Peanuts Davis

When baseball fans first encountered Ed “Peanuts” Davis, also known as “Peanuts Nyasses,” they knew right away that he was not the typical athlete. He wore his baseball cap sideways, and when he was pitching, his windup sometimes featured “flapping of the arms and jerking of the legs.”1 In addition, he was a member of a team called the Clowns, some of whom painted their faces in circus clown makeup. And then there were the vaudeville-style comedy routines he and his teammates often performed before, or even during, the game.2

But when Peanuts Davis was on the mound, batters underestimated him at their peril: as they quickly found out, he was more than just a funnyman. He was an accomplished pitcher, with a knuckleball few could hit. In another time, he might have worked his way up to the major leagues, zany antics and all. But this was the era of segregation, and Davis did the only thing Black players of that generation could do: he became a star in the Negro Leagues.

Information about Davis’s early years is difficult to find and often contradictory. His full name was Edward Arnett Davis, and his date of birth was August 26, 1917. But some sources, including several 1942 newspaper and magazine articles,3 have stated that he was born in New Orleans. Others, including the 1930 census and his 1942 World War II draft card, have said Jackson, Mississippi. Census data and newspaper articles said that he was raised in Jackson, but the two best-known profiles of his day—one by Bill Margolis4 and the other by Ted Shane5—stated that he graduated from “Jackson High School.” This assertion is unlikely: in the 1930s, Jackson, Mississippi was still segregated, and while local publications sometimes referred to “Jackson High School,” that was newspaper shorthand for the all-white Jackson Central High School.6 Black students went to either Jim Hill, established in 1912, or Lanier High School, built in 1925.7 Unfortunately, few records from that time period can be located; it is not clear if Davis graduated from either school.

Similarly, little is known about his personal life, although city directories and local newspaper articles showed that throughout much of his baseball career, he maintained his off-season home in Jackson, where some of his relatives lived. Sometime in the early 1940s, when he was about 23, he married. He and his wife Lucy had two daughters and a son, but sometime prior to 1950, the marriage ended in divorce.8 During his career, there is some evidence that Davis liked to gamble, and former teammates recalled he had a fondness for “wine and women.” One former teammate also noted that while Davis loved baseball, he “never took care of himself.”9 That may explain why he died when he was only in his fifties.

Although few facts about his upbringing are available, we do know Davis was involved with sports from a young age, especially baseball and football. He made friends with Frank “Rookie” Broyles, the white football coach at Central High; Broyles liked his positive attitude, and soon he was working as an “equipment boy,” helping out around the athletic department, and running errands for Coach Broyles.10 Years later, when he was a successful Negro Leagues pitcher, Davis still kept in touch with Broyles.11

Davis also introduced himself to another influential white figure in Jackson sports, George W. Brannon, the president of the Jackson Senators, a minor-league baseball team which competed in the Cotton States League. He began hanging around the ballpark, doing chores for Brannon. According to various newspaper articles, it was during this time when he acquired the nickname “Peanuts,” while working as a peanut vendor during ballgames.12 He gained a reputation for his speed in packing the peanuts into bags, ready to be sold, and his success as a vendor led to people calling him “Peanuts Davis.” (Some sources have erroneously called him “Peanut,” but it was the plural version that was used in the Clowns’ publicity, and by the majority of the press of his day.)

Davis had no intention of remaining a peanut vendor. He wanted to play baseball, and he had already joined a local semipro team while still in his teens. By 1937, he was regularly demonstrating his versatility; he was capable of handling most positions. But it was his pitching skill, as well as his ability to entertain a crowd, that caught the eye of a unique (some might say “bizarre”) barnstorming team called the Zulu Cannibal Giants. This team, which claimed its players came from either “Darkest Africa” or Borneo (depending on the press release), arrived at the ballpark in bare feet, wearing face paint, tights, and grass skirts; they also wore big earrings.13 The players had faux-African names, like Wakoo, Mofaki, and Limpopo,14 and they performed comedy routines, in addition to playing a surprisingly good brand of baseball.

