Frank Leland

Frank C. Leland (1869 – November 14, 1914) was an American professional baseball player, field manager and club owner in the Negro leagues.

Early life and career beginnings

Leland was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee from 1879 to 1886.

He began his professional career with the Washington Capital Cities in the 1887 National League of Colored Baseball Clubs, a team which played no league games before the experiment collapsed. He "moved to Chicago and was instrumental in organizing and developing five successful baseball teams in that city" (Riley, 475).

In 1888, he organized the black amateur Union Base Ball Club, with sponsorship from some of Chicago's black businessmen, Henry Elby, Albert Donegan, and W. S. Peters.

While Rube Foster continued to run the Leland Giants Baseball Club, Leland started a new corporation in October 1909 called "Leland's Chicago Giants Baseball Club" or, in short "Chicago Giants" opening his offices at 2551 State Street in Chicago. He signed Bill Lindsay as his first pitcher.

The confusion over the Leland name amongst the teams changed as Rube Foster changed the Leland Giants name to the Chicago American Giants, and Leland's team became the Chicago Giants.

Frank C. Leland produced and worked with well-known pre-Negro league baseball players: Bill Lindsay, Walter Ball, Harry Buckner, William Horn, George Hopkins, Harry Hyde, William Monroe, George Wright, Harry Moore, Pete Burns, Lewis Reynolds, William Smith, Dangerfield Talbert, Bert Jones, Nathan Harris, Rube Foster, and Andrew Campbell. and his father's name was Charles, (noted as "Chas.") according to his death certificate.