Pete Booker Explained

Pete Booker
Position:	First baseman / Catcher
Bats:	Right
Throws:	Right
Birth Date:	1886
Birth Place:	Richmond, Virginia
Death Date:	September 22, 1922
Death Place:	Chicago, Illinois
Teams:	Leland Giants (–)^[1] Habana (–) Lincoln Giants (–) Brooklyn Royal Giants ^[2] Philadelphia Giants Chicago American Giants (–)^[3] Chicago Giants (–) Underwriters' Baseball Team

James "Pete" Booker (1886  - September 22, 1922) was an American baseball catcher and first baseman in the pre-Negro leagues.

Career

Booker played for Chicago teams Leland Giants, Chicago American Giants, and Chicago Giants.^[4]

Sportswriter and fellow player Jimmy Smith put Booker on his 1909 "All American Team."^[5]

He moved to the Lincoln Giants in 1911 and played there for three seasons, continuing in the east and playing with the Brooklyn Royal Giants and Philadelphia Giants until 1913. He then moved back to Chicago.

In 1920, then 34-year-old Booker was captain and catcher of the Underwriters' Baseball Team in Chicago. The semi-pro team traveled around the Upper Midwest.^[6]

Booker died in Chicago in 1922, and is buried at Mount Glenwood Cemetery in Glenwood, Illinois.

Notes and References

1. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1Wcncq5-bHdeVAyM2hiMDctVlE "Lelands Beat All-Stars" Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, IN, September 25, 1909, Page 7, Column 4
2. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1Wcncq5-bHdVE9uUG1WcU0tT1U/edit?usp=sharing "Brooklyn Giants Win" The Washington Herald, Washington, DC, Thursday, May 8, 1913, Page 8, Column 3
3. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1Wcncq5-bHdTjVoalBDRmtfRjA "Fast Colored Team Wins in Easy Style" The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, MT, Thursday Morning, April 23, 1914, Page 2, Columns 1-5
4. https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1Wcncq5-bHdOGxTTXJvRVNWRmc "Frank Lelands' Chicago Giants Base Ball Club" Fraternal Printing Company, 1910
5. http://negroleagues.bravehost.com/pdf/001968.pdf "The Base Ball Spirit In The East." Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, Indiana, Saturday, December 25, 1909, Page 7, Columns 1 and 2
6. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1Wcncq5-bHdeW5Yck0zMHowenM/edit?usp=sharing "Underwriters' Baseball Team" Chicago Defender, Chicago, Illinois, Saturday, March 27, 1920, Page 11, Column 2"