Convinced that the young right-hander could perform as well as pitch, the club signed Davis, reportedly paying him $60 a month (about $1,200 in today’s money).15 His experience with the Zulu Giants led to his next adventure, when he was signed by the Miami Ethiopian Clowns, whose “act” was somewhat similar to that of his former team. The Clowns wore face paint and had faux African names; they were also known for their buffoonery and comedic routines. By 1939, Davis was pitching under the name of “Nyasses,” on a team that included Impo, Tarzan, and Selassie.16 (Asked about his Clowns pseudonym, he told a reporter he had invented it himself, because, “If that don’t sound Ethiopian, nothin’ does.”)17 In addition to pitching, Davis was also a baseline coach; he would often use wild gesticulations, mimicry, and pantomime to make the fans (and sometimes rival players) laugh.

But the Ethiopian Clowns were more than just a collection of funsters. While it was true that their antics attracted large crowds, so did their skills on the diamond. Clown makeup aside, this was a team that knew how to play baseball, and they played it well. Reporters who saw the Clowns often referred to them as “one of the best negro baseball teams in the country,”18 and praised them as “hard hitters, excellent fielders, and great showmen,” whose skill level was “on a par with the Major League white clubs.”19

Davis had no trouble fitting in. Reporters described him as “skinny [and] loose-limbed” (he stood 5-feet-11 and weighed 150 pounds), and they also said he was “hilarious.”20 He could make the spectators laugh with his clowning: by 1940, he was regularly being called the “Negro clown prince of comedy,” and compared favorably to white baseball comedians like Al Schacht.21 But when he was on the mound, he consistently defeated even the Clowns’ toughest opponents.

In 1939, for example, the Clowns entered the 24th annual Denver Post baseball tournament, which featured some of the best semipro teams (both Black and white) in the western part of the country, all vying to win the “Little World Series of the West” title and the prize money that came with it. Black teams like the Kansas City Monarchs had entered in previous years,22 but this was the first time for the Clowns, and many fans eagerly awaited their arrival, having heard so much about them. The team, and Davis, did not disappoint. As expected, they pleased the crowd with some of their now-famous comedy routines. But they also showed they could play at the same level as some of the West’s most experienced semipro teams.

Using a six-man pitching staff,23 the Clowns beat the Louisville Merchants, 17-4, in their first tournament game, with Impo the winning pitcher. Then, “Nyasses” Davis took his turn, and scattered nine hits. He was never in trouble, as the Clowns defeated the Colorado Springs Orioles, 12-2.24 Throughout the competition, the Clowns hit for power: when the tournament ended, they had three of the top five hitters (Tanna, Wahoo, and Mofike). Overall, the team won three games and lost two, and although they did not win the tournament (they finished in a tie for third, and the team split $1,407),25 they impressed the fans. They also began to be taken more seriously by sportswriters, many of whom had focused on their clowning rather than their athletic skills. When Davis and the Clowns played against the Council Bluffs (Iowa) Boosters several days later, they received an enthusiastic welcome. The local newspaper mentioned the Clowns’ third place finish in the Denver Post tournament, and praised Davis for having excellent command of his pitches. When Davis overpowered the Boosters, in a 6-0 victory, a local reporter wrote, “The [Boosters] got just two hits off right-hander Nyasses…[who] was invincible all the way.”26

It is difficult to accurately determine how many games Davis won in his first few years with the Ethiopian Clowns: the team was not officially part of the Negro Leagues yet, and as the Clowns barnstormed all over the country, not every game was covered by the press. Back then, few barnstorming semipro teams were in leagues that issued official standings or team statistics; unless a game had been played locally, newspapers seemed willing to accept whatever the team’s spokesperson told them. (Clowns owner Syd Pollock knew how to capitalize on this: he often sent out press releases claiming his team was the “World’s Negro Champions.”)27 In 1942, a newspaper reporter wrote that Davis had won “201 games in 206 pitching starts since his professional debut began,”28 but whether those statistics came from Pollock or from Davis himself, they were impossible to verify. (It is also worth noting that some of those games were against teams of varying quality—amateur clubs, college teams, locals who formed a team to play a charity game, as well as some Negro Leagues teams.)

