Atlanta Black Crackers
The Atlanta Black Crackers played in Nashville, Little Rock, New Orleans, Mobile, Nashville, Memphis and Chattanooga. Primarily a Southern team, they usually plaed in Atlanta’s historic Ponce de leon Park when the white Minor League Atlanta Crackers were out of town. The team, formed in 1938, captured the second half championship of the Negro American League. Top players include James “Red” Moore, Roy Welmaker, and Nat Peeples. Othello Nelson “Chico” Renfroe got his start as a batboy with the Atlanta Black Crackers before going on to fame with the Kansas City Monarchs, Cleveland Buckeyes and Indy Clowns.
The Atlanta Black Crackers team played mostly in the Negro Southern League. But they had the one year venture in 1938 in the Negro American League. This is when they won the national championship. At the beginning of the spring there were two separate teams vying to represent Atlanta in the Negro American League, but after the two squads finally merged into a single team carrying the name of the Atlanta Black Crackers, they continued to improve until they copped the second half title. In the scheduled playoff against the first half champion Memphis Red Sox, they lost the first two games played, but after conflict due to game cancellations, the league president ruled the unfinished series a “no contest,” and a league champion was undetermined.
The following season, for financial reasons, the franchise moved to Indianapolis and played in the Negro American League under the name of the Indianapolis ABC’s. However, once again financial difficulties led to their dropping from league play and disbanding. They later reorganized and returned to play in the Negro Southern League.
Source: James A. Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1994.
Duration:
1938Honors:
Second Half Champions (1938)Affiliations:
Independent, Negro Southern League, Negro American League (1938)
