Harlem Globetrotters Polo Grounds Appearance (1953)

This full ticket is from a baseball series played at the Polo Grounds in New York City in 1953. The Harlem Globetrotters participated in a series that also included the All Star Sandlotters from New York City and the U.S. All-Stars. The series was played Saturday, August 22^nd, 1953.

The Harlem Globetrotters baseball team was owned by Abe Saperstein who also owned the Harlem Globetrotter basketball team. The Harlem Globetrotters baseball team was organized in 1946 when the Negro Pacific Coast Negro League folded. Saperstein took his team that had been in that league, the Seattle Steelheads, and made them a barnstorming team. He used the name Harlem Globetrotters because his basketball team already had an outstanding national reputation for combining superior athletic skills with a comedy routine. The Harlem Globetrotters baseball team continued barnstorming until the mid-1950’s.



The Globetrotters baseball team included many former Negro League players. Some of the Negro League players who also played for the Harlem Globetrotters baseball team were Sherwood Brewer, Paul Hardy, Rogers Pierre, Ulysses Redd, Herb Simpson, Joe Spencer, Riley Stewart, Othello Strong, Jesse “Batman” Williams and Satchel Paige. 

Herb "Briefcase" Simpson

The All-Star Sandlotters were from New York City and were billed as having won the Hearst National Baseball Championship. Little is known about the U.S. All-Star team.