The accolades surrounding Philip Daniel Bradley place him among stars of Blackball’s Deadball Era. “For second catcher, Phil Bradley of the (Brooklyn) Royals is easy (sic) the second-best catcher in colored baseball. He is a better hitter than Bruce Petway, and has a head along with a true snap throwing arm,” according to reporter Harry Daniels.1 Bradley, a native of Schenectady, New York, may be the best homegrown player in city history, according to local historian Frank Keetz.2 Bradley’s time with the original Cuban Giants, Brooklyn Royal Giants, Leland Giants, Patterson Smart Set, and Schenectady Mohawk Giants provides legitimacy. His years with Pittsburgh’s Colored Stars of Buffalo (NY) ring hollow as semiprofessional statistics unworthy of major-league status. The National Baseball Hall of Fame research library holds no files on Bradley.3 His career spanned over 20 years (1903-1926), including hotel leagues in Cuba and alongside the best talent on either side of the color line.

Phil Bradley, born on March 28, 1886, in Albany, New York, was the son of Charles M. Bradley, a white medical student in Albany, New York, and an unknown Black woman.4 Charles Bradley married Mary Marx, a white woman from Schenectady, in January 1886 and moved to Chicago to practice medicine. Charles had two sons, Nathan and Frederick, in Chicago, who had no contact with their half-brother, as Charles and Mary left Philip with Mary’s father, Peter Marx Sr., in Schenectady. Peter, a German broom maker, lived with his wife, Elizabeth. The couple raised six children in Schenectady. By 1886, all of their sons were married and living independently. When Mary married Charles Bradley, Peter, in his mid-50s, agreed to allow Phil Bradley to live with him and Elizabeth on Albany Street in Schenectady.5 He worked at the Schenectady Whisp Broom Factory, the nation’s leading producer of brooms. His employment also included years with the American Locomotive Company and with General Electric as a machinist.