100 Black Men of Austin Host Family and Friends at Austin Black Senators Night at Dell Diamond
The 100 Black Men of Austin invited 50 guests to attend the Austin Black Senators Game at Dell Diamond. Every year, the Round Rock Express (Texas Rangers AAA minor league) highlights the Negro Leagues by wearing Negro League jerseys to honor the Austin Black Senators.
Downs-Mabson Field currently serves as home to the @hustontillotsonuniversity Rams baseball team, but in the early 1900’s, it was the stomping grounds of the Austin Black Senators.
Named after Dr. Reverend Karl Downs, president of Huston College from 1943 to 1948, and George Mabson, manager of the Black Senators, who played at that site in its previous incarnation, it serves as a monument to the history of Black baseball in central Texas.
The Austin Black Senators were one of the earliest Black baseball teams to play in the region and featured Hall of Fame talent over its nearly 50 years of existence. The earliest reference to the club came in the Austin Statesman newspaper in 1908. The Black Senators played independently for over a decade before joining the Texas Colored League in 1923, one of several minor Negro leagues.