East St. Louis Giants G.T. Kyle Letter (1915)

This letter was sent to Joe Smith of Sparta, Illinois from G.T. Kyle the owner and manager of the East St. Louis Giants. The purpose of the letter was to recruit Smith to play for his team. In the letter, Kyle tells Smith that he has already arranged a job for him in the area. Kyle then offers to help financially with the expenses of Smith’s relocation and provide assistance in bringing Smith’s wife to East St. Louis. This letter with attached envelope was written on East St. Louis Giants letterhead on April 9, 1915.

East St. Louis is located in Illinois, directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. The East St. Louis Giants were owned and managed by G.T. Kyle. The team was billed as “the greatest aggregation of colored ball players in southern Illinois.” The Giants were one of the top semipro team in the area in the 1910’s and 1920’s. Kyle ran a first class organization and even owned his own ballpark.

The content of this letter is very interesting because it is a good example of the fact that many ball players had to have another job other than just playing baseball. Kyle was obviously very adept at both running the baseball club and managing all the personal issues required in order to attract quality ball players.

East St. Louis Giants Envelope