Trenton Giants

The fans in attendance in Hagerstown, MD on June 24^th, 1950 likely did not know that history was being made that day, as a 19-year-old youngster from Birmingham named Willie Mays made his minor league baseball debut in a Trenton Giants uniform. (And in the process, integrated the class-B Inter-State League). Mays hit .353 for Trenton that season. Though he did not play in enough games to win the official league batting crown, he was named to the Inter-State League All-Star team. The parent New York Giants, clearly impressed, moved him up to Minneapolis the following season. The rest, as they say, is history.