The Sykesville Giants: Our Town’s Team
There were professional Negro League teams around the Baltimore-Washington region, including the Washington Elite Giants (who eventually became the Baltimore Elite Giants) and the Baltimore Black Sox. Josh Gibson, one of the best hitters in baseball history who tragically died just a year before the integration of Major League Baseball in 1947, was a member of the Homestead Grays, who made the nation’s capital their home.
But there were other talented Black players who competed on fields across the country. In fact, Sykesville had a semi-professional baseball team of its own: the Sykesville Giants.
The Players
Most people have probably never heard the names of Clendan Savoy and Kick Lewis. Or Roger Anderson, Gene Norris, and Russell Dorsey. These players did not compete at the level of the professional Negro Leagues, but they were gentlemen who loved baseball and yearned to play the game as members of the Sykesville Giants.
The Sykesville Giants were founded in 1915, five years before the official formation of the Negro Leagues. They played on Saturdays and Sundays on a home field surrounded by trees and built on undeveloped land. It was a basic field—no fences, no bleachers, no scoreboard. Since there was no formal seating, spectators often brought picnics and set up parties around the field.
The players purchased their own gloves and uniforms. Their opponents were other Black teams who traveled to Sykesville to take them on.
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Clendan Savoy, a right-hander, was the team’s ace pitcher.
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He threw to Gene Norris, the team’s catcher, whose father Jim Norris played third base and was the team’s elder statesman.
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On the right side of the infield were Raymond “Big Raymond” Lewis at first base and his brother Kick Lewis at second.
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Russell Dorsey, 5-foot-4 and 135 pounds, held down shortstop with outsized talent.
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In the outfield: Roger Anderson (left), Clarence Green (center), and David Grooms (right), known as the fastest man on the team.
The Decline of the Giants
The Giants were the sole tenants of their field for many years and continued playing for nearly two decades. But eventually, a series of events forced them off their field: a jousting competitor began using the first-base line for practice runs. And Local merchants began dumping refuse on the field.
By the mid-1930s—more than 10 years before Major League Baseball was integrated—the Sykesville Giants were gone, and their field had become the town dump.
Many players eventually moved away. Of the starting nine, only Clarence Green and Gene Norris remained in Sykesville for their entire lives.
Legacy
Though all the players have since passed away, the legacy of the Sykesville Giants lives on. The Norris family—whose members included catcher Gene and third baseman Jim—was honored many years later when one of the town’s main thoroughfares was named Norris Avenue. Descendants of the players remain in Sykesville today, living proof that the Giants will forever be a part of this town’s story.
References
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In Carrie’s Footprints: The Long Walk of Warren Dorsey – Jack McBride White & Warren Dorsey
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Sykesville Stories – Jack McBride White
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Downtown Sykesville Connection
7611 Main Street, Suite 3
Sykesville, MD 21784
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