Indianapolis ABC's
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Indianapolis ABCs 1913–1926 Indianapolis, Indiana |
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The Indianapolis ABCs were a Negro league baseball team that played both as an independent club and as a charter member of the first Negro National League (NNL). They claimed the western championship of black baseball in 1915 and 1916, and finished second in the 1922 NNL. Among their best players were Baseball Hall of Fame members Oscar Charleston, Biz Mackey, and Ben Taylor.
Originally organized by the American Brewing Company (thus "A.B.C.s") in the early 20th century, the team was managed by Ran Butler in 1911. It was then purchased by Thomas Bowser, a white bail bondsman, in 1912. Two years later, C. I. Taylor, formerly of the Birmingham Giants and West Baden Sprudels, purchased a half-interest in the ABCs, and became the team's manager. Taylor stocked the ABCs with his brothers Ben, John, and Jim, all among the best African-American players in baseball. Taylor was a noted judge of young talent; some of the well-known players he brought to the big time included center fielder Charleston, second baseman Bingo DeMoss, third baseman-outfielder Dave Malarcher, outfielder George Shively, and pitchers Dizzy Dismukes, Jim Jeffries, and Dicta Johnson.
By 1915, the ABCs were already challenging Rube Foster's Chicago American Giants for supremacy in black baseball. That year they defeated the American Giants in a series for the western black championship, though Foster disputed the title. That year, Taylor cut a deal to use the park left when the city's entry in the Federal League dissolved; Bowser disagreed with the deal, and two owners parted company, each organizing a rival ABCs squad. Taylor had the better of the contest for talent, retaining the core of the 1915 team, and again claiming a disputed championship over the American Giants.
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