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George H. Taylor: From Colorado to the Pinnacle of Black Baseball
Mark E. Eberle
George H. Taylor was a Black baseball player born in Kansas but raised in Denver, Colorado, where he learned to play the game. From the 1880s to 1894, he played primarily for integrated teams in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nebraska, and Iowa, including minor league clubs in Aspen, Colorado and Beatrice, Nebraska. Taylor was also invited to play for otherwise white teams in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah after they saw him play on visiting teams from Denver. From 1895 to 1907, Taylor mostly played for Black teams in Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota, including the Page Fence Giants, Leland Giants, and St. Paul Gophers, some of the best independent baseball teams in the country.
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Integrated Baseball in Ohio, 1891–1907: Chavous, Harrison, Fountain, and Follis.
Mark E. Eberle
In addition to Moses Fleetwood Walker, Welday (Weldy) Walker, John “Bud” Fowler, and Grant “Home Run” Johnson, other Black baseball players were members of integrated teams involved in intercity competition in Ohio during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when racial segregation was widespread. The experiences of four of these players are described. James Chavous was a native of Marysville who pitched for Marysville and several other teams, including the Page Fence Giants. In 1904, an injury to his hand limited his role on the diamond to serving as an umpire, primarily in games between white teams. Edward Webster “Webb” Harrison also played for Marysville and other teams before moving to Lima, where he eventually became a police officer. William Fountain (Fountaine) and his younger brothers, Fred and Andrew, also played for teams in their hometown of Lima. Charles Follis was a native of Wooster and is primarily remembered as the first Black professional football player. He also played for baseball teams in Wooster and several other cities, as well as Wooster University, before moving to Cleveland and later joining the Cuban Giants of New York. Their stories contribute to the growing knowledge of the early history of integrated baseball.
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John W. "Bud" Fowler in Colorado, California, and Ohio
Mark E. Eberle
John W. Jackson Jr., better known as John W. “Bud” Fowler (1858–1913), was a Black baseball player, captain, manager, umpire, and promoter. His baseball career spanned at least 33 years, from 1877 to 1909. In 1878, Fowler became the first known Black baseball player in the major or minor leagues, and he went on to play for a total of 18 minor league clubs with rosters composed predominantly of white ballplayers during the era of racial segregation. He played for numerous teams from New England to southern California and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Consequently, he was the most widely known Black baseball player in the country during his lifetime. In 2022, Fowler was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He has been the subject of two full biographies, the latest of which was published in 2013. Nevertheless, substantial gaps remain in what has been documented about Fowler’s career and his life outside baseball. This is due, in large part, to the limited availability of digital newspapers and other resources from across the broad geographic area in which he lived and played. As additional information becomes available, it is possible to fill some of the gaps and refine some of what has already been published about him. The three essays included here are part of that process. They describe and document Fowler’s time in Colorado (1885), southern California (the winter of 1888–1889), and Ohio (periodically from 1880 to 1905). The Ohio essay also focuses on his professional relationship with dentist William H. Drake in Findlay.
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Early Integrated Baseball in Missouri
Mark E. Eberle
Beginning in the years before the US Civil War, African Americans fled or emigrated from the South to northern and western states and territories. Descendants of these emigrants occasionally had the opportunity to play baseball for predominantly white town teams and minor league clubs prior to 1946 under circumstances documented in states such as Kansas and California. Those same opportunities were virtually nonexistent in states where slavery had been legal at the outset of the Civil War. A few instances of integrated baseball teams involved in intercity competition in Missouri, a border state that remained in the Union, have been documented between 1886 to 1901. All of the teams identified so far represented cities and towns in northwestern Missouri, near the borders of Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. The stories of these teams and Black ballplayers are described from available information published in contemporary newspapers.
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Black Pioneers of Integrated Baseball in California
Mark E. Eberle
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Black athletes were barred from playing baseball in the major and minor leagues, as well as other teams of white players, with relatively few exceptions. Research on baseball’s color line has primarily focused on organized baseball (the major and minor leagues). The nine essays in this monograph are an introductory exploration of integrated baseball in California at various levels, from amateur to professional teams. The first six essays are biographies of seven Black ballplayers who played on predominantly white teams engaged in intercity competition for multiple years from 1886 to 1909. The seventh essay presents information about Black umpires in the state who officiated games involving one or two white teams. The eighth essay is the story of William Carroll and the Trilbys of Los Angeles, a prominent Black baseball club at the turn of the century. The final essay examines possible patterns associated with where and when the integrated teams played in California, supplemented by descriptions of the experiences of three Black soldiers of the 24th and 25th US Infantries who integrated teams west of the Rocky Mountains after their discharges from the army.
