Pittsburgh Crawfords
The Pittsburgh Crawfords were a professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which played in the Negro Leagues. In the 1930s they were considered by many observers to be the best Negro League baseball team of all time, as they dominated the Negro National League under player-manager Oscar Charleston with the help of star players Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Judy Johnson, and Cool Papa Bell. The Crawfords were owned by Gus "Big Red" Greenlee, who built one of the few ballparks owned by a Negro League baseball team owner -- Greenlee Field. Greenlee also owned one of black Pittsburgh's favorite nighttime gathering spots, the Crawford Grille, where the likes of Lena Horne and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson entertained and players like Leroy "Satchel" Paige and Josh Gibson unwound.
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