team's application would be accepted, and according to Govern, the only thing that needed to be worked out was whether the Giants would assume the Meriden team's schedule and low position in the standings or be given the opportunity to start fresh. Unfortunately, they were not given the chance: on July 20, the Eastern League rejected the Cuban Giants' application and continued the season with only five teams. Despite the fact that the league already counted black stars like George Stovey, Fleet Walker, and Frank Grant among its ranks, race was a driving factor in barring the Cubes entry. According to the Meriden Journal "the dread of being beaten by the Africans had something to do with the rejection of the application of the Cuban Giants." However, other factors were also at play: the Eastern League's 1886 season was a financial disaster brought on by "bad management, and an entire lack of harmony among the clubs" Indeed, two other teams had already withdrawn from the league by the time the Meriden squad dropped out in July. Moreover, because the Eastern League was a party to the National Agreement its members had to abide by the National League's rule forbidding league clubs from scheduling games on Sundays. The Cuban Giants were reluctant to give up their profitable weekend bookings in Hoboken and New York, so this also played a part in the Eastern League's decision to reject their application. J. M. Bright purchased the Cuban Giants from Cook in June 1887. Bright was able to get them into the Middle States League in 1889, as joining a league was something the team had been trying to do for some time. However, Bright was not nearly as well-liked as Cook, and had to deal often with renegade players. This would be the team's last year in Trenton. In 1890 the entire team fled and played as the Colored Monarchs of York, Pennsylvania. In 1891, the heart of the team fled to their rival, Ambrose Davis’ Gorhams of New York City, then called the Big Gorhams. This dismantling and reassembling of the team became routine year after year until 1896, when E.B. Lamar Jr. from Brooklyn bought the team from Bright, renaming them the Cuban X-Giants. Bright responded by putting together an inferior team calling them the "Genuine Cuban Giants" or the "Original Cuban Giants". The Cuban X-Giants had a successful ten-year run