SABR 52: Listen to highlights from Black Baseball in Minnesota Panel with Carl Rogan, Peter Gorton, Todd Peterson, Frank M. White
On Saturday, August 10, 2024, the SABR 52 Black Baseball in Minnesota Panel was held at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. Panelists included Pete Gorton, founder of The Donaldson Network; Todd Peterson, co-chair of SABR’s Negro Leagues Committee; Carl Rogan, grandson of Hall of Famer Wilber “Bullet” Rogan; and Frank M. White, historian and author.
Gorton is the founder of The Donaldson Network, a group of hundreds of researchers, authors, and historians dedicated to the rediscovery of Negro Leagues great John Donaldson. He was honored by SABR’s Negro Leagues Committee with the Tweed Webb Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
Peterson is a visual artist, historian, and teacher who lives in Overland Park, Kansas. He is the co-chair of SABR’s Negro Leagues Committee and a two-time winner of the Tweed Webb Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding research. His books include The Negro Leagues Were Major Leagues in 2019 and Early Black Baseball in Minnesota in 2010.
Rogan is the grandson of Wilber “Bullet Joe” Rogan, a two-way star with the Kansas City Monarchs who was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998. Carl was a three-sport star at Minneapolis Central High School who has spent a lifetime playing and coaching sports. He spent 30 years working for 3M in the laboratory and in sales and marketing before his retirement.
White is an author, historian, exhibit curator, and SABR member. He is the author of They Played for the Love of the Game and several articles on Black baseball in Minnesota. He is also a retired athlete, coach, official, and sports administrator. He has coordinated the RBI program for the Minnesota Twins and served as a board member for the Minnesota State High School League.
- AUDIO: Listen to highlights from the SABR 52 Black Baseball in Minnesota Panel (49:39; MP3)
Here are some highlights:
ON TALKING TO BULLET ROGAN ABOUT BASEBALL
- Rogan: “Any time anyone was around [my grandfather], the only thing they wanted to talk about was baseball. And it was just like he was in the (Army) service. He would snap to attention, his eyes would get wide open, he would get this grin on his face. ‘Let’s talk!’ And that’s what he would do, he would just talk baseball. He was an entertainment center for a lot of people on baseball.”
ON ADVOCATING FOR BULLET ROGAN IN THE HALL OF FAME
- Rogan: “I got a call from Kansas City one day and they said, ‘We think we can get Bullet Joe into the Hall of Fame.’ And when they said that, I had flashbacks of all the things he used to say to me. And one of the things he said was, ‘I used to tell a batter what pitch I was going to throw and dare him to hit it.’ … And my thought was, he was really stuck on himself. That was just my thought [at the time]. … But that’s when I realized that of everything he told me, in actuality when I went back and did the research, he was really humble about what he was telling me compared to what I was reading and what other people said about him. That was mind-blowing.”
ON PLAYING BASEBALL IN AN ERA OF SEGREGATION
- Gorton: “Within 75 miles of John Donaldson’s house, 17 Black men were murdered before he was 20 years old. John Donaldson knew what the world was [and] knew how to survive in that world. … Babe Ruth didn’t do that. [He] didn’t fight for his life every day. … Sure, there might have been a place in Minnesota that might have been a little more tolerant. But it was time to go when the sun went down. We can have all these interesting stories about how much they accomplished, how much they were able to do. … This might not have anything to do with baseball. But I tell you what, integration doesn’t happen until John Donaldson proved that it could happen. … We need to start talking about the times these guys lived in, lived through, and showed us the way to be better human beings.”
ON TONI STONE’S CHALLENGES IN THE NEGRO LEAGUES
- White: “She ended up being recruited by the Indianapolis Clowns for a number of reasons. And she was the first woman to play in the Negro Leagues. They would also add two other players. … But the one thing Toni talked about was the challenge of playing with the Monarchs and with other men, people didn’t want her on the field. They would make comments about how she should be in the kitchen, making biscuits, yada, yada. It was really a challenge for her as she pursued her baseball career.”
ON THE DOMINANCE OF THE ST. PAUL GOPHERS
- Peterson: “Although they were only in existence for five years, the St. Paul Gophers managed to win 450 ballgames while spreading the gospel of Black baseball to places where it had never been before. The Minnesota Twins have honored the Gophers on several occasions, first donning the uniform in 1997 and several times since. In 2024, SABR declared that the 1909 St. Paul Gophers were a major-league-caliber team.”
For more coverage of SABR 52, visit SABR.org/convention.
Originally published: August 25, 2024. Last Updated: August 26, 2024.