August 10, 1929: Cannonball Jackman pitches a perfect game in New Bedford

If you were a fan of semipro baseball in New England in the late 1920s, you knew who Will “Cannonball” Jackman was, and you couldn’t wait for the Philadelphia Colored Giants to come to town, so that you could watch him pitch.

Jackman’s semipro career began in 1921 with the Houston Black Buffaloes.1 He joined the Philadelphia Colored Giants in 1925,2 and pitched for them off and on into the 1930s. And showing amazing longevity, he was still pitching semipro well into the late 1940s.3 During most of his semipro career, he was mainly a submariner, but he had an assortment of pitches that batters found “bewildering,”4 and a talent for clowning that kept the fans entertained. Sportswriters sang his praises, comparing him to major-league pitching stars like Walter Johnson5 and saying he was the “greatest of all colored pitchers.”6 One local sportswriter even said it was “a rare privilege” to watch him pitch.7

And like Babe Ruth, to whom he was also compared,8 Jackman was both an excellent pitcher and an excellent batter, who often hit for extra bases. In fact, on some days when he wasn’t pitching, his manager would bring him in to pinch-hit, sometimes with game-winning results.9   

The Philadelphia Colored Giants were a widely respected Black barnstorming team; they were considered “one of the … best performing baseball [clubs] in the country,” with players as good, if not better, than many big leaguers.10 They drew large crowds wherever they went, especially if Jackman was pitching. Despite their name, they played the vast majority of their games in Massachusetts, and in 1929 their “home field” was Sargent Field in New Bedford, about 60 miles south of Boston.11

Due to a lack of newspaper coverage of semipro teams in general and Black teams in particular, it is difficult to determine how well Jackman did in 1929. By then, he was about 33 years old,12 but still the workhorse of the Colored Giants’ staff, sometimes pitching two or three times a week. But he seems to have been more inconsistent than in previous seasons. He was still winning a lot of games, but he was giving up more runs than usual, a fact that local sportswriter Henry McKenna, who often covered the Colored Giants, found puzzling.13 Despite the inconsistency, Jackman was still an exciting player to watch, and he remained as popular as ever, drawing thousands of fans to see him pitch.14

On Saturday, August 10, the Colored Giants were scheduled to play against the Pennsylvania Red Caps, another Black barnstorming club, made up mostly of men who worked as porters for the Pennsylvania Railroad in New York City.15 The Red Caps were described by local sportswriters as “probably the equal of any colored team”16 and capable of playing “a high-class brand of baseball.”17

The Red Caps had played the Colored Giants on August 9 at Walkover Park in Brockton, Massachusetts, and the Giants won that game easily, 10-4.18 Now, the second of their three-game series19 moved to New Bedford, where the game began at 3 P.M. on a perfect day for baseball – partly cloudy, with temperatures in the mid-70s.

Jackman’s pitching opponent was Jack Dillard,20 and for the first two innings both men pitched well, with neither team scoring. Several notable defensive plays prevented runners from getting on base. The Giants’ right fielder, Frank Baynard,21 made a “fine running catch” that robbed the Red Caps’ Deedy Crosson22 of a hit in the top of the first inning; and the Red Caps’ Tom Findley,23 who played “a bang up game at third,” took a hit away from the Giants’ Tubby Johnson in the bottom of the first.24 In fact, there was good fielding throughout the game, with neither team making an error.

The Giants opened the scoring in the third, and, as he had done so many times, Jackman helped his own cause, driving in the first two runs.25 When he came to bat, his batterymate Burlin White was on first, having been hit by a pitch. Jackman hit a hard line drive to center, just out of reach of Red Caps’ center fielder James “Bobo” Leonard.26 It rolled to the fence, and both White and Jackman scored, giving the Giants a 2-0 lead.27 Until the seventh inning, when Dillard “weakened,” he was pitching a “steady” game and had not allowed any further scoring.28

But then it started to go wrong for the Red Caps pitcher, and once again it was Jackman who did the damage. With a runner on second, after a walk and a sacrifice, Jackman blooped a hit into right. The run scored and Jackman legged out a double. It was now 3-0, and thus far Jackman had driven in all three runs. Then, in the eighth, his teammates drove Dillard from the game. He faced seven batters and four of them got hits, including a single by Giants second baseman Hawk Davis29 that brought in the final two runs.30

But it was Jackman’s pitching that had the crowd in awe. While he benefited from some good defensive plays, including one in the seventh from Davis, who prevented the Red Caps’ Crosson from beating out an infield hit, Jackman was overpowering, and his control was described as “flawless.”31 He struck out nine, and only two balls were hit out of the infield off him. And showing no sign of being tired, he struck out the last four batters he faced, in a game that took only an hour and 35 minutes.32

Jackman had already pitched a no-hitter as a member of the Giants, back on July 26, 1926: In that game, against the Copeland Club of Quincy, Massachusetts, he walked a batter, struck out 14, and won the game 7-0.33 But his victory over the Red Caps was his first perfect game, and in many of the cities where he had pitched, sportswriters were happy for him. He was known for being affable and good-natured, and he was well-liked by members of the press.34 One reporter, from the central Massachusetts city of Worcester, lamented that Jackman had reached his milestone in New Bedford, rather than in Worcester, where “he has such a large number of admirers.”35

As for the Boston newspapers, Jackman’s perfect game received minimal coverage. (After his death in 1972, it wasn’t even mentioned in his obituary.) And life on a barnstorming team meant little time for Jackman and his teammates to celebrate: They had an 80-mile journey ahead of them, heading for Worcester to play the third game of their series with the Red Caps, a game that the Giants went on to win, 4-2.36        

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Larry DeFillipo and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Cannonball Jackman, Trading Card Database.

