Denver White Elephants Explained

The Denver White Elephants was a semi-professional independent African-American baseball team in Denver, Colorado, United States.^[1] The team was active from 1915 to 1935, and practiced at Broadway Park at 6th and Acoma Streets in Denver.^[2] The team played exhibition games against White teams.^[3] It was owned and led by Albert Henderson Wade Ross (A.H.W. Ross) (1884–1939), a businessman who ran the Rossonian Hotel in Denver's Five Points neighborhood.^{[4] [5]}

The Denver Post Tournament was the most popular baseball event locally, Negro league baseball teams and African-American players were not allowed to participate until 1934.^[6] The Denver White Elephants and the Kansas City Monarchs were the first Black teams to participate at the Denver Post Tournament in 1934.

In 2020, the team was part of a museum exhibition called "Game Changers" at the History Colorado Center, which examined the role of African American baseball within the history of racial desegregation.^[7]

Players

• Tom “Pistol Pete” Albright, pitcher^{[3] [8]}
• Theodore “Bubbles” Anderson, infielder^{[3] [9]}
• Sam Holmes^[10]

Notes and References

1. Book: Epting, Chris . Roadside Baseball: The Locations of America's Baseball Landmarks . 2019-06-04 . Santa Monica Press . 978-1-59580-791-5 . 406 . en.
2. Web site: Sanford . Jay . November 3, 2019 . The Negro Leagues . National Ballpark Museum.
3. Web site: Newman . Kyle . July 5, 2020 . As the Negro Leagues celebrates its centenary, a look at how Denver was integral in erasing baseball's color line . Denver Post.
4. Web site: 2019-09-15 . Go Behind Colorado's Rich History Of African-American Baseball . 2022-02-06 . CBS News . en-US.
5. Web site: London. Nell. The White Elephants, An All-Black Team, Once Ruled Denver Baseball. 2022-02-06. Colorado Public Radio. en.
6. Book: Young, William A. . J.L. Wilkinson and the Kansas City Monarchs: Trailblazers in Black Baseball . 2016-11-07 . McFarland . 978-1-4766-6299-2 . 90 . en.
7. Web site: Reed . Byron . February 24, 2020 . History Colorado exhibit shows Denver's role in desegregating professional baseball . 2023-02-11 . KUSA NBC . en-US.
8. Book: Dragseth, P. J. . Baseball and the House of David: The Legendary Barnstorming Teams, 1915-1956 . 2021-08-21 . McFarland . 978-1-4766-7011-9 . 106 . en.
9. Book: Repplinger, II, Matthew Kasper . Baseball in Denver . 2013-05-20 . Arcadia Publishing . 978-1-4396-4221-4 . 116 . en.
10. Web site: 2010-11-11 . Former Negro Leagues player Sam Holmes dies at 94; managed Town Club in Denver . 2023-02-11 . . en-US.