Homestead Grays
Cap insignia
Information
League	Independent (1912–1928, 1930–1931, 1934, 1950) American Negro League (1929) East-West League (1932) Negro National League (1933,1935–48) Negro American Association (1949)
Location	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Washington, D.C.
Ballpark	Forbes Field (1929–1950) Greenlee Field (1932–1937) Griffith Stadium (1940–1950)
Established	1912
Disbanded	1950
Nicknames	Homestead Grays Washington Homestead Grays Washington Grays
Negro World Series championships	1943 1944 1948
League titles	1931 1937 1938 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1948 1949

TheHomestead Grays (also known asWashington Grays orWashington Homestead Grays) were a professionalbaseball team that played in theNegro leagues in the United States.

The team was formed in1912 byCumberland Posey, and remained in continuous operation for 38 seasons. The team was originally based inHomestead, Pennsylvania, adjacent toPittsburgh. By the 1920s, with increasing popularity in the Pittsburgh region, the team retained the name "Homestead" but crossed theMonongahela River to play all home games in Pittsburgh, at thePittsburgh Pirates' homeForbes Field and thePittsburgh Crawfords' homeGreenlee Field.

From 1940 until 1942, the Grays played half of their home games in Washington, D.C., while remaining in Pittsburgh for all other home stands.^[1] As attendance at their games in the nation's capital grew, by 1943, the Grays were playing more than two-thirds of their home games in Washington.^[1]

The Grays grew out of an earlier industrial team. In 1900, a group ofAfrican-American players had joined together to form theGermantown Blue Ribbons, an industrial league team. For ten years, the Blue Ribbons fielded a team every season and played some of the best sandlot teams in the area. In 1910, the managers of the team retired. The players reorganized the team and named themselves theMurdock Grays. In 1912, they became the Homestead Grays, the name they retained for the remainder of the franchise's history.

The Grays did join theAmerican Negro League in1929, but that league lasted only one season.Cumberland Posey was their inaugural manager in organized league play. The Grays went 32-29 (with three ties) for a fourth place finish. The team operated independently again until1932, when Posey organized the ill-fatedEast-West League; that league also collapsed before completing its first and only season.Jud Wilson and Posey combined to lead the 1932 team to a 24-16 record (with one tie) before the Grays joined theNegro National League in 1933

Posey managed the next two seasons, leading them to a 3rd and 7th place finish, respectively. OutfielderVic Harris (a long-time player for the Grays) became player-manager in 1936. With the near-collapse of thePittsburgh Crawfords,Josh Gibson returned to the Grays in1937, combining with sluggerBuck Leonard to power the Grays. From 1937 to 1948, the Grays went on an unprecedented run of success in Negro league baseball. They finished first place in the league in ten of twelve seasons while competing in organized playoff baseball in six of those seasons (which they won three).

Their one challenge for the Negro National League came in1939, which matched the top four teams (of a six team league) in a postseason tournament that required three victories. They beat thePhiladelphia Stars in five games to reach the Championship Series against theBaltimore Elite Giants. They lost to Baltimore in five games.^[2] The Grays rolled through the next two seasons with ease; in 1942, they competed in the re-bornNegro World Series, which they lost in four games to theKansas City Monarchs. For the 1943 and 1944 seasons,Candy Jim Taylor served as the manager for the Grays. They won the pennant each time to advance to the Series, which they won each time. Harris returned to manage the Grays for 1945, where he continued for four seasons. They went to the Series twice and won the1948 Negro World Series, the final one to be played before the demise of quality in the leagues.

During their tenure in organized league baseball, the Grays went 629–377, which included a season each in the ANL and EWL and fifteen years spent with the Negro National League (where they went 573-332). They finished first place in the league ten times while reaching theNegro World Series (second incarnation) five times, which resulted in three championships. The Grays had just one losing season in their time in the National League (1935, when they finished 26-36), which was also one of only three times they ever finished in the bottom half of a league.^[3]

Pittsburgh Steelers founder and ownerArt Rooney related in a 1981 interview that he "from time to time" had "helped financially support the Negro League team, the Homestead Grays, and . . . was a better baseball fan than football fan."^[4]

Following the collapse of the Negro National League after the 1948 season, the Grays struggled to continue as an independent club and joined the minor leagueNegro American Association. The Grays dominated the competition, won both halves of the split-season and cruised to the league pennant. The league collapsed after the 1949 season and the Grays returned to barnstorming. After completing their 1950 season, they ultimately disbanded in May 1951.^[5]

From the late 1930s through the 1940s, the Grays played their home games at Pittsburgh'sForbes Field, home of thePittsburgh Pirates, and West Field in Munhall, PA. West Field still stands to this day with modern upgrades, and home plate is still in the exact position that Josh Gibson himself played catcher. The field is open to the public and currently used for the Steel Valley High School baseball teams home field.

However, during this same period the club adopted the Washington, D.C. area as its "home away from home" and scheduled many of its "home" games at D.C.'sGriffith Stadium, the home park of theWashington Senators. During these games, they were alternatively known as the Washington Grays or Washington Homestead Grays.

