Philadelphia Tigers Explained

Philadelphia Tigers
Established:	1928
Disbanded:	1928
City:	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
League:	Eastern Colored League (1928)
Ballpark:	Pencoyd Field

The Philadelphia Tigers were a Negro league baseball team that played briefly in the 1928 Eastern Colored League (ECL) before the circuit disbanded in early June. The Tigers, organized by Smittie Lucas, featured a few well-known east coast players, such as Bill Yancey, George Johnson, and McKinley Downs, but no real stars.

They played at Pencoyd Field,^[1] which was near Wissahickon station in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia^[2] at 40.0147°N -75.2081°W.^[3]

After the ECL fell apart, the Tigers struggled on as a marginal independent team into July before disbanding.

References

• The Negro Leagues Book edited by Dick Clark & Larry Lester Publisher: The Society for American Baseball Research (Cleveland OH)
• The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues by James A. Riley Publisher: Carroll & Graf (New York NY)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Ashwill . Gary . 1928 Season Eastern Colored League . Negro Leagues Data Base . Seamheads.com . 6 January 2023.
2. News: Gordon . Patrick . Murder, drama, and the story of the 1928 Philadelphia Tigers in the Eastern Colored League . 6 January 2023 . Philadelphia Baseball Review . November 18, 2022.
3. Web site: [Aerial Survey of the Philadelphia Region], 1928 (circa) - Plate 53 ]. 2023-08-10 . www.philageohistory.org. The field is southwest of the intersection of Ridge Avenue and Wissahickon Avenue (now Lincoln Drive).