Denver White Elephants

The Denver White Elephants was a semi-professional independent African-American baseball team in Denver, Colorado, United States. The team was active from 1915 to 1935, and practiced at Broadway Park at 6th and Acoma Streets in Denver. The team played exhibition games against White teams. It was owned and led by Albert Henderson Wade Ross (A.H.W. Ross) (1884–1939), a businessman who ran the Rossonian Hotel in Denver's Five Points neighborhood.

The Denver Post Tournament was the most popular baseball event locally, Negro league baseball teams and African-American players were not allowed to participate until 1934. The Denver White Elephants and the Kansas City Monarchs were the first Black teams to participate at the Denver Post Tournament in 1934.

In 2020, the team was part of a museum exhibition called "Game Changers" at the History Colorado Center, which examined the role of African American baseball within the history of racial desegregation.

Players

References

  1. 1 2 Epting, Chris (June 4, 2019). Roadside Baseball: The Locations of America's Baseball Landmarks. Santa Monica Press. p. 406. ISBN 978-1-59580-791-5.
  2. ↑ Sanford, Jay (November 3, 2019). "The Negro Leagues". National Ballpark Museum.
  3. 1 2 3 Newman, Kyle (July 5, 2020). "As the Negro Leagues celebrates its centenary, a look at how Denver was integral in erasing baseball's color line". Denver Post.
  4. ↑ "Go Behind Colorado's Rich History Of African-American Baseball". CBS News. September 15, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  5. ↑ London, Nell (February 28, 2018). "The White Elephants, An All-Black Team, Once Ruled Denver Baseball". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  6. 1 2 Young, William A. (November 7, 2016). J.L. Wilkinson and the Kansas City Monarchs: Trailblazers in Black Baseball. McFarland. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-4766-6299-2.
  7. ↑ Reed, Byron (February 24, 2020). "History Colorado exhibit shows Denver's role in desegregating professional baseball". KUSA NBC. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  8. ↑ Dragseth, P. J. (August 21, 2021). Baseball and the House of David: The Legendary Barnstorming Teams, 1915-1956. McFarland. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-4766-7011-9.
  9. ↑ Repplinger, II, Matthew Kasper (May 20, 2013). Baseball in Denver. Arcadia Publishing. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-4396-4221-4.
  10. ↑ "Former Negro Leagues player Sam Holmes dies at 94; managed Town Club in Denver". The Denver Post. November 11, 2010. Retrieved February 11, 2023.