These Homestead Grays alumni have been inducted to theNational Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

The following players appeared in at least one game for the Grays and at least one game in the AL/NL.

• Luke Easter
• Dave Hoskins
• Luis Marquez
• Dave Pope
• Bob Thurman

• ^a The Negro National League (second incarnation) ran from 1933 to 1948, and during that time they held a playoff to determine the league champion five times (1934, 1935, 1939, 1941, 1948). 1939 was the only time the league matched four teams together to play for the title, as all other playoffs were between two teams.
• ^b On occasions without a playoff, the team leading the season in winning percentage was generally considered the pennant champion
• ^c TheNegro World Series was held 1924 to 1927 and from 1942 to 1948 as a matchup of two Negro leagues.

On July 11, 2002, the Homestead High-Level Bridge which connects Pittsburgh to Homestead over theMonongahela River at Homestead was renamed theHomestead Grays Bridge in honor of the team.^[6]

When theMontreal Expos moved to Washington, "Grays" was one of the three finalists (along with "Senators" and the eventual winner "Nationals") for the relocated team's new name, reflecting Washington's baseball history.^[7]

The Nationals′ home field,Nationals Park, includes numerous references to the Grays:

• The "Ring of Honor" on the facade behind home plate lists the names of Cool Papa Bell, Ray Brown, Josh Gibson, Buck Leonard, Cumberland Posey, Jud Wilson, and players from the Nationals, Expos,original Washington Senators of 1901–1960, andexpansion Washington Senators of 1961–1971. The Ring honors players who are members of theNational Baseball Hall of Fame and had played "significant years" for at least one of the teams or "anyone who has made a significant contribution to the game of baseball in Washington, D.C." All six Grays players were among the original 18 inductees to the Ring of Honor when it was unveiled on August 10, 2010.
• The multi-sport Washington Hall of Stars display in the outfield features Josh Gibson and Buck Leonard.
• A statue of Josh Gibson (along with ones oforiginal SenatorWalter Johnson andsecond-run SenatorFrank Howard) stands near the center field gate.

ThePittsburgh Pirates andWashington Nationals have worn Homestead Grays throwback uniforms in officialMajor League Baseball games several different times:

Pirates

• May 20, 2006, in Cleveland, the Pirates andCleveland Indians wore the uniforms of the Grays and theCleveland Buckeyes.
• August 11, 2006, in Pittsburgh, theSt. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates wore uniforms of theSt. Louis Stars and Grays.
• June 26, 2009, in Pittsburgh, the Pirates and theKansas City Royals wore uniforms of the Homestead Grays and theKansas City Monarchs.
• July 23, 2011, in Pittsburgh, the Pirates and theSt. Louis Cardinals wore uniforms of the Homestead Grays and theSt. Louis Stars.
• June 9, 2012, in Pittsburgh, the Pirates and theKansas City Royals wore uniforms of the Homestead Grays and the Kansas City Monarchs.
• September 9, 2016, in Pittsburgh, the Pirates wore the Grays uniform against theCincinnati Reds
• June 16, 2017, in Pittsburgh, the Pirates wore the Grays uniform against the Chicago Cubs

Nationals

• June 2, 2006, in Milwaukee, the Washington Nationals and theMilwaukee Brewers wore uniforms of the Grays andMilwaukee Bears, during the first annual Negro Leagues Tribute Night in Milwaukee.^[8]
• August 11, 2006, in Washington, theNew York Mets and Nationals wore uniforms of theNew York Cubans and the Grays.^[9]
• August 3, 2007, The Nationals and Cardinals wore uniforms of the Grays and Stars.
• July 28, 2012, in Milwaukee, the Nationals and the Milwaukee Brewers wore uniforms of the Grays and theMilwaukee Bears.^[10]
• August 24, 2013, in Kansas City, the Nationals and theKansas City Royals wore uniforms of the Grays and theKansas City Monarchs.
• June 25, 2016, in Milwaukee, the Nationals andMilwaukee Brewers wore the uniforms of the Grays andMilwaukee Bears.

Both

• May 3, 2008, in Washington, theWashington Nationals andPittsburgh Pirates both wore the uniform of the Grays. (The PA announcer referred to the teams as the Grays.)
• June 1, 2013, both thePittsburgh Pirates and theWashington Nationals wore Grays uniforms. In Pittsburgh, the Pirates played theCincinnati Reds, who wore uniforms of theCincinnati Tigers; and in Atlanta, the Nationals played theAtlanta Braves, who wore uniforms of theAtlanta Black Crackers.

• Team history and statistics fromseamheads.com · baseball-reference.com

• Homestead Grays
• 1912 establishments in Pennsylvania
• 1951 disestablishments in Pennsylvania
• Defunct baseball teams in Pennsylvania
• Defunct sports clubs and teams in Pittsburgh
• Negro league baseball teams in Pennsylvania
• Baseball teams established in 1912
• Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1951
• Baseball teams disestablished in 1951
• Defunct baseball teams in Washington, D.C.
• Negro league baseball teams in Washington, D.C.

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