What was indisputable, however, was that “Peanuts Nyasses,” as the press of that day tended to call him, was becoming one of the Clowns’ biggest drawing cards, with his unhittable pitches (several former teammates later recalled that Davis had the best knuckleball they ever saw)29 and his zany and unpredictable antics. Increasingly, fans were coming to see what he would do next: perhaps he would be trying to distract opposing players by making fun of them, or perhaps he would pretend to be shooting dice on the field. At one game, he was sent out to play center field for an inning, and he walked onto the field wearing “a cut-away coat over his baseball uniform, [carrying] two baseball gloves, and… smoking a long cigar.”30

But while Davis and the Clowns were playing in front of large crowds nearly everywhere they went, some critics in the Black press, most notably the Pittsburgh Courier’s Wendell Smith, were expressing their displeasure with all the clowning. Smith in particular objected to Pollock, who was white, making money from practices which Smith believed were demeaning to Black baseball.31 Pollock’s son Alan, who grew up watching the Clowns, disagreed. As he recalls, the players, Davis among them, genuinely enjoyed entertaining an audience, and they were well-paid for their efforts. “Clowns humor was nothing like a minstrel show. The team was good or great. The players were Black and proud…The [African] names and the [face] paint were meant as fun, not to demean or deceive, and they certainly weren’t Dad’s invention.”32 And even in the Black press, reaction to the Clowns was mixed: in addition to the articles that were highly critical, there were some that expressed a more positive view, saying the team exemplified “superlative playing, clean-cut comedy and wonderful sportsmanship,” and mentioning Davis as a “great pitcher and terrific comedian.”)33

Alan Pollock recalled that the negative articles often had a reverse effect: people who read them became curious and decided to see for themselves what a Clowns game was like. In the end, they usually had a good time and became fans. And many sportswriters were also won over. For example, Denver Post sports editor Jack Carberry, who covered the Clowns’ triumph in the newspaper’s 1941 baseball tournament, praised the team for being “great ballplayers…gentlemen and sportsmen.”34 Davis appeared in several of the games, and was especially impressive in an 11-2 win against a white team of soldiers from Fort Logan, Colorado.35 The Clowns split the prize money ($4,729); among the awards given to various participants, Davis received one for being “the most entertaining coach.”36

1941 was a good year for the Clowns (by some accounts, they won 125 games), and their tournament victory further enhanced their credibility. Davis’s skill as a baseball comedian received ample newspaper coverage, but his pitching prowess also gained more attention. Among his exploits was a four-hit, 10-inning shutout on June 8, against Satchel Paige’s All-Stars at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, on the way to a 1-0 win; his pitching was described as “brilliant” and one reporter noted that Davis had “captivated the crowd.”37 It was the first game of a doubleheader, and more than 12,000 fans packed the ballpark, eager to see the Clowns, as well as watch the legendary Paige, who was scheduled to pitch the second game. (As it turned out, Paige developed a stomach bug and only pitched four innings; the All-Stars ultimately won that game 5-4.) According to some of the sportswriters, there was a rivalry developing between Paige and Davis, and when the Clowns returned to Cincinnati to play the Cuban Giants, Paige asked to temporarily join that team so that he could pitch against Peanuts Nyasses.38

The game commanded so much local interest that even some white-run newspapers, which tended to ignore Black teams, sent reporters to cover it. They saw Davis doing what he did best: making the crowd happy with his comedy routines, and shutting out the Cuban Giants, 9-0. Paige, on the other hand, gave up five runs in only three innings.39 On that day, if there really was a rivalry, Davis came out on top. And many fans who saw them both were convinced that Nyasses was every bit as good a pitcher as Paige.40 They were not alone in that belief: after watching him pitch in 1941-1942, sports editor Gene Kessler of the Chicago Times wrote that if major-league baseball ever decided to give a Black pitcher a tryout, it should not be Paige; he said that Davis should get the call.41

