After the departure of the Black Sox in 1934, Baltimore did not have a significant black baseball team. In 1938, the Elite Giants moved to Baltimore from Washington, D.C, having formerly played in Nashville, Cleveland and Columbus. Like the Baltimore Black Sox, the Elites played their home games in Bugle Field, located at Biddle Street and Edison Highway. Tom Wilson, an African-American nightclub owner, owned the team from its 1921 inception in Nashville until 1946, when illness forced him to sell the franchise to Vernon Green, the team’s general manager.

The Elites joined the Negro National League in 1929. Eight years later, they found a home in Baltimore and quickly became a part of the city’s fabric among the growing African-American population. Although they were great competitors, the team that Wilson presided over ultimately lost out to the Homestead Grays, led by the legendary Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard. The Grays captured nine consecutive titles. In 1939, the Elites beat the pennant-winning Grays to capture the championship in a four-team postseason tournament.

The franchise joined the Negro American League after the demise of the Negro National League in 1948. The Elites captured the league title in 1949 and finished second in the East in 1950. The following year, the club, in dire financial straits, moved back to Nashville and played a single season before dissolving into history. A number of future major leaguers wore the uniform of the Baltimore Elite Giants, including Hall of Famers Roy Campanella and Leon Day and Junior Gilliam (1953 National League Rookie of the Year) and Joe Black.

Bready, James. Baseball in Baltimore: the First 100 Years. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.

Negro League Baseball site. http://www.negroleaguebaseball.com/teams/Baltimore_Elite_Giants.html