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Bert Wakefield and the End of Integrated Minor League Baseball in Kansas
Mark E. Eberle
Bert Wakefield was a lifelong resident of Troy, Kansas, where he was an active member of the community—business owner, member of social organizations, and musician. Wakefield was also an African American who played on several integrated and black baseball teams through the 1890s and early 1900s, including the Chicago Unions, Chicago Union Giants, Algona (Iowa) Brownies, Renville (Minnesota) All-Stars, and the original Kansas City Monarchs. In addition, Wakefield served as a captain of the mostly white Troy minor league team in the Kansas State League in 1895. In this role, he joined Bud Fowler, who captained minor league teams in Vermont (1887) and Nebraska (1892). Wakefield also umpired at least one ballgame between two white teams. Two other black ballplayers from Kansas—Bert Jones from Hiawatha and Monroe Ingram from Coffeyville—also played for minor league teams in Kansas during 1896–1898, making the state one of the last to have openly integrated minor league teams in the nineteenth century. This biography recounts Bert Wakefield’s experiences in baseball—with supporting appearances by Jones, Ingram, and other Kansas ballplayers. The story of Bert Wakefield and his fellow Kansans also intersects on the diamond with the baseball careers of men associated with the segregation of organized baseball, the organization of the Negro Leagues, and the reintegration of major league baseball. In addition, this story features an umpire from South Dakota who was an exception to the pervasive exclusion of women from professional baseball.
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Inaugural Season of Intercity Base Ball in Leavenworth and Kansas City, 1866: Frontiers and Antelopes
Mark E. Eberle
The inaugural year for baseball played among formally organized base ball clubs (BBC) in Kansas and in Kansas City, Missouri was 1866. Little has been written about the events of that year other than retellings and embellishments of a myth created in 1927 about James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok umpiring a game between the Kansas City Antelopes and Atchison Pomeroys to prevent violence during the contest. In truth, the first club organized in the area by local business owners and other professionals was the Frontier Base Ball Club of Leavenworth in November 1865. A few other clubs were organized in Kansas the following year in Fort Scott, Lawrence, Manhattan, and Wyandotte (Kansas City), but not in Atchison. The first club organized in Kansas City, Missouri was the Antelope BBC in July 1866. Members of these clubs initially participated in intramural games, but challenges were soon issued and accepted through newspaper announcements. The first games were played among clubs in the same city, but intercity matches were arranged in October and November 1866. The four clubs participating in these intercity matches were the Frontier BBC and Wyandott BBC in Kansas and the Antelope BBC and Hope BBC in Kansas City, Missouri. The top two teams in 1866 were the Frontiers and Antelopes, who played a home and home series of one game in each city. Each of their games was followed by a sumptuous dinner and other entertainment hosted by the home club. Hickok’s presence was not required to keep the peace. The age of gentlemen’s base ball clubs in Kansas lasted only a few years before town teams composed of the best local players and possibly a few hired ringers became widespread. This monograph describes the inaugural season of intercity baseball in Kansas and adjacent Kansas City, Missouri.
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Early Baseball and Historic Liberty Park Stadium in Sedalia, Missouri
Mark E. Eberle
Small baseball parks with grandstands constructed prior to the Second World War continue to be lost around the country, and much of the sport’s history is lost with them. Missouri has a few such ballparks remaining within its borders, including those in Carthage, Hannibal, and St. Joseph. In addition, Sedalia has what is arguably one of the finest examples in the nation of a small ballpark with an historic wooden grandstand constructed in 1937–1938 that continues to serve its original purpose. This article is a brief introduction to baseball in Sedalia from the end of the Civil War through the Great Depression, along with the history of baseball in the city’s Liberty Park that culminated in construction of the grandstand still in use more than 80 years after it was constructed.
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Eisenhower, Wilson, and Professional Baseball in Kansas
Mark E. Eberle
Ever since General Dwight David Eisenhower mentioned in 1945 that he had played professional baseball under a pseudonym Wilson sometime after his 1909 graduation from Abilene High School, there have been attempts to document this assertion. Yet, he offered little detail for researchers to follow, not even the team or year. If true, however, it has been speculated this would have made him ineligible for intercollegiate competition in 1911-1915 while he attended the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he played on the football team. Thus, interest in the story has persisted. Newspaper accounts of baseball mention a professional ballplayer named Wilson, who was a member of the minor league teams in Abilene and other towns in the region from 1909 through 1914. It was during 1909-1911 that the recently graduated Eisenhower waited in Abilene, seeking opportunities to earn money that would help pay for a college education. Superficial research into the histories of Eisenhower and professional baseball around Abilene at this time has led to speculation that this ballplayer named Wilson, at least in some instances, was actually Dwight Eisenhower. However, it is impractical to try making sense of Eisenhower’s sparse comments about his baseball career without a thorough consideration of the historical context. This study assesses Eisenhower’s experiences in baseball, as well as his statements about playing professional baseball and the contemporary intercollegiate eligibility rules. A biographical summary for the ballplayer named Wilson associated with baseball in Abilene is also provided.
