Atlanta Black Crackers
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Atlanta Black Crackers (1919–c. 1952) Atlanta, Georgia |
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The Atlanta Black Crackers (originally known as the Atlanta Cubs) were a professional Negro league baseball team which played during the early-to-mid-20th century. They were primarily a minor Negro league team; however in the brief period they played as a major Negro league team, they won the second half of the 1938 split-season but lost the play-off for the Pennant.
The Atlanta Black Crackers were founded as the Atlanta Cubs following the start of the 20th century with a semiprofessional team of black college students. They began to play independently in 1919 and changed their name to the Black Crackers because fans had already begun to call them by that name. They were named after the local White league team, the Atlanta Crackers, of the Class A Southern Association. It was not unusual for White and Negro league teams to have similar names, but in this case "Cracker" ironically happened to be a colloquial and originally pejorative nickname for rural southern Whites.
The Black Crackers joined the minor league Negro Southern League in March 1920. Their uniforms, bats, baseballs, and other supplies were donated by their white Southern Association counterpart, the Atlanta Crackers.
The team played their home games at Ponce de Leon Park, along with the white Atlanta Crackers. However, the Black Crackers were not allowed to play at Ponce de Leon Park when the Crackers had a home game. The Black Crackers were then forced to play at either Morehouse College or Morris Brown College.
In 1938, the Black Crackers were purchased and invited to play in a newly formed major Negro league, the Negro American League. The team went on to win the second half pennant in 1938, but scheduling problems and umpire controversies caused their series with the Memphis Red Sox to be canceled. The team was moved to Indianapolis following the 1938 season, and played as the Indianapolis ABCs.
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