Hilldale Athletic Club 1910–1932 Darby, Pennsylvania |
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League titles | 1923 • 1924 • 1925 | ||||
Negro World Series titles | 1925 |
The Hilldale Athletic Club (informally known as Darby Daisies) were an African American professional baseball team based in Darby, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia.
Established as a boys team in 1910, the Hilldales were developed by their early manager, then owner Ed Bolden to be one of the powerhouse Negro league baseball teams. They won the first three Eastern Colored League pennants beginning in 1923 and in 1925 won the second Colored World Series. Hall of Fame player Judy Johnson was a Hilldale regular for most its professional era with twelve seasons in fifteen years 1918–1932. Pitcher Phil Cockrell played for Hilldale throughout those years. Oscar Charleston, Biz Mackey, Louis Santop, Chaney White, and Jesse "Nip" Winters were also important Hilldale players in the 1920s.
Ed Bolden founded the team in 1910 as an amateur athletic club for local young men. Devere Thompson was the first manager but Bolden took over as manager himself before the end of the first season. The club incorporated November 1916, as Hilldale Baseball and Exhibition Company, and began to hire some established players.Spot Poles and Bill Pettus led the 1917 team to a 23-15-1 record.
Hilldale and the Atlantic City Bacharach Giants played as eastern "Associates" of the western Negro National League in 1920 and 1921. In the latter season they held a four game series in September with the winner to face the NNL champion Chicago American Giants. After both teams won two games, the American Giants traveled east to play one series each. Chicago defeated the Bacharach Giants 2-1-1 but Hilldale beat Chicago 3-2-1.