Evans’ All-Nations and Mayetta Indians Baseball, 1917, Revised

Authors

Mark E. Eberle, Fort Hays State UniversityFollow

Files

DOI

10.58809/QODO6184

Date

2025

Abstract

On 4 April 1917, the United States declared war on Germany and prepared to enter what would later be referred to as the First World War. Those preparations would last through the summer, as many young men spent one last season playing baseball before leaving for Europe. Among these teams in northeastern Kansas were two local teams not composed solely of white players. The Evans’ All-Nations was an integrated team in Horton composed of white, black, American Indian, and possibly Mexican players. Jesse Evans, a local black barber, managed the team. About 25 miles southwest of Horton, on the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Reservation, the Mayetta Indians baseball team was organized in 1906 and played into the 1920s. Most of their players were American Indians. In 1917, the Evans’ All-Nations and Mayetta Indians put competitive teams on the field that played each other, local town teams, and clubs in Topeka, both white and black. As the United States mobilized for war, during a time when segregation was entrenched in the United States, these two baseball teams composed of local playwers were sought as opponents in northeastern Kansas. This monograph recounts that season for these two teams. This essay was originally published in 2019 and has undergone revisions and corrections for its release in 2025 as part of the five-volume anthology Peeking through the Knothole. The open-access, digital version of this essay is available through the “Download” button on this webpage. The print-on-demand version is available through the “Buy this Book” button for volume three of the anthology (Essays on Crossing Baseball’s Color Line, 1874–1946).

Keywords

Evans’ All-Nations, Horton Browns, Mayetta Indians, integrated baseball, Jesse Evans, Virgil Barnes, Zeke Barnes, Arthur Lonborg, Dutch Lonborg.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Rights

© The Author (s)

Comments

For questions contact ScholarsRepository@fhsu.edu

Originally Published 2019

Revised Edition 2025

Recommended Citation

Eberle, Mark E., "Evans’ All-Nations and Mayetta Indians Baseball, 1917, Revised" (2025). Monographs. 9.
DOI: 10.58809/QODO6184
Available at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/all_monographs/9