Babylon Black Panthers
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The Babylon Black Panthers were a professional African-American baseball club, maybe the first one.
The team was originally formed in the 1880s as a recreation for staff of the Argyle Hotel, a summer resort in Babylon (village), New York. The team was so skilled in the game, and achieved victory over so many of the nearby amateur "white" teams that they attracted the attention of a promoter, Walter Cook (baseball). To appeal to a broader audience, Cook styled them the "Cuban Giants," a common ploy to avoid referring to the players as "black" or "Negro." There were no Cubans in the Cuban Giants.
The team went on to become the "world colored champions" of 1887 and 1888, and spawned imitators.
Members of the hotel staff formed the nucleus of the still-extant African-American community in Babylon
