Oscar Boone

Baseball teams rely on their stars and regulars to make the greatest impact. Of course, backups also play important roles, giving starters a rest and filling in when injuries occur. Oscar Boone assumed the role of second-string catcher behind future Hall of Famer Roy Campanella for the Baltimore Elite Giants in 1939 after Biz Mackey (who also became a HOF enshrinee) was shipped out to the Newark Eagles in midseason. Unfortunately for Boone, he did not see much playing time during his brief tenure with Baltimore, and he was left off both the team’s playoff and World Series rosters.

The short stint with the Elite Giants was typical of a life in which Boone pursued diverse vocations, different women, and employment with various semipro and professional baseball clubs. After Boone’s playing career and third marriage both ended, his wanderlust merged with alcoholism and contributed to his violent demise at the youthful age of 47.

Oscar Boone was born on March 28, 1911, in Cameron, Texas, to Jesse and Willie (Hammonds) Boone. Jesse, a farmer, and Willie had married on December 26, 1909, but their union turned out to be short-lived, and Oscar was their only child. Willie Boone’s mother, Malinda (Williams) Hammonds,1 and brother, Bradford Hammonds Jr., lived with the Boones at the time of the 1910 census; oddly, Malinda, was listed as a “hired woman” rather than a relative.

After Jesse and Willie Boone divorced, Oscar lived with Malinda in the town of Mart, about 48 miles north of Cameron and 18 miles east of Waco.2 Oscar’s illiterate 62-year-old grandmother, who was twice widowed and had suffered the death of 12 of her children, now worked as a “common laborer” while raising him. His uncle, Bradford Jr., worked in the city of Ranger, 183 miles northwest of Mart, and inadvertently was counted twice in the 1920 census as he split his time between residences in both places. Bradford Jr. met an untimely death by gunshot in Ranger on January 4, 1931, while Oscar was in the US Army.3 Both of Oscar’s parents eventually remarried, but there is no evidence that they played any further role in his upbringing or adult life.

Boone no doubt saw the Army as a way out of the poverty and negative circumstances that had afflicted the members of his immediate family. The 1930 census shows that he was stationed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. At the time, this installation was home to the 10th Cavalry “Buffalo Soldiers,” the Army’s famed all-Black cavalry corps, of which Boone was a member.4 Boone carried on the tradition of the Buffalo Soldiers as outstanding riders, which was evidenced by the fact that “Pvt. Boone, F troop, on Mouse” had placed second in “jumping for privates” in the 10th Cavalry horse show on June 16, 1930.5

In addition to riding pursuits, Boone also honed his baseball skills as a member of Fort Huachuca’s segregated all-Black team. At 5-feet-8 and 170 pounds, the fact that Boone became a catcher by trade in the Negro Leagues and semipro ball is rather surprising. During his time as a member of the Fort Huachuca team in 1930 and 1931, he split his playing time between third base and shortstop.6 On August 10, 1930, Boone had a stellar day with a 4-for-5 line at the plate that included two solo home runs as well as five putouts and five assists at shortstop. His performance went for naught, though, as the Nogales Internationals scored two runs in the ninth to edge Fort Huachuca, 6-5.7

Boone was honorably discharged from the Army on August 31, 1936. He moved to San Angelo, Texas, which was home to Fort Concho, a deactivated Army post that also once had housed the 10th Cavalry’s Buffalo Soldiers in the late nineteenth century.8 Boone found employment at the Cactus Hotel, and he joined the San Angelo Black Sheepherders baseball team in 1938.

Although the Black Sheepherders were a semipro squad, Boone found himself among several people who, like him, were to become members of teams in the major Negro Leagues. In fact, manager Ruben Jones had already skippered the Birmingham Black Barons in 1927 and went on to take the reins of the Memphis Red Sox in 1940. One teammate, Norman “Bobby” Robinson, who also joined the Baltimore Elite Giants in 1939, later became best known for a consequence that resulted from an injury he suffered. In 1948 Robinson was the starting center fielder for Birmingham until he stepped into a hole and broke a leg. His injury opened the door for a 17-year-old phenom, Willie Mays, to take over his job in center field.9

In late June, the Black Sheepherders briefly assumed an identity as a team from the state of Kansas as the squad attempted to qualify for the fourth annual National Baseball Congress World Series to be held in Wichita. The Emporia Gazette explained:

The Sheepherder team is originally from San Angeles [sic], Texas, and is qualifying through the Kansas semi-pro tournament at Wichita for the National Semi-pro baseball tourney because the Texas program bars colored teams. The team was sent to Emporia by Frank Kice, state baseball commissioner. The Sheepherders finished in third place in the 1936 Kansas Semi-pro tournament and are reported to have an even better ball club this year.10

On July 1, at Emporia’s Summers Field, the Kansas City Black Sheepherders, as the press often called them, defeated the Emporia Bakers, 9-2, in an exhibition game prior to the state tournament at Wichita.11

