John Patterson
Nickname: Pat
Career: 1893-1907
Positions: lf, 2b, ss, manager
Teams: Lincoln, Nebraska, Giants (1890), Plattsmouth, Nebraska (1892) Cuban Giants (1893-1894), Page Fence Giants (1897-1898), Columbia Giants (1899-1900), Chicago Union Giants (1902), Philadelphia Giants (1903), Cuban X-Giants (1904), Quaker Giants of New York, Brooklyn Royal Giants (1907)
He joined the Cuban Giants in 1893 as a substitute second baseman, playing behind Sol White, but won a starting position in left field in 1894. The Cuban Giants had been the first black professional team but were now being challenged for supremacy by other clubs. After leaving the Cubans he played with the Page Fence Giants, who had quickly become a top team in the West and who had defeated the Cuban Giants for the championship in 1896.
When the team disbanded after the 1898 season, many of the players joined the Columbia Giants. Patterson was the regular left fielder for two seasons until Frank Leland combined the Giants with the Chicago Unions to form the Chicago Union Giants in 1901. After a year's absence, Patterson joined the team for a season as the starting left fielder before joining the Philadelphia Giants in 1903 and the Cuban X-Giants in 1904. In each of these seasons his team was the losing team in the playoff for the eastern championship.
In 1907 he played left field for the Brooklyn Royal Giants, usually batting in the second slot, to close out an active career that began in 1890 with the Lincoln Giants from Lincoln, Nebraska, and included a stint with the Plattsmouth ballclub in the Nebraska State League.
Source: James A. Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1994.