For those who enjoy irony the wrenching absence of even a modest historical and statistical record connected to the various Negro leagues has left oral history in the driver's seat when confronting the lore and legend of the itinerant leagues that dotted the United States the Caribbean and Central America for much of the century. And oral history pretty vividly proclaims that Oscar Charleston may have been the greatest black ballplayer of that colorful era. And the irony continues that such a pronouncement might come from the words of a white sportswriter albeit the famous practitioner of his craft in the land.Grantland Rice covered the likes of Ruth Gehrig and his good friend Ty Cobb and yet he famously exclaimed "It's impossible for anybody to be a better ballplayer than Oscar Charleston." The old black ballplayers agree. Some may have been a step faster some hit the ball harder but when it came to the best consummate player in the Negro Leagues there was no debating the issue: Oscar "Lefty" Charleston could do it all and do it well. Charleston was a rock-solid 5-11 and 200 pounds. His career began with the Indianapolis ABCs in 1915. Throughout the 1920's Charleston established his legacy dominating games in the Negro League in Cuba and against barnstorming major leaguers. In 1932 Gus Greenlee owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords asked the 36-year-old Charleston to be the team's player/manager. The following year Charleston hit .376 and led the Crawfords to a second-place standing by mid-season. When the League failed to complete the schedule Greenlee used his status to successfully declare his ball club pennant winners despite the fact that the Chicago American Giants were one game ahead in the race. At season's end Greenlee gave Charleston this very trophy on behalf of himself and the Crawfords' players. Artifacts connected to the Negro leagues are rare enough but such a magnificent piece regaling the exploits of the greatest player in the game adds enormous significance to this amazing piece. Greenlee admired Charleston enough to go out and find a magnificent antique cup to engrave for his most valued player/manager. This 8-inch tall 7-inch wide silver cup was manufactured in the mid-19th century by Meriden B. Company and Rogers Bros. (whose stampings appears on the interior of the base) then engraved for presentation to Charleston in 1933. An acid-etched baseball scene appears along the top 1-1/2 inches of the trophy's front above the original engraving "PRESENTED TO OUR MANAGER - OSCAR 'LEFTY' CHARLESTON - OCTOBER 12 1933 - BY MR. GUS GREENLEE - AND THE PITTSBURGH CRAWFORDS." In the late-1980's the trophy was replated by our consignor (whose LOA accompanies) successfully restoring a dark and uninspiring surface into its current silver splendor with the original engraving from the 1930's left untouched. The engraved lettering and etched baseball scene are sharp and clean and the remainder of the shining trophy's silver surface evidences very little handling. It's no secret that painfully few important early artifacts have survived from the Negro Leagues. Of those that did and we know of no others featuring the legendary Oscar Charleston this one-of-a-kind showpiece is certainly among the finest.