William Gus Greenlee was a highly successful businessman born and raised in Marion, North Carolina. After migrating to Pittsburgh as a young man, began investing heavily in the steel industry, and though his success subsequently acquired several successful baseball ventures of his own.
As a young man, Gus Greenlee knew little about baseball when he first started out.
He took an interest in the game when promoters of the Crawford Giants ran out of money, and he decided to give a charitable donation in the form of an investment, using his wealth from a speakeasy that he owned and money he made being involved in the banking business.
His ability to afford a large payroll in a time with no salary cap, Greenlee attracted some of the biggest names playing in the Negro Leagues at the time.
He would eventually make the Crawford Giants his team by getting rid of the players that were there before he joined the team, bringing in a full roster of new players.
At the same time, Greenlee was also making investments in other sports such as boxing, where he funded a future light-heavyweight boxing champion, adding to his reputation as a power broker.
In 1916, Greenlee traveled north by freight car to Pittsburgh, settling in the Hill District.
This was the period of the first Great Migration, when more than one million African Americans left the rural South in search of consistent work and opportunities to further their freedom, whi;e working in the industrial Northern territories.
In Pittsburgh, Gus held several jobs at the large steel mills, while also maintaining shoe shinning business, and driving a cab. During World War I, he enlisted and served in the black 367th regiment.
In 1924, having saved his money, Gus bought the Collins Inn; gradually becoming one of the most recognizable and influential African-American business owners in Pittsburgh.
He acquired the Crawford Grill Nightclub and in 1931 outright bought the Pittsburgh Crawfords Negro League baseball team, which had been declining financially on and off the field..
In 1933, he founded what would be the first of three iterations of the Negro National League I.
Greenlee installed himself as acing commissioner of the Negro National League, and later, built Greenlee Field, one of the few parks owned and built by a black owned franchise. [1]
Gus was notorious for running what was known as the numbers game, participating in being what society called racketeering on the side.
He used his profits from these enterprises to act as a philanthropist to the African-American community, providing scholarships for students to get education, and grants for adults to buy homes.
Such opportunities were not customarily available due to the segregated policies of white-controlled financial institutions.
Scholars have suggested that Gus Greenlee's success in the community should be interpreted as an enterprising attempt to fill a need created by segregation.
For instance, according to Vernell A. Lillie, Professor Emeritus of Africana studies at the University of Pittsburgh, Greenlee and other "runners" were well respected figures and known philanthropically throughout in the African American Community.
"They made their money probably from the numbers racket, but they turned that money into something very positive. If anybody wanted to buy a house, they could not go to Mellon Bank or Dollar Savings. They had to go to old man Greenlee, or to [William A. "Buzzy"] Robinson." [4]
In 1933, he single handedly organized the annual East-West Classic all-star game that took place in Chicago at Comiskey Park. A duel between some of the greatest players in and throughout the Negro League of the time. It eventually became the centerpiece of National Negro League baseball season.
That same year he was credited as the primary founder of the second iteration of the Negro National League, the Negro National League II, serving as acting league commissioner for 5 seasons.
For a long while the Pittsburgh Crawfords were the most well-funded and financially backed organizations in black baseball, drawing comparisons to the modern day New York Yankees, all thanks to Greenlee’s willingness to spend on the team.
Revenue generated from Greenlee’s gambling and bootlegging operation enabled him to sign and pay top dollar for some of the best talent in black baseball.
The 1935 squad may have been the best team to ever to play in the Negro Leagues, as the team fielded 5 future Major League Baseball Hall of Fame players.
Money also enabled Greenlee's economic success resulting in him building a ballpark for his team, known as Greenlee Field.
When he bought the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1931, he was insulted that his players were not allowed to use the dressing rooms at white-owned or white controlled venues such as Forbes Field, Ammon Field, and other venues the teams frequented.
Following the 1938 season, Greenlee left baseball.
He sold his remaining any remaining interests he had in baseball including the ballpark, partly because he felt had lost too many of his best players, and also partly because he owed money to his other ventures, specifically the number in the numbers game.
However, in 1945, Greenlee made a comeback in alliance with Branch Rickey.
The partnership related to Rickey's projected to integrate the Negro Leagues with Major League Baseball. The duo established the United States League (USL) in 1945, as a method to scout black players, and more specifically to break the color barrier that had been keeping African Americans out of Major League Baseball.
It is unclear if the league played the 1945 season, or if it was used only as a front to achieve the full integration because the league lasted less than one season.
In October of that year, Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson, who never played in the United States League. The 1946 USL season lasted only a few weeks before the league folded.
Jackie Robinson would forgo playing in the United States League and sign on with Branch Rickey’s Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the Major League color line in the year 1947.
Again, Greenlee took a major step back from his ventures in baseball after 1946, but continued to operate the Crawford Grill in Pittsburgh until 1951, until it was destroyed by a fire.
One of Gus Greenlee’s lasting and most important contributions to the Negro Leagues was in 1932, when he purchased a plot of land and developed Greenlee Field. This was a significant achievement, as it stood as the first only all black ballparks.
Contrary to popular opinion, it was not the first; it followed the Walker brothers' ballpark at the corner of Chauncey and Hombre Way, also in the Hill District.
However, due to Greenlee’s standing within the African American community and more specifically the black baseball community Greenlee Field is the most often remembered. [7]
The was stadium was solely financed by Greelee, importing concrete and steel. All told the ballpark would reach max capacity at 7,500 fans. It was designed by Pittsburgh's first African-American architect, Louis Arnett Stuart Bellinger.
It cost Greenlee nearly $100,000, of which he financed over 50%.
Adjusted for inflation that would have cost Greenlee $1,846,808 in terms of 2024.
Lights for night games and a tarp to shield fans from the sun during the day were added the burgeoning stadium following the 1933 season.
The first game at Greenlee Field attracted over 4,000 fans, with some patrons being seated in different areas of the park while it was still under construction. For a time, the field was also used for the Pittsburgh Steelers football practice.
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