Autumn Years Summer 2024

Many outstanding Negro League teams made repeated visits to the coun ty. In 1904, the manager of the Fort Lee Baseball Club arranged for his team to play the Cuban Giants on July 3 in Fort Lee. The Cuban Giants were the first fully salaried African American pro fessional baseball club. Also, Ridgefield Park hosted Brooklyn’s Royal Colored Giants, a professional team and charter member of the Eastern Colored League. In 1925, the all-black Philadelphia Gi ants played against Harry Harper’s All Stars in Hackensack. Harry Harper Known as Hackensack Harry, Harper spent 10 seasons as a Major League pitcher after starting his baseball career with Hackensack semi-pro teams. The left-hander was the starting pitcher for the New York Yankees in Game Six of the 1921 World Series against the New York Giants. His Major League baseball

hired him through a New York agency. Recognizing a good thing for gate re ceipts, however, the Westwood team soon began flaunting Jackson as part of the team. On July 2, 1922, Joe Jackson of “Black Sox Scandal” infamy played on Westwood’s ball field in a double header against the Virginia Giants, a Negro team. Jackson got a double and two singles—and was paid $200 for the day. Other teams in the area threatened to ban the Westwood team from play ing; that resulted in Jackson being off the team before July 10. Negro teams and players In 1880, there was the Lodi Colored Base Ball Club, a team comprising entirely black players. In 1903, the Eries of Hack ensack fielded a team of three white and six black players; in that same year, there was an all-black team called the Hack ensack Cubans. In 1925, the Dodgers of Hackensack fielded an all-black team.

Harry Harper.

career came to an end in 1923 when the Brooklyn Dodgers released him. Re turning to Hackensack, he remained a popular draw by playing for local teams before starting his own team, the All Stars. Harper later served as Bergen County sheriff, held cabinet posts under three New Jersey governors and ran for U.S. Senate and Congress. While Harper’s name may be unfa miliar, nearly everyone of a certain age remembers what he created in 1933. An entrepreneur, Harper opened the coun ty’s first supermarket/superstore; that business would soon become the well known Packard’s in Hackensack (see Autumn Years , Spring 2023, for more). Bottom of the ninth The creation of the George Washing ton Bridge, World War II and the birth of suburbia forever changed baseball in Bergen County. The bridge allowed Bergen’s fans to easily see professional teams like the New York Yankees, the New York Giants, and—for those will ing to travel—the Brooklyn Dodgers. After the latter two left, the New York Mets became a local favorite. Games were also on TV. And so, the national pastime continued, but local county baseball would never be the entertain ment it once was. a

Baseball players from Carlstadt.

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SUMMER 2024 I AUTUMN YEARS