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William Lewis Eagleson and the Origins of African American Newspapers in Kansas
Mark E. Eberle
From July to November 1876, Reverend Thomas W. Henderson of the A.M.E. Church, edited a newspaper (“campaign paper”) in Leavenworth and Lawrence, Kansas named the Colored Radical. The following year in Fort Scott, Kansas, William L. Eagleson edited a newspaper named the Colored Citizen. While these were the first two African American newspapers published in the state, both were printed by the white publishers in Lawrence and Fort Scott. In February 1878, William and his brother, James, purchased their own printing equipment and restarted publication of the Colored Citizen, making it the first newspaper in Kansas written, edited, and printed as a Black-owned enterprise. In July 1878, the Eaglesons moved their printshop to Topeka and continued to publish the Colored Citizen. William Eagleson remained the editor and was joined in this role by Reverend Henderson. This monograph summarizes the history of the Colored Citizen and its successors in Topeka during the nineteenth century, which serves as a prelude to a biography of its editor, William Lewis Eagleson (1835–1899). In addition to establishing the Colored Citizen, he was the editor of the first weekly African American newspaper in Oklahoma and the first Black columnist hired by a white-owned newspaper in Kansas.
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Alfred “Army” Cooper: A Baseball Career with the 25th Infantry, Negro Leagues, and Tournament Teams
Mark E. Eberle
Lefthanded pitcher Alfred “Army” Cooper was born in Kansas City, Kansas in 1899 and had a long career with Black baseball clubs between the First and Second World Wars. He played baseball while serving with the 25th US Infantry Regiment in Nogales, Arizona during most of the 1920s. After his discharge in February 1928, he pitched for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League until 1930. The following year, he played for several weeks with Gilkerson’s Union Giants, a prominent barnstorming team, before rejoining the independent Kansas City Monarchs as they barnstormed through the end of the summer. Cooper spent his final season in Negro Leagues baseball with for the Cleveland Stars of the East-West League in 1932. In 1933 and 1934, he played for semipro teams that entered the state semipro baseball tournament in Wichita, Kansas. Integrated teams were not allowed to participate in the tournament, but in both years, Cooper was selected to pitch for integrated tournament all-star teams. In 1935, he pitched for the Denver White Elephants, who entered the Denver Post Tournament. In each of the tournaments, Cooper’s team finished in third or fourth place, high enough to earn a share of the prize money. Through 1939, he played for various teams and lived in multiple states before retiring in Kansas City, where he passed away in March 1966. Cooper was buried in Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery.
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Integrated Baseball in Kansas during the Sport's Era of Segregation
Mark E. Eberle
Black athletes were barred from playing baseball in the major and minor leagues prior to 1946 with few exceptions. The implementation of the color line in organized baseball during the nineteenth century has been the focus of thorough research. Less studied is integrated baseball among independent town teams, and this research has focused on particular players or circumstances rather than an entire state or region across a broad span of baseball history. Integrated teams in Kansas provide a unique opportunity to examine their history at these larger scales. Prior to 1946, major league baseball was essentially concentrated east of the Mississippi River, which placed Kansas on the sport’s broad western frontier. Also, the role of Kansas in the prelude to the Civil War placed the state on the boundary separating North from South. In addition to the geographical context, most newspapers published in the state prior to 1923 and several published after that year have been digitized. Collectively, these circumstances make Kansas well suited to serve as a case study of the broader history of integrated baseball from 1865 to 1945. This book begins with biographies of more than 80 Black baseballists who played or umpired games with white or predominantly white town teams and minor league clubs, as well as predominantly Black teams that had white players. With the foundation provided by these experiences, the questions of why, when, and where integrated town teams took the field are examined and placed within the context of segregation and exclusion across the broader community.
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“What’s in a name?" Baseball Goes to Town in 1886
Mark E. Eberle
In 1886, the St. Louis Browns of the American Association defeated the Chicago White Stockings (now the Chicago Cubs) of the National League in a postseason series, the only time an American Association club won the series played from 1884 to 1890. Also in 1886, the Missouri Pacific railroad organized the construction of a rail line in Kansas from Council Grove through Osage City to Ottawa. To commemorate the Browns’ season, the Missouri Pacific named two new stations after Browns’ players: Bushong in Lyon County and Comiskey in Morris County. Albert “Doc” Bushong was a catcher for the Browns, and Charles Comiskey was the club’s first baseman and captain (player-manager). Early reports of the towns named after baseball players contained incorrect information, but more recent publications have correctly described the events. This monograph provides additional details of the events and documents contemporary sources. The town of Comiskey no longer exists, but the small community of Bushong recently became a trailhead on the extensive Flint Hills Trail State Park, which follows the final alignment of the Missouri Pacific railroad bed.
