George L. Williams (March 1864 – January 9, 1918) was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

who played on and managed predecessor teams to the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

. Hired as a policeman and assigned to Philadelphia's Eighth and Lombard streets police station in 1892, he was promoted in 1909, becoming "the city's only colored detective," according to ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

''.

Biography

In 1885, Williams was recruited from a top amateur club in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

to play for the

Cuban Giants The Cuban Giants were the first fully salaried African-American professional baseball club. The team was originally formed in 1885 at the Argyle Hotel, a summer resort in Babylon, New York. Initially an independent barnstorming team, they playe ...

. He served as the captain of the Cuban Giants from 1886 to 1889. 1890 York Colored Monarchs

Williams played on African American baseball teams in mostly-white minor leagues in 1889 and 1890. In 1890, he captained the York Colored Monarchs of the Eastern Interstate League, which was all-white, except for the Colored Monarchs and one integrated team. That season, Williams won the league batting title with a .386 average and helped York win the league championship. Williams played professional baseball until 1892. He was also hired to manage the Cuban Giants in 1897. In 1905, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' reported that he was still playing baseball, but was also employed as a policeman in Philadelphia's ninth district. In 1906, he organized and managed the

Wilmington Giants Wilmington may refer to: Places Australia *Wilmington, South Australia, a town and locality **District Council of Wilmington, a former local government area **Wilmington railway line, a former railway line United Kingdom * Wilmington, Devon *W ...

of the racially integrated

International League of Independent Professional Base Ball Clubs The International League of Independent Professional Base Ball Clubs, also referred to as the International League, was a racially-integrated independent baseball league league that played a single season during the summer of 1906. It was compose ...

. Williams, who had been hired as a policeman and assigned to Philadelphia's Eighth and Lombard streets station in 1892, and had taken a brief break in 1905 before returning to his post in 1906, was promoted to detective with the police force in 1909. He was shot and killed during the early afternoon of January 9, 1918 while attempting to apprehend several men who were allegedly involved in a fight in Thomas McGowan's saloon at Sixteenth and South streets in Philadelphia. In its report on the incident, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' described Williams as "the city's only colored detective," adding that he "was noted for his daring," and that he was also "known as the Colored Santa Claus" because he "made a practice, each Christmas, of arranging for food and other gifts for needy colored families."

References

* * *(Riley.
George Williams
, Personal profiles at Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. – identical to Riley (confirmed 2010-04-16)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, George 1864 births 1918 deaths Baseball infielders Cuban Giants players Cuban X-Giants players Law enforcement officials from Philadelphia New York Gorhams players Baseball players from Philadelphia African-American history in Philadelphia African-American baseball players African-American police officers