Ben Holmes

Benjamin F. Holmes

• Bats Right, Throws Right

• Born April 3, 1858 in King and Queen County, VA USA
• Died May 11, 1949 in Washington, DC USA

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Ben Holmes was a third baseman who played for some of the earliest professional black baseball teams. He began playing in 1876 for the Douglas Club of Washington, DC. When the first pro black team was formed, the Argyle Hotel Athletics of 1885, Holmes manned third base. The team became the Cuban Giants and Holmes remained at third base for the club through 1889, when he was 31 years old. In 1894, he appeared in the Nebraska State League.

Holmes wrote to Newark Eagles owner Effa Manley in 1942, requesting tickets and signing it as an "original Cuban Giants player", a fact he always took pride in. The 88-year-old was honored in the 1946 Negro World Series, as the first ball in game two (thrown by heavyweight champion Joe Louis) was in his honor as a representative of the first black "world series" in 1888.