Check Out This Beautiful 1939 Homestead Grays Color Restoration Team Photo!

Chris Whitehouse does some amazing work, as you can see from this beautiful color restoration of the 1939 Homestead Grays. Chris was kind enough to allow me to post it today on my Baseball History Comes Alive website. It’s slated for the 2024 Negro League Baseball Museum calendar. We can see in this great photo Hall of Famers Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Oscar Charleston, and Cool Papa Bell. Check out all of Chris’s outstanding restorations at his website: They Played in Color. 

(A couple years ago, I did an essay on Chris and featured many of his beautiful color baseball photo restorations. You can check it out by clicking on this link).

If you’re like me, you probably didn’t know much about the Homestead Grays. So here’s a few words about this great Negro League team.

A Little Background Info on the Homestead Grays

The Homestead Grays were founded in 1912 by Cumberland Posey and remained a viable Negro League franchise for 38 seasons. The team was originally based in Homestead, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. By the 1920s, the team retained the name “Homestead” but crossed the Monongahela River to play home games at either Forbes Field, home of the Pirates, or at the Pittsburgh Crawfords’ home, historic Greenlee Field.

From 1940 – 1942, the Grays played half their home games in Washington, D.C. By 1943, the Grays were playing more than two-thirds of their home games in the nation’s capital, which proved to be the more profitable venue. The Grays adopted the Washington, D.C. area as their “home away from home” and played their “home” games” at the Senators’ Griffith Stadium. During this time, they were alternatively known as the Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays.

The Grays joined the American Negro League in 1929 but it folded after the first year. The team operated independently again until 1932, when Posey organized the ill-fated East-West League, which collapsed before completing its first season.

Posey then entered his Grays in the Negro National League in 1935. With the near-collapse of the Pittsburgh Crawfords, former Grays’ star Josh Gibson returned to the club in 1937, and combined with slugger Buck Leonard to power the Grays to nine consecutive (and a total of ten) Negro National League Championships and three Negro League World Series titles. Vic Harris managed the Grays during their years between 1935 and 1948, and led Homestead to eight pennants. He guided the team to six consecutive pennants from 1937 through 1942. Pennants followed in 1945 and 1948, and the 1948 Negro League World Series championship. The 1943 and 1944 Negro League World Series titles came under legendary manager, “Candy” Jim Taylor.

Following the collapse of the Negro National League after the 1948 season, the Grays struggled to continue as an independent club, and ultimately disbanded at the close of the 1950 season.

Some of the greatest stars in Negro League history played for the Grays, and the following have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame: “Cool Papa” Bell, Ray Brown, Oscar Charleston, Martin Dihigo, Bill Foster, Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson, Buck Leonard, Smokey Joe Williams, and Willie Wells. In addition, founder-owner Cumberland Posey is also in the Hall of Fame.

Check out the great Grays lineup pictured above. No wonder they won nine Negro League pennants in a row! L-R: Jelly Jackson, Ray Battle, Edward Robinson, Sam Bankhead, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Dave Hoskins, Jerry Benjamin, “Cool Papa” Bell.

Gary Livacari