Hawkeye Gilkerson

The first evidence of Robert Gilkerson’s baseball career appeared in the Pittsburg Press on April 10, 1904.  

The newspaper ran a photo of a young Rob “Hawkeye” Gilkerson with the caption “shortstop of the fast East End team of Johnstown.”

By May of 1904 Gilkerson was playing second base for the Smoky City Giants, an African American team based in Pittsburgh.

The Smoky City Giants that year were led by Nathan “Nate” Harris and included other notable players such as Andrew “Jap”Payne and Emmett Bowman.  

The team’s box scores are extremely limited for 1904 but Gilkerson shows up regularly in the few printed in June and July.