Original studio cabinet photograph of the 1896 Page Fence Giants, one of the great black baseball teams of the 19th Century. The cabinet features eleven members of the team including Frank “Home Run” Johnson and Charlie Grant. Grant would later come close to breaking the Major League color barrier in 1901 when John McGraw attempted to disguise him as a Native American named Charlie Tokohama. The deception was revealed before Grant could play a game for the Baltimore Orioles, maintaining the color barrier until Jackie Robinson’s debut in 1947. The cabinet is stamped on the verso C.A. Buss, Photographer, Jefferson, WIS. Overall Good condition with some chipping to the mount and staining.
10 x 8 in.