In 1942 the Clowns’ ownership moved the team from Miami to Cincinnati, and the word “Ethiopian” was gradually dropped from their name; they were now usually called the Cincinnati Clowns.42 Davis was well-received by Cincinnati fans, who enjoyed his clowning, as well as his athletic skill. He not only won games; he often contributed timely hits. For example, in a May 24 game against the Chicago Brown Bombers, he defeated them 4-3, and he drove in the winning run with a double.43 On August 16, 1942, he was honored at Crosley Field, during “Peanuts Davis Day.”44 (By now, many publications were using the real last names of the Clowns, rather than just their pseudonyms.) The famous tap dancer and film star Bill “Bojangles” Robinson was the master of ceremonies, and between games of a doubleheader, he gave Davis a gold watch, a trophy, a war bond, and other gifts. Davis then took the mound for the second game and after a shaky start (the Chicago Defender reporter suggested he was “obviously flustered” from all the praise and attention he had just gotten), he settled down and was the winning pitcher in a 5-4 victory over the New York-based Lincoln Giants.45

In 1943, the Clowns were admitted into the Negro American League,46 but Davis and owner Syd Pollock had a salary dispute that kept him away from the team for much of the season. Davis had jumped to the Detroit Cubs, and Pollock sued to keep him with the Clowns.47 In the legal filing, Pollock claimed he had paid Davis $1,000 for his “exclusive services.”48 Davis evidently saw himself as a free agent and spent much of 1943 working for promoter Hank Rigney,49 pitching and clowning throughout the Detroit and Toledo area. Rigney agreed to pay him “50 per cent of the net obtained by the club with which he appears,” and a guaranteed “$500 month plus expenses.”50 But while working for Rigney was more lucrative, Davis did not always pitch well: in one game in late July, he was trounced by the Freemont, Ohio Green Sox, 8-1 (leading to newspaper puns like “Peanuts Shelled.”)51 Several days later, in a much-advertised rematch against the Green Sox, he was driven from the mound after only one inning, having given up five runs. And because his opponent in this game was former major-league star Dizzy Dean, Davis’s ineffective pitching got more press attention than it otherwise might have.52

Ultimately, a financial arrangement was reached between Rigney and Pollock, and by mid-August, Davis had rejoined the Clowns. He continued to delight the fans with new comedic routines, often collaborating with teammates Reece “Goose” Tatum and Richard “King Tut” King. He also pitched the Clowns to a 6-1 win over the Kansas City Monarchs in a game played at Rebel Stadium in Dallas, Texas. In that game, he threw a three-hitter and once again bested Satchel Paige.53

But unfortunately for Davis, his career was interrupted by World War II. By early 1944, he was in the Army and sent to Fort Benning, Georgia. A few other Negro Leaguers were there too, and they were soon encouraged to form a soldier team; these teams had a long history and were thought to be good for morale. Plus, soldier teams often played to raise money for local charities or in support of the war effort. Thanks to being on the Fort Benning Reception Center Tigers while doing his military service, Davis was able to pitch regularly. To the delight of local fans (and fellow soldiers), he was also able to keep performing his comedy routines.54 When he was honorably discharged in April 1946, he told reporters he was happy to be back with the Clowns, who were now playing most of their home games at Victory Field in Indianapolis. Davis said he was certain that both he and the Clowns would have a great year.55

Neither did, however, although both had their moments. The Clowns had enhanced some of their comedy routines, and the fans flocked to see the team perform them. But the pitching and the hitting were inconsistent. Davis was still a workhorse, whether coming in to pitch relief or starting a game; but he was no longer as overpowering as he had been in past seasons. For example, in one relief appearance, he gave up three homers in three innings, costing the Clowns a win in a game against Havana.56 Now and then, he could show flashes of his brilliant pre-war self: in a noteworthy performance on May 12, he pitched 20 innings against the Chicago American Giants, as did his opponent Gentry Jessup; the game was called because of darkness, ending in a 3-3 tie. He also pitched a 3-0 shutout against the Cleveland Buckeyes several weeks later,57 and defeated the league-leading Kansas City Monarchs, 4-2, in early September. In that game, he had only one bad inning (the first) before shutting the door on the Monarchs hitters.58

It is unclear why Davis left the Clowns, but local newspapers indicated he played for other teams during 1947 and 1948. Among them were Florida’s Jacksonville Eagles and the Durham (North Carolina) Bulls,59 as well as the Asheville Blues, but there may have been others. Evidently, the Negro American League considered his departure unauthorized, according to a 1949 press announcement that stated he had been reinstated after “jumping his club.” According to the release, there were other unnamed players guilty of a similar offense who were also allowed back into the league.60

Davis was well-received by the fans who still enjoyed his clowning, but society was changing and so were the Negro Leagues. Since Jackie Robinson integrated Major League Baseball in 1947, many of the best Negro Leagues players had been signed to major or minor league contracts, and numerous Negro Leagues teams were struggling to survive. The Negro National League folded in 1948, leaving the Negro American League, and the Clowns, to soldier on. Thanks to their well-known comedy routines, the Clowns were still able to draw crowds, but they too were not attracting the attention they used to get.