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Carson City Mints a Base Ball Club, 1869–1870
Mark E. Eberle
Baseball clubs had been organized in Nevada since at least 1866, but the organization of the Silver Star Base Ball Club (BBC) in Carson City in 1869 marked a change for the sport in the state. Some of the employees at the newly constructed Carson City Mint had experience playing for top ball clubs in the East, and other experienced ballplayers lived in the nearby mining community of Virginia City. The Silver City and Virginia ball clubs initiated intercity competition in 1869. In 1870, the Silver Star BBC picked up players from the Virginia BBC and played six games on a tour in California against teams from San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, and Stockton. The ball clubs, games, and associated events are described.
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Memories: The Crew of the USS Abner Read DD-526 (Second Edition)
Mary Elizabeth Downing-Turner and Michael Davis
Memories: The Crew of the USS Abner Read DD-526 captures the experiences of sailors who served aboard the USS Abner Read. Collected over the course of decade, this collection features more than 120 interviews with sailors who fought aboard the Abner Read during the War in the Pacific. First-hand accounts of life on the ship, the incident at Kiska, and the sinking of the ship during the Battle of Leyte Gulf all feature prominently in this edited volume. There are amusing anecdotes, mundane details, and graphic descriptions of the horrors of war. Though only in service for twenty-one months, the experiences aboard the USS Abner Read changed the lives of everyone who served on her.
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Baseball Career of Andy Cooper in Kansas
Mark E. Eberle
Andrew Lewis Cooper was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006. He was a lefthanded pitcher, who played and managed in the Negro Leagues from 1920 until his death in 1941, mostly for the Detroit Stars and Kansas City Monarchs. Cooper also played baseball in California, Cuba, and the Far East. However, his life before 1920 has been little studied. Andy Cooper was born in Texas, probably in 1897. Although he was a resident of Waco and began playing baseball in northern Texas, contemporary newspaper reports document an African American pitcher from Texas named Andrew “Lefty” Cooper playing for baseball teams in Wichita, Kansas during the summers of 1917 and 1919. In addition, Andy Cooper lived in Wichita during parts of the offseason while he played in the Negro Leagues during the 1920s and 1930s. He also wrote about baseball and his extensive travels in a series of columns for a Wichita newspaper, the Negro Star. This monograph recounts Cooper’s experiences in Wichita and frames some of the questions about his early life still in need of thorough research.
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Crossing Baseball’s Color Line: Javan Emory, Jacob Francis, Hershel Schnebly, and Howard Molden
Mark E. Eberle
This set of three essays describes the careers of Black baseball players and umpires who dealt with a color line that barred them from participating with most teams of white players prior to the mid-twentieth century. The first essay — Javan Isaac Emory: Multiple Trips across Baseball’s Color Line — tells the story of Emory’s playing career during the late nineteenth century with integrated and segregated teams at several levels in Pennsylvania, from town teams to professional leagues. The second essay — Jacob B. Francis: Organized Baseball’s First Black Umpire — recounts the story of the first Black umpire in the minor leagues in 1885 and 1886 in upstate New York. At the other end of this period in history, the third essay — William Hershel Schnebly and Howard “Smokey” Molden: The Persistent Color Line — introduces two players in rural Nebraska who played in semipro leagues during the 1930s and 1940s. As the color line in minor league and major league baseball was about to end after World War II, they experienced attempts to implement segregation on the diamond at a local level.
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Baseball’s Color Line in Kansas andthe Chanute Black Diamonds of 1904–1906
Mark E. Eberle
The major and minor leagues excluded black baseball players for most of their history until Jackie Robinson broke the color line in 1946 and 1947. However, at the local level, the color line was not always so absolute. Town teams were occasionally integrated, and segregated teams played each other, sometimes with the local championship on the line. Among the small towns where this occurred was Chanute, Kansas, where a black ball club named the Chanute Black Diamonds was first organized in 1900. From 1904 through 1906, the Black Diamonds assembled a team of the best players from Chanute and nearby Humboldt and Iola that was competitive against both black and white teams in the region. They also earned the city’s championship in 1905. In addition, several members of the team were occasionally sought by white ball clubs wanting to bolster their rosters. Although they never had the opportunity to play in any of the local minor leagues or in the Negro National League (which was not organized until 1920), the Black Diamonds were so well known throughout the region that the team sometimes drew more fans, black and white, than their white counterparts. This monograph summarizes the baseball experiences of the Black Diamonds during this period.
