyek: Well, this the significance, I think, you know, that League and the significance of that game is that it represents a different model to integration. Most people are familiar with the Jackie Robinson story, where you have one African American who shatters the color line, you know, professionally in 47 signs with the Dodgers actually in 45. And that’s the sort of the narrative that we grow up with. The Continental league incorporated an entire Black team. And that was something that Major League Baseball could have considered, you know, when it decided to integrate. But we’re looking at two very different models of integration. One is the slow integration of Black ballplayers onto an all-white team, or the second, which happens in 21 is the incorporation of an entire Black team into a professional league.

Hernandez: And I keep thinking about, you know, again, this is the 1920s and what America was like? And I just wondered: How did people respond to seeing a mostly white team, all-white team against an all-Black Team?

Cvornyek: African Americans are looking at baseball as a way of demonstrating that they are equal and certainly deserving of first class citizenship and they’re going to use the diamond as just another arena to demonstrate that. White players on the other hand, or maybe certainly not as enlightened, and in many instances, you know, white players and white promoters. As I see money in playing these kinds of games. You know, Rhode Island isn’t immune from the sort of racial animosities that we oftentimes simply identify with the south. 

Hernandez: Let me finish with this. I’m wondering, in your research for this book, was it easy finding the information? Was it easy to find the references in the sources? Because I wondered how much of that history had been documented properly?

Cvornyek: Oh, that was the most difficult part, you know, I’ve been at this board for 20 years, you know, began this project, actually in 2002. So it’s taken a very, very long time to compile what went into the book, you know, you have to rely on newspapers to a considerable extent. So after 1932, the Boston Chronicle, which is the Boston African American newspaper, which then becomes the Providence Chronicle is a wonderful source. So from 1931, you can get fairly good coverage ofall Black sports, but especially Black baseball, but prior to 32. It’s rough and the 19th century is particularly difficult. So, like most folks, you know, you begin your time at the Rhode Island Historical Society going through the old newspapers and the materials that they have there. But I have to tell you that the State Archives, you know, I worked at the State Archives with Ken Carlsen, and he was able to retrieve for me incorporation papers, not just for the Providence Colored Giants and 1905, but the Cleveland Colored Giants. So Gibson Gibbons incorporates that team. And then a little bit later, we have incorporation papers for other Black teams. So you have to be a little creative. And the fact that you can go to those state sources, which provide a lot of information, I found out who a lot of the silent partners were, who were supporting some of these Black teams that you could only get from the incorporation papers. And one last thing, he had teams playing into the late 40s, I had an opportunity to interview a lot of these, a lot of these men, I found out so much from talking to them. That you know, by the time you get into that period, the oral histories, you know, really sort of, you know, provide the flesh of the story.