Davis remained with the Clowns during 1949 and 1950, although Alan Pollock recalled that “he was a shadow of the pitcher he had been.”61 But while his pitching was inconsistent, he was still beloved for his clowning, and he could still bring in lots of fans to watch him. Then, in May 1951, he once again faced discipline from the Negro Leagues for “failure to report” to the Clowns; he was suspended indefinitely.62 He subsequently resurfaced in Jacksonville, playing for the Eagles again. Beginning in 1950, the Eagles had made arrangements to play in western Canada, taking the name of the Indian Head (Saskatchewan) Rockets.63 When Davis latched on with the Eagles, he went up to Canada and played on the Rockets team for the 1951 season.

The problem was that while sometimes he seemed like the Peanuts Nyasses of a decade ago, with that unhittable knuckleball, just as often, he was no mystery to hitters at all. He might throw an impressive seven-hitter on the way to a 11-2 win,64 but then a few days later, he couldn’t last four innings and he gave up five runs.65 Davis could still make audiences smile with his clowning routines; in fact, he often seemed more effective as a comedic first base coach than he was as a pitcher.

In 1952, Davis did not return to the Rockets. In fact, it appears that he left baseball. Little was written about what he did or where he went after that, and many people seem to have lost track of him. In fact, his final years were the subject of much speculation: a 1994 entry about Davis in a well-known reference volume claimed he had died young, from “a social disease.”66 Several online sources also said he died young, estimating the date to be 1952. One of Davis’s former teammates said excessive drinking was what led to his death.67 All we know for certain is that Davis died in a Jacksonville hospital on May 13, 1973, at age 55. The obituary did not specify a cause of death, and it said that he had lived in Jacksonville for “about 30 years.” (That may not have been entirely accurate: he was still in Jackson in 1945, when his son Edward Arnett Jr. was born). Davis’s funeral occurred in Jackson, Mississippi on May 19, 1973.68

In the late 1930s and through the mid-1940s, “Peanuts Nyasses” Davis was one of the best-known and most popular pitchers in Black baseball. He won numerous important games, including defeating Satchel Paige on several occasions. He helped his team win the “Little World Series of the West” in 1941. And his comedy skills brought fans to the ballpark in city after city. In his prime, players said he was one of the most talented pitchers they had ever seen, and even critics had to admit he was entertaining to watch. Today, he has been almost forgotten, but had he not lived when baseball was still segregated, perhaps more people would know who he was. As one of many newspaper reporters described him during his heyday, Davis was “a ball of fire as a pitcher, probably the best in [Black baseball] circles today, and the greatest entertainer ever seen on any diamond. … He is terrific, to put it mildly.”69

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful for the assistance she received from numerous librarians and archivists. Special thanks goes to the Reference Department at the Eudora Welty Library in Jackson, Mississippi; Tammy Kiter of the Jacksonville (Florida) Public Library, who found the elusive Peanuts Davis obituary; Baltimore-based librarian Donna Hesson; University of Florida librarian April Hines; and Robyn Jensen, President of the Indian Head Museum in Saskatchewan. The author is also grateful to John Fredland for his helpful suggestions.

This biography was reviewed by Malcolm Allen, and Rory Costello, and checked for accuracy by members of SABR’s fact-checking team.

Sources

The author relied upon digitized records from Ancestry.com, several historical newspaper databases, Seamheads.com, and various SABR bios.

Notes

1 “Feature Game Scheduled for Fans at 8:15,” Davenport (Iowa) Democrat and Leader, June 8, 1949: 20.

2 “Baseball Comics Here Today for Game with Clark’s,” Battle Creek (Michigan) Enquirer, July 18, 1945: 13.