Sources

The author is grateful to John Fredland, Gary Belleville, and Kurt Blumenau for their helpful suggestions. She would like to thank the reference librarians at public libraries in Fall River, Reading, and Westfield, Massachusetts. And she is especially grateful to MaryEllen Cecil, a librarian in the Special Collections and History room of the New Bedford Public Library, for her invaluable assistance. In addition, the author used numerous databases, including Newspapers.com, GenealogyBank.com, Seamheads.com, and OldNews.com.

Notes

1 “Black Buffs Beat Black Cats, 5 to 2,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 6, 1921: 6.

2 Philly Giants Blank Fore River with ‘Jack’ in the Box,” Quincy (Massachusetts) Patriot Ledger, July 22, 1925: 2.

3 For example, “Vrees All-Stars Win, 2-0, on Bessom’s Three-Hitter,” Lynn (Massachusetts) Daily Evening Item, June 28, 1948: 8. Jackman was at least 54 years old at the time, but still pitched a complete game.

4 “Colored Philadelphia Players Outclass K of C Before Record Crowd, Score 11 to 6,” Newburyport (Massachusetts) Daily News, July 12, 1928: 6.  

5 “Eagles Held to Four Hits by Jackman,” New Bedford (Massachusetts) Sunday Standard, June 5, 1927: 6.

6  “Philly Giants Want Games May 11, 12,” Boston Traveler, May 4, 1929: 9.

7 “Jackman and Caldwell May Be Rival Flingers,” Quincy Patriot Ledger, July 27, 1927: 2. 

8 “University Club to Meet Philly Giants,” Boston Traveler, July 16, 1929: 18.

9 “Sports,” Clinton (Massachusetts) Daily Item, August 8, 1927: 4.

10 “Rovers to Play Colored Giants,” Leominster (Massachusetts) Daily Enterprise, July 14, 1927: 7.

11 “Philly Giants Want Games May 11, 12,” Boston Traveler, May 4, 1929: 9.

12 There is contradictory information about exactly when Jackman was born. His Hall of Fame questionnaire states that he was born in 1897. But his 1942 draft card lists 1895. And the 1900 Census gives 1894 as his birth year. In addition, there are contradictions about where he was born: On his questionnaire, he wrote Carta, Texas; but his draft card stated Kyle, Texas. And he sometimes told reporters he was born in Houston.    

13 Henry McKenna, “Semi-Pro Baseball,” Boston Traveler, July 6, 1929: 6.

14 Albert J. Woodlock, “Colored Giants Down Reading,” Boston Globe, August 1, 1929: 12.

15 Colored Giants Capture Third Game of Title Series,” Worcester (Massachusetts) Telegram, August 15, 1929: 12.

16 “Bay Parkways Set for First Twin Bill,” Brooklyn Daily Times, May 4, 1929: 10.

17 “Bay Parkways Host to Hakoah Nine,” Brooklyn Standard Union, June 26, 1929: 15.

18 “Philly Giants Defeat Red Caps of NY, 10-4,” Boston Herald, August 10, 1929: 8.

19 “Pennsylvania Red Caps Play Phila. Giants Here Today,” New Bedford Morning Mercury, August 10, 1929: 13.

20 “Atlantic AA Winner in Conflict of Color,” Quincy Patriot Ledger, August 24, 1929: 8. Box scores back then often misspelled players’ last names, and that happened here. Some box scores said the pitcher was Gilliard, or Hillard. But the box score from the New Bedford Sunday Standard, which covered the game thoroughly, said the pitcher was Dillard; and the Quincy Patriot Ledger, which also covered semipro thoroughly, said his first name was Jack.

21 Some local newspapers of his day referred to him as William, and so does his SABR bio page; however, James A. Riley, in his Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1994), 68, refers to him as Frank.

22 While semipro game summaries seldom used the full names of the players, George Deedy Crosson was well-known in Boston’s Black community, and articles about him noted that he had once played for the Red Caps, as well as for other semipro teams. See for example, “Former Boston Athlete Crosson Heads Elks Lodge,” Boston Guardian, February 6, 1954: 3.    

23 In The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, 283-284, Riley notes that Findley’s last name was often spelled Finley, and sometimes Finney. The news reports of Jackman’s perfect game used the Findley spelling.     

24 “Jackman Pitches Shutout, Bats 1,000 in Errorless Game,” New Bedford Sunday Standard, August 11, 1929: 14.

25 “Jackman Pitches Perfect Baseball,” Boston Herald, August 11, 1929: 13. The Herald story erroneously states that Jackman drove in the runs in the second, but this is not accurate. Jackman was batting ninth and he got his first at-bat in the third, which is how the New Bedford Sunday Standard reported it. 

26 Riley, 475.

27 “Jackman Pitches Shutout, Bats 1,000 in Errorless Game.”

28 “Giants’ Pitcher Has Perfect Day,” Los Angeles Eagle, August 23, 1929: 8.

29 While his real first name was Earl, most local newspapers referred to him by his nickname, Hawk. For example, “Brockton Leaguers Lose to Philly Giants,” Boston Herald, September 3, 1928: 6.

30 “Jackman Pitches Shutout, Bats 1,000 in Errorless Game.”

31 “Jackman Pitches Perfect Baseball,” Boston Herald, August 11, 1929: 13.

32 “Jackman Pitches Shutout, Bats 1,000 in Errorless Game.”

33 “Copeland Goes Down Before Genius Jackman,” Quincy Patriot Ledger, July 27, 1926: 8.

34 Percy N. Lane, “Percynalities,” Quincy Patriot Ledger, Aug 13, 1929: 6.

35 “To Decide Colored Title Here Today,” Worcester Telegram, August 14, 1929: 13. 

36 “Colored Giants Capture Third Game of Title Series,” Worcester Telegram, August 15, 1929: 12.