Night Game Under Lights / Colonels’ Baseball Park / Friday, August 26, 9 P.M. / Mohawk Giants / vs. / Hillsdale’s Baseball Club / of Washington D.C. South Atlantic Champs of 1937 / Regular Prices

Hudson, 1938. Chip with loss to corner, discoloration to lower portion, overall good with fine contrast. Good.. An advertisement for a game between the barnstorming team the Mohawk Colored Giants and Washington D.C's Hillsdale Club, taking place in the Colonels’ stadium near Hudson, New York in 1938.[1] The Giants reformed in 1929 after an initial stint in Schenectady in 1913–1914, and were active for around fifteen years. Washington, D.C. had a robust network of African American teams during the period. Sam Lacy, who played semi-professional baseball after college, apparently played for the club at one point.[2] We find no record of the “South Atlantic” division, but it could very likely have been hyperbole to build enthusiasm for the game.

[1] “Mohawk Colored Giants vs. Hillsdale,” Hudson Evening Register (Hudson, NY), August 25, 1938, sports section, listing games scheduled for Friday, August 26, 1938.
[2] “Sam Lacy,” Contemporary Black Biography, vol. 54 (Thomson Gale, 2006).