The Indianapolis ABCs were formed around the turn of the century, playing company teams from around the city; they soon played other teams in Indiana, including some white teams. Their emergence coincided with the remarkable growth of black baseball, and by 1916 the ABCs won their first major championship. When the Negro National League was formed in 1920, Indianapolis was one of its charter members. But player raids by the Eastern Colored League, formed in 1923, hurt the ABCs and by the Depression the team was fading into ...
Read More
The Indianapolis ABCs were formed around the turn of the century, playing company teams from around the city; they soon played other teams in Indiana, including some white teams. Their emergence coincided with the remarkable growth of black baseball, and by 1916 the ABCs won their first major championship. When the Negro National League was formed in 1920, Indianapolis was one of its charter members. But player raids by the Eastern Colored League, formed in 1923, hurt the ABCs and by the Depression the team was fading into oblivion. The team was briefly resurrected as a Negro league team in the late 1930s, but was otherwise relegated to the semiprofessional ranks until its demise in the 1940s. Through contemporary newspaper accounts, extensive research and interviews with the few former ABC players still living, this is the story of the Indianapolis team and the rise of Negro League baseball. The work includes a roster of ABC players, with short biographies of the most prominent.
Read Less
Paul Debono's book The Indianapolis ABCs was interesting as a quick read but all the more valuable to me for the research. I did a book (The Bill Cook Story -- Ready, Fire, Aim) that included references to Bill and Gayle Cook's astounding renovation work done at the French Lick and West Baden hotels. I wish I had seen Mr. Debono's book first, because he told me some things I didn't know about the link between baseball teams at the hotels (particularly West Baden) and the rich role that the ABCs played in baseball's indefensibly slow passage from segregation to the integration signaled by Jackie Robinson's arrival. I am now involved with the new Monroe County Sports Hall of Fame, and Mr. Debono's work will be invaluable to me and to us as we advance with it, again because of things I learned from this book. It's a treasurepiece of history.
