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He began his baseball career in 1893 in St. Paul, Minnesota playing for the Young
Cyclones team. He also played briefly with the Osceola team until 1899, when he went to Grand Forks, North Dakota where he played until the end of the 1900 season. In the first season, Ball won 25 out of 28 games, and
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got Ball released from his contract, and he returned to
Chicago to finish the season. He played winter ball in 1908-1909 for the Fe club of Havana, Cuba, winning 12 out of 15 games. He prevented the Almendares from winning the pennant which they had won five years in a row. When the winter season
359:, from 1893 he played ten years as the only black player on minor white teams in Minnesota and North Dakota. For more than a decade beginning 1903, he played for major teams, mainly in the Chicago region. Sources say he was given the nickname "The Georgia Rabbit" and "Diamond."
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Working with Reid and
Hirshfield, Ball organized and managed the St. Paul Gophers in 1907. He even played on the team part of the season, but didn't finish the season there and moved back to Chicago to finish the year with the Leland Giants.
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In 1905 Ball played the first half of the season for the
Brooklyn Royal Giants. During the last half of the season, he was back playing for the Chicago Union Giants, reportedly winning 48 straight games.
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Ball played with the Lakota, North Dakota team for the first part of the 1901 season. He captained the York, North Dakota baseball team the last half of the season and finished the season there.
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In 1906 Ball went to New York to play a season with the Quaker Giants, but the team folded by July 1 of that year. He came back to
Chicago and finished the year with the Leland Giants.
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to play for his
Chicago Union Giants in 1903. It was the first colored baseball team Ball had ever played for, and until then he had always been the only black player on white teams.
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closed on March 31, 1909, he joined the
Lelands at spring training in Memphis, Tennessee in April and toured the south, never losing a game in Spring Training.
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After the 1903 season with the
Chicago Union Giants, Ball was signed and played for the Cuban X-Giants for the 1904 season, playing with
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561:"The Base Ball Spirit In The East." Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, Indiana, Saturday, December 25, 1909, Page 7, Columns 1 and 2
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In 1902 he played on the St. Cloud baseball team, helping them win the championship of eastern
Minnesota. He wintered in
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528:"Stars Drive Ball off Mound to Win" Detroit Free Press, Detroit, Michigan, Monday, May 31, 1920, Page 17, Column 3
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503:"Three Straight From Giants" The Upper Des Moines Republican, Algona, IA, August 5, 1903, Page 5, Column 5
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637:, Personal profiles at Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. – identical to Riley (confirmed 2010-04-14)
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Ball opened the 1909 season with the Leland Giants, losing only one out of 25 league games that year.
514:"Lelands Beat All-Stars" Indianapolis Freeman, Indianapolis, IN, September 25, 1909, Page 7, Column 4
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In 1908 Ball went back to
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Six years after his death, Ball received votes listing him on the 1952
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helped the team win the state baseball championship of North Dakota.
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340:(September 12, 1878 – December 15, 1946) was an American
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The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues
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player-voted poll of the Negro leagues' best players ever.
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582:Riley, James A. (1994). "Ball, George Walter".
615:Career statistics and player information from
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716:American expatriate baseball players in Cuba
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721:20th-century African-American sportspeople
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641:George Walter Ball on Find a Grave
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681:New York Lincoln Giants players
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453:He was still pitching for the
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686:Brooklyn Royal Giants players
676:Baseball players from Detroit
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457:into his 40s when the
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323:New York Lincoln Stars
666:Leland Giants players
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459:Negro National League
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177:St. Cloud, Minnesota
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483:Pittsburgh Courier
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378:and was signed by
338:George Walter Ball
167:York, North Dakota
125:Young's Cyclones (
63:September 12, 1878
671:Baseball pitchers
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35:Walter Ball, 1909
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81:(1946-12-16)
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661:1946 deaths
656:1877 births
635:Walter Ball
448:Jimmy Smith
23:Walter Ball
650:Categories
619:, or
490:References
395:Mike Moore
351:. Born in
59:1878-09-12
633:(Riley.)
629:Seamheads
357:Michigan
342:baseball
90:Illinois
70:Michigan
43:Spitball
471:Chicago
353:Detroit
347:in the
345:pitcher
245:Club Fé
99:Batted:
86:Chicago
66:Detroit
46:Pitcher
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363:Career
105:Threw:
592:47–48
118:Teams
107:Right
101:Right
77:Died:
54:Born:
627:and
623:and
596:ISBN
327:1914
317:1914
307:1913
297:1913
287:1912
277:1921
273:1917
263:1909
253:1911
249:1908
239:1907
229:1906
219:1905
209:1904
199:1912
195:1905
191:1903
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137:1898
127:1893
617:MLB
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