3 For example, Bill Margolis, “Peanuts Davis is the Beloved Diamond Imp,” Chicago Defender, August 1, 1942: 19; and Ted Shane, “Peanuts Nyasses and the World’s Wildest Ball Team,” Liberty, September 19, 1942: 53.

4 Margolis, “Peanuts Davis is the Beloved Diamond Imp.”

5 Shane, “Peanuts Nyasses and the World’s Wildest Ball Team.”

6 “Frank Broyles is Athletic Leader,” Jackson (Mississippi) Clarion-Ledger, August 14, 1925: 7. Note that Frank Broyles of Central High School in Jackson, Mississippi (whose full name was Henry Frank Broyles) is not the same person as Frank Broyles (John Franklin Broyles), the award-winning football coach at the University of Arkansas.

7 Charles H. Wilson Sr., Education for Negroes in Mississippi Since 1910, Boston: Meador Publishing (1947): 118-120.

8 Percy Greene, “Up and Down Farish Street,” Jackson (Mississippi) Advocate, June 24, 1950: 4.

9 Alan J. Pollock and James A. Riley, Barnstorming to Heaven: Syd Pollock And His Great Black Teams, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, University of Alabama Press (2006): 127.

10 Purser Hewitt, “Hew-itt to the Line, Let the Chips Fall Where They May,” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, May 6, 1946: 6.

11 Purser Hewitt, “Hew-itt to the Line, Let the Chips Fall Where They May,” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, May 14, 1946: 8.

12 Margolis, “Peanuts Davis is the Beloved Diamond Imp.”

13 “Zulu Cannibal Giants Play Moore Team at West Lafayette Thursday,” Coshocton (Ohio) Tribune, June 2, 1935: 9.

14 “Independents Tame Zulus Before Audience of 1,500,” Glens Falls (New York) Post-Star, July 16, 1934: 8.

15 Pollock and Riley, Barnstorming to Heaven: Syd Pollock and His Great Black Teams: 26.

16 “Ethiopian Clowns to Meet Chairs Tuesday,” Sheboygan (Wisconsin) Press, August 14, 1939: 28.

17 “Peanuts Nyasses, Baseball’s Stepin Fetchit,” Chicago Daily News, August 1, 1942, Pictorial Section: 8.

18 “Clowns Hammer Red Caps 18-8,” Miami News, May 2, 1938: 12.

19 “Ethiopian Clowns Return Tuesday,” Brockway (Pennsylvania) Record, June 3, 1938: 6.

20 Bob Overbaker, “Clowns, Barons Foe Here, Attract Crowds,” South Bend (Indiana) Tribune, August 26, 1941: 17.

21 “World’s Champions of Negro Ranks in Second Visit,” (Chester, Pennsylvania) Delaware County Times, June 19, 1940: 14.

22 C.L. (Poss) Parsons, “Jabs,” Denver Post, July 20, 1939: 25.

23 Dave Garland, “Just a Few of the Stars in Sunday Afternoon’s Banner Post Tournament Double-Header,” Denver Post, July 30, 1939, section five: 1.

24 “Clowns Crush Orioles 12-2 in Exhibition,” Denver Post, July 30, 1939, Section 5: 3.

25 “Post Tournament Clubs Cut Melon of $14,573,” Denver Post, August 8, 1939: 20.

26 “Clowns Batter Supernaw, Boosters by 6-0,” Council Bluffs ( Iowa) Nonpareil, August 11, 1939: 16.

27 “Ethiopian Clowns Meet Lloyd A.C. Here Tomorrow Night,” Delaware County Times (Chester, Pennsylvania), June 18, 1940: 13.

28 “Ethiopian Clowns Star in Baseball,” Birmingham (Alabama) Weekly Review, June 20, 1942: 7.

29 Pollock and Riley, Barnstorming to Heaven: Syd Pollock and His Great Black Teams: 127, 259.

30 “Clowns to Put on New Stunt June 12 Before Local Fans,” Davenport (Iowa) Daily Times, June 7, 1941: 15.

31 Wendell Smith, “Smitty’s Sports Spurts,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 13, 1944: 12.

32 Pollock and Riley, Barnstorming to Heaven: Syd Pollock And His Great Black Teams: 95-96.

33 “Clowns Here at Wrigley Field, June 21,” Chicago Defender, June 13, 1942: 21.

