BUFFALO NY - A Great Place to Be

Buffalo NY -

    "It's nearness to the fields of coal and oil is one important factor of it's greatness and promise, caused by an exceedingly fruitful network of railways.  The Facilities, natural and artificial, of lake and canal, come to possess more and more of significance, practically as the process of development goes on, which rounds out to them an employment.  Chief among our choice of endowments must be natures gift of an unparalleled climate.  The labor of men can here be brought to it's full capacity more days of the year than in any other city of the American Union. According to a report of vital statistics, Buffalo is the healthiest city in the United States, the death rate being only 13.9 per 1,000.  The Oriental view has long prevailed that God has made Buffalo a great City by placing it at the foot of a chain of lakes, and whether the point of view be that of the capitalist or the laboring man, the conditions of commanding favor, are equally propitious, inspiring confidence in it's future greatness..."

From Speech by Henry Martin, at Bankers Convention, 

August 1881

LABOR DAY - The Workers Holiday

Buffalo Evening News - September 4th 1900

LABORS MIGHTY HOST WAS OUT

 Yesterday's Labor-Day Parade  Largest 

Ever Seen in Buffalo's Streets

 20,000 WORKING MEN WERE IN THE LINE  

   Niagara Square with it's many diverging thoroughfares, is an ideal place for the formation of a big parade, and as the result of its selection as the starting point of today's big labor demonstration, the confusion usually a feature of such affairs, was reduced to a minimum... In addition to the organizations enumerated in the Sunday News yesterday, there was in the line, three sections of railroad employees, aggregating 1500 in number.  With that addition, the total number of men in line was in the neighborhood of 20,000 and fine, stalwart, intelligent men most of them were--men who compose the bone and sinew of the city's great industrial army--men of whom Buffalo is deservedly proud. 

MOST BRILLIANT PARADE

  Many of the organizations in the big parade were uniformed, and each association had it's banner.  In addition most of the organizations carried national flags of various sizes, giving the parade a most brilliant appearance as it moved along with the banners and starry folds of the national emblem waving in the breeze, which the weather bureau had so kindly provided to mitigate the intense heat.  Bands without number furnished stirring music, utilizing in the marches they played all of the popular age airs of this and bygone years. 

   The liveliness of the procession was enhanced by numerous floats, ornamented and embellished in the most wonderful manner imaginable.  Main Street and the other thoroughfares through which the procession moved, were gayly decked out in holiday attire.  Immense flags floated from the lines stretched across form one building to the other, and countless flags waved from the windows of the buildings along the way.

Buffalo Daily Courier - Editorial - September 4th 1900

Labors Demonstrations

   Yesterdays observances of Labor Day were probably the most widespread since the holiday was established.  In Buffalo, a special effort was made, and the parade was the largest on record, conservatively estimated at 12,000 men.  The rain fortunately did not come until afternoon, and therefore did not interfere with the great spectacle prepared by organized labor for the public eye.  The increasing length of these annual parades, shows that Buffalo every year is employing more men, and that these men are joining the Labor Unions, of whose solidarity the procession is so impressive an illustration.  
   Many of the Unions appeared in uniform yesterday, presenting a neat and attractive appearance.  Good discipline prevailed in the ranks, and the parade was in every way credible. When our eyes have become more accustomed than of old to the sight of marching soldiers, it is well that we should pay due honor to the armies of peace and industry.  It will be an unhappy day for our country when the men who now only wear the badges of their honorable employment shall be forced into the ranks of an unproductive and burdensome army for the conquest of foreign territory.

THE HISTORY OF LABOR DAY

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Buffalo's Incredible, Frank Grant

"IN HITTING HE RANKED WITH THE BEST, AND
HIS FIELDING BORDERED ON THE IMPOSSIBLE."

Second Baseman Frank Grant, front row 2nd from right - He is widely considered

to have been the greatest African-American player of the 19th century. 

  Born in Pittsfield in 1865, Ulysses Franklin "Frank" Grant, pitched and caught in amateur games there and in Plattsburgh, New York, while still a teenager. He signed his first professional contract with Meriden, Connecticut, (Eastern League) in 1886, but the team folded and Frank moved to Buffalo. Grant was in fact one of five African-Americans playing in the otherwise all-white minor leagues that year, on teams from Kansas to Connecticut.  The next day, a local newspaper announced Grant’s arrival by describing him as “a Spaniard.” In Buffalo, he took the International Association by storm. During his first season here, he led his team with a .340 batting average. The next year he batted .366, but more amazing were his power numbers. 