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Baseball Takes Root in Oregon, 1866‒1869
Mark E. Eberle
The first baseball club in the Pacific Northwest was organized in Portland, Oregon in 1866 as the Pioneer Base Ball Club. As the only club in the area, games were initially played between teams picked from the members of the club. The Clackamas BBC in Oregon City was organized later that year, and the first intercity baseball game was played between the first nines of these two clubs in Oregon City on October 13. The following year, numerous baseball clubs were organized, and the first baseball championship was held at the State Fair in Salem. In addition, a regional baseball association open to any teams in Oregon and the territories of Washington and Idaho was organized in Portland. These clubs and the association soon gave way to others, but they succeeded in established the sport in the region.
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Promoting Good Roads: Basketball and Baseball on the Red Line Road in 1915
Mark E. Eberle
The first good road associations in Kansas with an interest in interstate travel were organized in 1910–1914. Construction of roads in rural Kansas was seen as a benefit to farmers and ranchers and to towns trying to attract visitors as automobiles and cross-country trips became more common. Initially, most of these efforts were implemented by counties and other local entities, with volunteers making substantial contributions. Most of these early routes were marked by colored bands painted on telegraph and telephone poles. Thus, they were sometimes known by names such as the Red Line Road or Golden Belt Road. These two roads ran from Kansas City to Denver but followed different routes across most of Kansas. To promote the Red Line Road, boosters in Glasco and Plainville organized sports teams to barnstorm across Kansas and eastern Colorado, painting bands on poles as they went. The teams scheduled games in towns along the route to earn money to pay their expenses. This monograph presents an overview of early road construction in Kansas and the efforts of the Glasco basketball team and Plainville baseball team in promoting the Red Line Road in 1915.
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Scott Joplin, Ragtime, and Baseball in Sedalia, Missouri in 1900
Mark E. Eberle
Scott Joplin first achieved recognition as a composer with the publication of his Maple Leaf Rag in Sedalia, Missouri in 1899. A few months later, a Sedalia newspaper reported that Joplin and fellow musician Henry Jackson organized the Shortridge-Robb baseball club. The club planned to host a team from Kansas City at Liberty Park in Sedalia on 4 August 1900. Nothing else was published about the team in surviving Sedalia newspapers. This monograph examines the circumstances surrounding the organization of the Shortridge-Robb baseball club in an attempt to ascertain why it was organized and whether it played any games.
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Baseball Takes Root in Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska
Mark E. Eberle
The spread of baseball during the mid-nineteenth century is sometimes associated with soldiers and former soldiers who served during the US Civil War. This association is partly true in Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska. However, white settlers from the Northeast and Midwest also brought baseball and similar ball games to the region before the Civil War began, and civilians played ball throughout the war. The first team organized in the region was the Denver Base Ball Club in March 1862, although the team disbanded as warmer weather permitted mining activity to resume. Increasing numbers of baseball clubs were organized in Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska soon after the war ended, and tournaments were held for the championship of each state or territory by 1871. The Otoe BBC of Nebraska City and the Omaha BBC also hosted the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, in 1869. These and other aspects of baseball as it took root in Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska are recounted.
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Baseball Takes Root in New Mexico, 1867–1883
Mark E. Eberle
The first known baseball club in New Mexico was organized in Santa Fe in 1867 as the Santa Fe Base Ball Club. As the only club in the area, games were initially played between teams picked from the club’s members. In November 1868, the Bradley BBC at Fort Union in northeastern New Mexico challenged the Santa Fe BBC to a game. Given the distance between Santa Fe and Fort Union, they met for the game in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Originally scheduled for Thanksgiving Day, the game was postponed two days because of snow. This was the first known baseball game in New Mexico between clubs from different locations. Baseball clubs were organized sporadically in the territory during the 1870s, but baseball and intercity competition became more widespread after 1881.