34 Jack Carberry, “The Second Guess,” Denver Post, August 14, 1941: 26.

35 Lucius Jones, “Slants on Sports,” Jackson Advocate, August 16, 1941: 6.

36 Pollock and Riley, Barnstorming to Heaven: Syd Pollock and His Great Black Teams: 102.

37 “12,000 See Paige-Clowns Trade Twin-Bill at Cincinnati,” Indianapolis Recorder, June 14, 1941: 14.

38 “Paige Is to Oppose Nyasses When Clowns Battle Cubans,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 29, 1941: 24.

39 “Clowns Romp,” Cincinnati Enquirer, June 30, 1941: 14.

40 “Third Shutout is Goal of Nyasses,” Cincinnati Enquirer, August 17, 1941: 33.

41 Gene Kessler, “The Negroes in Baseball,” Chicago Sunday Times, August 2, 1942: 23.

42 “Clowns Members of New Circuit,” Cincinnati Enquirer, March 29, 1942: 28.

43 “Clowns Win Double Bill,” Cincinnati Post, May 25, 1942: 11.

44 “Hold Peanuts Davis Day in Cincinnati Sunday,” Chicago Defender, August 15, 1942: 21.

45 Bill Margolis, “Peanuts Will Hurl Against Paige August 21,” Chicago Defender, August 22, 1942: 20.

46 “Cincinnati Clowns Start Spring Training in Miami,” Jackson Advocate, February 27, 1943: 6.

47 “Sues to Keep Peanuts Davis with the Clowns,” Chicago Bee, August 1, 1943: 17.

48 “Peanuts Makes Owner Hot, So Pitcher Faces Lawsuit,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 31, 1943: 19.

49 “Sox to Play Under Lights,” Fremont (Ohio) News-Messenger, June 15, 1943: 7.

50 Bob Barnet, “Lookin’ ’Em Over,” Muncie (Indiana) Star-Press, July 4, 1943: 10.

51 “Green Sox Shell Peanuts and Hand Detroit Cubs 8-1 Defeat,” Fremont (Ohio) News-Messenger, July 23, 1943: 9.

52 “Green Sox Beat Cubs 14-5 Before 4,500 at Toledo,” Fremont News-Messenger, July 26, 1943: 7.

53 ’42 Champs Beaten by Cincy Clowns,” Birmingham Weekly Review, October 2, 1943: 7.

54 “Reception Center Defeats Tuskegee,” Columbus (Georgia) Ledger-Enquirer, June 25, 1944: 10.

55 “Bulletin,” Birmingham Weekly Review, May 18, 1946: 6.

56 “Havana Surprises Clowns in 8-4 Tilt,” Springfield (Illinois) State Journal, September 5, 1946: 14.

57 “Clowns Play Night Game with Monarchs,” Indianapolis Recorder, June 1, 1946: 11.

58 “Monarchs Do It Again,” Kansas City Times, September 2, 1946: 9.

59 Sonny Carroll Hurls Giants to 6-3 Victory,” Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch, August 1, 1948: B8.

60 “Davis Will Pitch for Clowns Here,” Monroe (Louisiana) News-Star, April 19, 1949: 11.

61 Pollock and Riley, Barnstorming to Heaven: Syd Pollock and His Great Black Teams: 179.

62 “Clowns Win in Six League Contest,” Macon (Georgia) Telegraph, May 22, 1951: 2.

63 “From the 4 Corners,” Regina (Saskatchewan) Leader-Post, June 14, 1950: 25.

64 “Rockets Wheel in Top Fashion,” Regina Leader-Post, July 23, 1951: 16

65 “Mohawks Pick Up Even Split,” Regina Leader-Post, August 14, 1951: 19.

66 James A. Riley, Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, New York: Carroll & Graf (1994): 215.

67 Pollock and Riley, Barnstorming to Heaven: Syd Pollock and His Great Black Teams: 159.

68 “Rites Set Today for E.A. Davis; Baseball Pitcher,” Jacksonville (Florida) Times-Union, May 19, 1973: C2.

69 “Ethiopian Clowns Star in Baseball,” Birmingham Weekly Review, June 20, 1942: 7.