Frank Grant

   Despite standing less than 5'8" and weighing just 155 pounds, Grant led all league batsmen in slugging, with 27 doubles, ten triples, and 11 homers in 105 games. He stole 40 bases, too. He hit for the cycle in one game and stole home twice in another. He came back in 1888 with a .326 average -- again, best on his team. One-fourth of his hits in the International League were for extra bases. He led his team and/or league in various offensive categories, including batting average, stolen bases, total bases, and home runs. That season earned him the distinction of being the only black player before the 1940s to play three consecutive years (1886-1888) with the same team, Buffalo.

   The 1887 season was the high-water mark for African-American players in the International League. Buffalo had its nonpareil second baseman, Frank Grant. There were several other African-American players in the league, but the two who stood out, in addition to Grant, were pitchers George Stovey of Newark (34-15) and Robert Higgins of Syracuse (19-8), both lefthanders.  The  season had been marked by frequent evidences of antagonism (by players) against the Negro players in the league. Anti-Black sentiment increased in 1888 and there was a strong movement to bar all Negro players. Buffalo took a counter stance by lobbying the IL not to put into place a color line. Because of their respect for Grant the individual and Grant the ballplayer, the Bisons were able to keep his services one extra year before the ban on black players took hold.  Few teams would have gone to such lengths, but Grant was obviously special. 

   The Buffalo correspondent for Sporting Life said that Grant was the best player ever to play in that city, putting him above such luminaries as Jim Galvin, Dan Brouthers, Jim O'Rourke, and Old Hoss Radbourn.  As a fielder, Grant was no less remarkable. His range was so exceptional -- and his arm so strong -- that some derided his defensive play as a "circus act." Grant would segue to the Negro League, where he would star for 15 years, one of a few who helped make the league credible and viable. He went on to play for such strong independent Negro teams as the Cuban X Giants, Big Gorhams, and Philadelphia Giants through 1903. He died at age 71 in New York City and was buried in Clifton, N.J. His grave, for some reason, remained unmarked all these years until this past June.(2011) In 2006, Grant was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, a man of great class, resiliency, intelligence and a world of baseball talent.

Detailed Biography of Grant at Society for American Baseball Research

In Other News....
Buffalo Evening News - Wednesday 

September 5th 1900

MINNIES LOST TWO TO BUFFALO,

Bisons Are Now Beyond the Possibility

of Finishing in Last Place

-------------------

  It really would take a lot of nerve to assert the Pan-Ams really won the first game, though it goes to their credit as a victory.  The Minnies really won it in the second inning when they hammered out five runs.  The Charlie Hastings hoodoo was hanging over their heads however, for with the score 5-2 in their favor, the visitors took one of the most spectacular ascensions ever seen on the grounds, and aided by four singles, the Pan-Ams chased 8 large runs across the rubber.  Nichols at short and Lolly in the left garden were the worst actors during this period.  Nichols rolled up three astonishing mis-plays, and Lally muffed an easy fly  so squarely, that the ball must have changed it's shape.

   After that it was all  over but the shouting, and the Bisons sailed safely to victory by a score of 10 - 5.  The Minnies played better ball in the second game.... but the Bisons had their confidence with them and they bandied with Mr. Bandelion's curves quite remorselessly.   The batting won the game easily 8-2, and then the Minnies caught the first train out of town. Milwaukee plays this afternoon at 4 o'clock.  Tomorrow will see the last game of the season in Buffalo.

                     

American League
STANDING OF THE CLUBS                               SCHEDULED FOR TODAY

   Clubs

Chicago.......................    72       46     .610                  Chicago at Indianapolis

Milwaukee..................    69       54    .561                   Milwaukee at Buffalo

Indianapolis.................   66       54    .550                   Minneapolis at Cleveland

Detroit.........................    63       61    .508                   Kansas City at Detroit

Kansas City.................    60       62    .492

Cleveland....................    57       62    .479

Buffalo........................    55       69    .444

Minneapolis................    47       77    .379

  

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