The Hudson Valley Renegades, the High-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, are proud to announce that for their game on Friday, August 2 against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws they will take the field as the Newburgh Gorhams, paying tribute to one of the first all-black professional baseball teams in the United States.
“The Gorhams are an integral part of baseball history in the Hudson Valley and are one of the best and most important professional teams of the early days of baseball,” said Zach Betkowski, General Manager of the Renegades. “We are so excited to be bringing them back to life to make sure their legacy is remembered for their significance to both our Hudson Valley and professional baseball communities.”
According to research conducted by Bob Mayer, the New York Gorhams were organized in 1886 in New York City by Ambrose Davis, a saloon owner, and his business partner Phillip Snipper. They got their name from Alexander Gorham, another Manhattan saloon owner who operated an establishment on the same block as Davis.
After spending 1886 barnstorming and playing exhibitions against other New York-area professional and amateur teams, the Gorhams joined the League of Colored Baseball Players, the first-ever all-black professional baseball league, which featured teams in Boston, Pittsburgh, New York, Louisville, Baltimore and Philadelphia, in 1887. The Gorhams beat the Pittsburgh Keystones 11-8 in the league’s first-ever game on May 6, but by May 23 the league folded due in part to financial and travel issues among the clubs.
The Gorhams made the move to Newburgh during the summer of 1887, when the Brooklyn Eagle reported that Gorhams manager John “Bud” Fowler had “leased the ball grounds on Benkard Heights, Newburgh, and the club has made that city its headquarters.”
Fowler, who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 2022, is the first-known professional black baseball player, and enjoyed a lengthy career playing on both integrated and all-black teams.
The team was tremendously successful in Newburgh, including picking up wins against the other dominant all-black team of the era, the New York Cuban Giants. In the ensuing years, the Gorhams operated as a barnstorming team and occasionally competed in leagues comprised of all-white teams.
As the team moved around to homebases outside the Hudson Valley, they continued to be one of the finest teams in either white or black professional baseball. At various times they boasted three Hall of Famers on their roster including Fowler, Sol White and Frank Grant, as well as several other top black players like George Stovey.
In 1891, there is a record of the Gorhams playing over 100 games and losing only four of them, including going on a 39-game winning streak. On August 15, 1891, President Benjamin Harrison attended a Gorhams game in Cape May, New Jersey, the only time a sitting President watched a game involving a black baseball team during the entire era of segregated baseball.
Despite their success on the field, the Gorhams disbanded in 1892.
The Renegades will wear special Gorhams jerseys during the game, and will pay tribute to the black baseball pioneers who made tremendous contributions to the national pastime.