Philadelphia Pythians
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Philadelphia Pythians 1865–1871 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
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The Philadelphia Pythians (also Pythian Base Ball Club, Pythian Baseball Club, or the "Pyths") was one of the earliest Negro league baseball clubs, founded in 1865.African-American leaders Jacob C. White Jr. and Octavius V. Catto established the team. The Pythians were composed of primarily business and middle class professionals from the surrounding areas of Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City. Just two years after the Civil War ended, in 1867, the Pennsylvania State Convention of Baseball, located in Harrisburg, denied the "Pythian Base Ball Club" out of Philadelphia. The team dissolved after Catto's death in 1871 and a new team formed under the Pythian name in the National Colored Base Ball League in 1887. The new team's first season went 4-1. However, due to financial troubles, the team folded after only one season.
Octavius V. Catto and Jacob C. White, two graduates from the Institute for Colored Youth, believed baseball was another way in which African Americans could assert their skills and independence, and prove their right to full citizenship and equality. Incidentally the two had originally played cricket at the institute, but switched to baseball for an unknown reason. They had been childhood friends and they emerged as prominent figures in Philadelphia's African American community. Catto injected himself into local politics with the hope of aiding black civil liberties and led efforts to gain equality and equal access to public programs. This continued until Catto's murder at the hands of Frank Kelly in 1871. Prior to the American Civil War, professional baseball has been denied to African Americans. Black leaders considered baseball a route to American cultural assimilation, and following the Civil War, Negro baseball grew exponentially. Octavius Catto pioneered the racial shift in baseball. Many of the players were also Institute for Colored Youth graduates. These men belonged to the Knights of Pythias fraternal organization, which helped pay for baseball supplies. A third, lesser-known founding member was William Still. Still was a local coal dealer and civil rights activist; this played into the Pythians' idea of using the baseball to achieve equality.
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