Mohawk Giants brought Hall of Fame-level talent to Schenectady
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Walter Johnson, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, had one of his greatest seasons in 1913, going 36-7.
But that fall, the Mohawk Colored Giants, a Black baseball team in Schenectady, added an unofficial loss to Johnson’s tally when he and an all-white team of major leaguers came to the city as part of a barnstorming tour.
Facing Johnson was Giants’ pitcher Frank Wickware, who possessed “one of the fastest fastballs of the era,” according to Steven Rice, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research.
Wickware was so confident that he would frequently belittle his opponents’ efforts by calling in his outfielders, reported a 1961 Schenectady Gazette article, “and there is no record that this bit of show-boating ever backfired.”