Baseball became a popular sport in America during the late 1800s that led to the creation of the Major Baseball League. Before some baseball teams joined the MLB, the color barrier was placed that excluded black players to play in the major leagues. As a result, black players began establishing their own baseball teams that ultimately led to the creation of the Negro Leagues.
Fun Fact #1 : The Toledo Blue Stockings was the only baseball team with black players before the color barrier was established in 1887.
The Beginning of the Hilldale Club
The earliest black baseball teams in Philadelphia were the Excelsiors of Philadlephia and the the Philadelphia Pythians (established by civil rights activist Octavius Catto). The teams were established in the 1860s after the end of the Civil War. Despite difficulties to obtain permits to play in the fields, these teams were able to find ways to play competitivelty with other black baseball teams from Washington, D.C. and New York.
Fun Fact #2 : With the success of the Philadelphia Pythians, the city briefly became known as the captial of black baseball.
With the emergence of the Cuban Giants and the Philadelphia Giants, it led to more black baseball teams like the Chicago American Giants. But the success of baseball in Philadelphia came to an end in the 1910s when the Philadelphia Giants lost their best players like Andrew "Rube" Foster and Sol White. With the disbandment of the Philadelphia Giants, it didn't stop the city from forming two new baseball teams: the Hilldale Club of Darby and the Philadelphia Stars.
The Hilldale Club was formed in 1911 as an amateur and semipro baseball team in Delware County, PA. The club wanted to establish themselves outside the city, but white real estate agents refused to sell much of the property to African Americas. Instead, they received a small section of the township's property that became known as "The Hill," the location where African Americans, who consisted of 10% of the township's population, lived in.
After the Hilldale Club was established, more black baseball teams continue to form, thanks to the Great Migration between 1916-1919 that resulted in the huge growth of black business enterprises. By the year 1920, the black population in Philadelphia increased to 59% compared to 1910. Meanwhile in Darby Borough, the black population increased to 65% from 1910.
The Emergence of Ambler Baseball Teams
The emergence of black baseball teams was from the successful run of the Philadelphia Giants, which might explain why many baseball teams were named the "Giants." Even before the Hilldale Club was established, one of Ambler's black baseball teams was formed in 1895. That team was the Ambler Giants. The Ambler Giants became members of the Penn-New Jersey League in 1926. It was that same year a new black baseball team was formed to join the baseball community in Ambler: the Ambler Black Sox. The team was also known as "Henry's Stars."
Both the Ambler Giants and the Ambler Black Sox played with local white and black baseball teams in the area.
There were notable black baseball players who represented both Ambler teams during their lifetimes before departing their own ways:
John Dallas Cecil Ford - Hilldale Pitcher, Manager of the Ambler Giants
Louis Santop - Catcher for the Ambler Black Sox - inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006
Charlie Henry - Pitcher for Hilldale and Ambler Black Sox
Bibliography
"Ambler Black Sox Win Two." Ambler Gazette. August 12, 1926. Page 6. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_14521.
"Ambler Giants." Ambler Gazette. April 8, 1926. Page 6. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_15833.
"Ambler Giants to Open Season." Ambler Gazette. May 6, 1926. Page 1. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_17305.
Lanctot, Neil. Fair Dealing and Clean Playing: The Hilldale Club and the Development of Black Professional Baseball, 1910-1932. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press: 1994): 11-17, 21, 43, 50.
Threston, Christopher. The Integration of Baseball in Philadelphia. (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003): 7-9, 17-20, 24-25.
"Town Topics." Ambler Gazette. April 25, 1907. Page 5. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_5699.
"What Of The Baseball Season." Ambler Gazette. February 3, 1927. Page 10. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_17110.