Richard Powell Negro Leagues Baseball Correspondence

Collection

Identifier: MSSP_10175

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Content Description

This collection contains papers and correspondence gathered by Richard Powell in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Powell was an executive with the Baltimore Elite Giants, an African American professional baseball team. The Elite Giants played in the Negro National League from 1933-1948 and the Negro American League in 1949-1950. Powell's correspondence includes letters from opposing teams trying to schedule games and letters from teams in Major League Baseball and Minor League baseball arranging the purchase of player contracts from the Elite Giants, including the contracts of pitcher Joe Black and infielder Jim Gilliam. The collection also includes letters documenting Powell's unsuccessful attempts to find a job as a scout for Major League baseball organizations. The collection contains blank uniform player contracts for the Negro National League and the Negro American League. Formats includes letters, contracts, and receipts.

Dates

Creation: c. 1948-1952

Creator

Powell, Richard Dennis, 1911-2004 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright status for collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Biographical / Historical

Richard Dennis Powell (1911-2004) was a baseball executive with the Baltimore Elite Giants, an African American professional baseball team, in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Born and raised in the Baltimore area, Powell was involved with the effort that relocated the Nashville Elite Giants to Baltimore in 1938. Over the years, he performed many roles for the Elite Giants, including traveling secretary, business manager, and vice president. After the demise of the Elite Giants in 1951, Powell tried unsucessfully to obtain a job with a team in Major League Baseball.

Biographical / Historical

The Baltimore Elite Giants were an African American professional baseball team founded in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1920. The Nashville Elite Giants played in the Negro Southern League and the Negro National League in the 1920s and 1930s. After briefly relocating to Columbus, Ohio, and Washington, DC, the Elite Giants moved to Baltimore in 1938. The Baltimore Elite Giants competed in the Negro National League from 1938 through 1948 and the Negro American League in 1949 and 1950. As Major League Baseball organizations began signing more African American players in the late 1940s, many African American baseball teams, like the Elite Giants, faced financial difficulties. The Elite Giants folded in about 1951.