As always I have to give major thanks to my sponsor, Ebbets Field Flannels for taking care of me with merch especially before upcoming tours and travels. This year before embarking on my annual Japan tour, Ebbets send me over a box filled with some great wares including their new Four Bagger hoodies including this beautiful Negro League essential of the Homestead Grays. As a preserver of culture, especially Black culture, I always try my best to represent and carry it with me whenever I travel to show the rich history of my people and their heritage.
The Homestead Grays (also known as Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays) were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro Leagues in the United States.
The team was formed in 1912 by Cumberland Posey, and remained in continuous operation for 38 seasons. The team was originally based in Homestead Pennsylvania, adjacent to Pittsburgh. By the 1920s, with increasing popularity in the Pittsburgh region, the team retained the name “Homestead” but crossed the Monongahela River to play all home games in Pittsburgh, at the Pittsburg Pirates’ home Forbes Field and the Pittsburg Crawfords’ home Greenlee Field.
From 1940 until 1942, the Grays played half of their home games in Washington, D.C., while remaining in Pittsburgh for all other home stands. As attendance at their games in the nation’s capital grew, by 1943, the Grays were playing more than two-thirds of their home games in Washington.