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The was a professional, black baseball team that played prior to the founding of the Negro Leagues. In 1899, a group known as the Columbia Club, organized the Columbia Giants under the direction of John W. Patterson. Many of the original players, including Patterson, came from the recently disbanded Page Fence Giants. Patterson also signed Chicago Unions pitcher Harry Buckner.
In 1899, managed by Al Garrett, they beat the Chicago Unions for the western championship, winning game one 4-2 and game two 6-0. Stars included Home Run Johnson at SS and Charlie Grant at 2B. They lost a cross-country title match with the Cuban X-Giants by a 7-4 score. Johnson homered in two of the three major matches.
In 1900 no championship was played and the Unions and Columbia Giants both claimed to be number one. Johnson went to the Union Giants but was replaced by future Hall-of-Famer Sol White. Billy Holland also joined the team that year. In 1901, Frank Leland combined his Chicago Unions with the Giants and renamed the team the Chicago Union Giants, which was renamed to the Leland Giants in 1905