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Captain George W. Bradley, A.Q.M., and the Bradley Base Ball Clubs
Mark E. Eberle
George W. Bradley served as a quartermaster for the New York Volunteers during the US Civil War. After the war, he became an assistant quartermaster (A.Q.M.) in the regular army with the rank of captain. Captain Bradley served at several posts, mostly in the West. While serving at Fort Harker, Kansas in 1867 and at Fort Union, New Mexico in 1868, teams from the forts organized teams they named the Bradley Base Ball Club (BBC). In Kansas, the Bradley BBC defeated the Smoky Hill BBC from Ellsworth, but in New Mexico, they lost to the Santa Fe BBC in a game played at Las Vegas. The contest in Las Vegas is currently the earliest documented game played by two clubs from distant localities in New Mexico. Captain Bradley was transferred to Philadelphia in 1880, where he passed away in 1882 at age 51. During the early 1890s, his daughter, Kate Mickles Bradley, lived in Omaha, Nebraska and Ottawa, Kansas. In 1896, she and her mother, Agnes, moved back to Washington, DC. In Washington, Kate became well known as a professional art model and a teacher and performer of the Delsarte method of expression, which influenced acting and modern dance. Agnes and Kate both passed away in New York in 1920 and were buried with George in Arlington National Cemetery.
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Early Football in Abilene, Kansas, from Lott to Eisenhower, 1891–1910
Mark E. Eberle
During the late nineteenth century, the name “football” could refer to early versions of soccer, rugby, or American football. In 1891, the city of Concordia, Kansas even had a women’s football team, who probably played soccer (association football). However, American football soon dominated interest in Kansas. Given the likelihood of injury and the organized practice time and coaching necessary, communities were slow to take up American football during the early years of the sport. Consequently, few games were played against teams from other communities. Another monograph summarized the history of football in Kansas through 1891 and the beginning of intercollegiate football. This monograph continues that story by using Abilene as an example of football in smaller cities and the rise of high school teams from 1891 to 1910. At the beginning and end of this period, Abilene sent local athletes Abe Lott and Dwight Eisenhower to the US Military Academy at West Point, where both played varsity football.
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Everyone Wore Masks: Winter Baseball During the Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919
Mark E. Eberle
Efforts to control the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919 were in the hands of local officials, creating a mosaic of regulations. Among the aspects of society affected by these regulations were organized sports, which attracted large groups of people that could contribute to the spread of the disease. Infection rates were highest during the cooler months, so baseball was largely unaffected. However, southern California had an active winter baseball season that attracted major league players, who earned money by playing for teams such as the Pasadena Merchants. Pasadena and the Standard-Murphy team from the oil field region near Whittier were in the midst of a five-game series for the self-proclaimed semipro championship of southern California, when the Pasadena City Commission passed an ordinance requiring everyone to wear a cloth face mask in public. Baseball players would not be exempt, and they refused to play under these conditions. However, instead of moving the game to another city, the players changed their minds and donned the masks on 26 January 1919 for what turned out to be an 11-inning contest. The novelty of the game attracted photographers, and news of the event was reported by newspapers across the country. Four days later, the mask ordinance in Pasadena was rescinded. This narrative summarizes the events surrounding this game, in which several major league players participated.
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“Foot Ball Seems To Be Usurping the Place of Base Ball.” Football in Kansas, 1856–1891
Mark E. Eberle
Following the US Civil War, baseball quickly spread among communities across Kansas. Football was less widespread, and the first reports of “foot ball” during this period referred to early versions of association football (soccer) or rugby. American football developed from modifications to rugby rules beginning in the late 1870s and continuing into the early twentieth century. A few Kansas communities experimented briefly with soccer, rugby, and American football teams based on the model of town team baseball. However, interest in American football soon dominated, with attention focused on collegiate teams. The first intercollegiate games in Kansas were played in the autumn of 1890 by teams representing Baker University, the University of Kansas, and Washburn University. The following year, these three schools organized the state’s first intercollegiate sports league—the Triangular League. This monograph examines the early histories of soccer, rugby, and American football in Kansas through 1891 and the partition of the seasons for football and baseball.
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Topeka Enters the Minor Leagues, 1886–1887: Bud Fowler and Goldsby’s Golden Giants
Mark E. Eberle
The first minor league baseball teams in Kansas represented Topeka and Leavenworth as members of the Western League in 1886 and 1887. The 1886 Topeka Base Ball Club was an integrated team, featuring Bud Fowler at second base for all but the final eight games of the season. Although Black ballplayers were generally excluded from playing on minor league or major league clubs prior to 1946, Fowler was a fan favorite in Topeka and the team’s leading hitter. The team finished fourth among the six teams. In 1887, the Topeka Base Ball Association hired Walton Goldsby to manage the club and improve on the previous record. Goldsby assembled a team on which all of the members except one had played or would play for major league clubs. The team became known as Goldsby’s Golden Giants. They easily won the Western League pennant and are arguably one of the best minor league teams of the nineteenth century. The stories of these two clubs are summarized.
