Free State of Galveston biggest names in the entertainment business, including Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Guy Lombardo, Jack Benny, Gene Autry, Phil Silvers, Jane Russell, George Burns, Duke Ellington, and Bob Hope. The Texas League, a baseball league, was founded in the 1800s, temporarily discontinued, and then restarted in the early 1900s evolving into a minor league. During the 1930s investors in Galveston, particularly Shearn Moody, established the Galveston Buccaneers baseball team, a successor to the former Galveston Pirates. The Buccaneers won the league championship in 1934 but the team was sold in 1937 after Moody's death. After the war, the new Gulf
Port of Galveston island's grade. As a result, the port was now considered a deep-water port and was able to handle larger ships. By the time World War I began, Galveston "was the leading cotton port in the world, the third largest exporter of wheat, and an important sugar import center." The port also became a major immigration center, with almost 50,000 people entering the country between 1906 and 1914. In March 1920 local longshoreman called for a strike, seeking a wage increase and recognition of their union, the International Longshoreman's Association. Some of the port traffic was diverted to the Port of