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One expert told me that the Black Stockings(?) from St. Louis were a professional team before 1885. Professionalism is difficult to detect so this is only a suggestion for tertiary research.
St. Louis Black Diamonds or Black Stockings is one team sometimes named. There is a lot of primary research to be done detecting professionalism, but first detecting clubs and games. --P64 (talk) 14:33, 16 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The Cuban Giants played for decades, I believe. This article "Babylon Black Panthers" is not really about the Cuban Giants. I will request that one, partly to learn the system. --P6422:52, 6 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I removed a new editor's unsourced claims about the "Cuban Giants." A tip-off was the assertion that black ballplayers on baseball teams were said to be of another nationality, such as "Cuban or Arab." I remember the breaking of the color line in baseball. I never heard any assertion that an apparent player of color was "Arab." Such an assertion would have raised many eyebrows with many questions. Cuba is famed for baseball playing, Arabian countries aren't. -- Cecropia03:46, 1 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]
This team played for many years as the Cuban Giants, whereas the name Babylon Black Panthers apparently was used only briefly. Most of the literature on the team refers to them as the Cuban Giants. Would anyone object to moving this article to "Cuban Giants"? BRMo22:53, 9 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Since there were no objections, I've gone ahead and moved the article. I hope to spend some more time cleaning it up, adding references, and wikifying it. BRMo23:59, 12 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Good. I should have done that earlier. All of the literature calls them Cuban Giants from fall 1885 and sometimes as a blanket term covering the Babylon/Argyle summer also. Probably this article originated with the local angle or with the "first professional" angle. In his Biographical Encyclopedia, Riley calls the summer 1885 team Argyle Hotel Athletics and Argyle Athletics but those may be terms of convenience, a short and a shorter way to specify the preliminary summer in his player entries. Perhaps different notices at the hotel and in local newspapers (or on local fences and lampposts?) called them both Athletics and Black Panthers. --P64 (talk) 14:20, 16 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]