The Sheepherders started the tournament with a bang as they steamrolled Oswego, 13-1,12 and Wellington, 19-1, with Boone going 4-for-5 at the plate and scoring four runs in the latter contest.13 Although the Sheepherders “established themselves as one of the hardest hitting clubs in the tourney,”14 the team’s pitching was also dominant. On July 19, with Boone as his catcher, Schoolboy Walker struck out 15 batters, including 11 in a row at one point, in a 9-2 triumph over the Topeka Barber-Wreckers.15

In its July 21 edition, the Wichita Eagle noted, “This is the first year in the history of the tournament when a negro club has been one of the potential champions. A win tonight for the Sheepherders would make them prohibitive favorites to enter the championship game to decide the 1938 title.”16 It was not to be, however, as the Wichita Water Company dealt the Sheepherders an 8-1 defeat on July 23 to qualify for the championship game against the Solomon Candy squad; the Watermen defeated Solomon to recapture the tournament title they had last held in 1935.17 The Sheepherders played Chanute for third place but lost that game as well, dashing any hope they had of qualifying for the NBC World Series.18

The Sheepherders reverted to their San Angelo identity and barnstormed back to Texas. On July 26 they took out their frustrations against the Seminole (Oklahoma) Redbirds in a 14-5 victory that ended the locals’ eight-game winning streak. The local press contrasted the play of the two teams, noting, “In a tilt that saw the negro team take advantage of every possible play, the Redbirds plodded along giving a fair showing that looked almost weak in comparison with the sparkling game of the Sheepherders.”19 Boone went 3-for-5 and scored one of San Angelo’s runs. The Sheepherders had battered starting pitcher Leroy Witcher, having arrived too early in the week to face Oklahoma A&M student and Redbirds hurler Allie Reynolds,20 who became a six-time World Series champion with the New York Yankees.

Boone’s performance with San Angelo resulted in a position with the Negro American League’s Atlanta Black Crackers at the outset of the 1939 season. The Black Crackers held spring training in Atlanta, which gave the press and fans a close-up look at the players. In late March, columnist Lucius “Melancholy” Jones raved, “Catcher Oscar Boone, the 200-pound mask and mitt man from San Angelo, Texas, had fans watching the workout on the BTWHS athletic field spellbound with his sensational first day’s form.”21 The Atlanta Daily World profiled Boone in its “A Cracker a Day” series on April 22 and described him as “a quiet unassuming chap with plenty of courage and natural ability.”22 The paper added that Boone “has been playing professionally for 6 years from New York to Texas and knows what the game is all about.”23

Although Boone had to battle through some minor injuries he suffered in spring exhibition games, he was still one of the team’s top performers. On April 25, he was batting .518, which was second only to right fielder Donald Reeves’ .552 mark.24 Boone and Reeves’ performances were the highlights, however, as the team itself scuffled and lost most of its preseason games. Then, in early May, it was reported that “[a]fter more than a month’s training, the Atlanta Black Crackers, whose franchise has been moved to Indianapolis, Ind., in the negro American league [sic], will meet the Cleveland Bears at Ponce de Leon park tonight starting at 8 o’clock.”25

Despite the purported move to Indianapolis, which was an attempt to create financial stability for the franchise, the Atlanta Black Crackers-Indianapolis ABCs team of 1939 continued to use Atlanta’s Ponce de Leon Park as its home field. As a result, the NAL expelled the Black Crackers from the league at its midseason meetings. John H. Harden, the team’s owner, protested the NAL’s decision, stating that “the Indianapolis park was not available for rental on June 18, the day set aside by the league for him to open there.”26 He also “inferred that the Indianapolis ball park officials had told him that he wouldn’t be able to rent the place at all for games during the season.”27

Harden’s protests effected no change, and the Black Crackers ended their abbreviated season with a 6-10 record in NAL play and were 7-19 against all Negro League opponents. The team’s expulsion from the NAL also cost Boone and first baseman Red Moore spots on the West All-Stars team for the annual East-West Game that was scheduled to be played on August 6 at Chicago’s Comiskey Park.28 Moore had led the Black Crackers with a .434 batting average in 15 NAL games while Boone had been second with a .358 average in 16 games. More importantly, Atlanta’s players now had to find employment with new teams for the remainder of the 1939 season.

On July 22 the Chicago Defender reported that the Baltimore Elite Giants had sold first baseman Jim West to the Philadelphia Stars and catcher Biz Mackey to the Newark Eagles. In a follow-up move by Baltimore, the paper reported that “[t]he Elites will get five players from the Atlanta Crackers. The five are: ‘Red’ Moore, first baseman; Tom Butts, shortstop; Ed Dixon, pitcher; Felix Evans, pitcher, and Oscar Brown [sic], catcher.”29

As the backup to Campanella, Boone found himself relegated to playing mostly in exhibition games.30 He appeared in only three NNL2 games and managed a lone pinch-hit RBI single in a losing cause against the Newark Eagles in the first game of a July 23 doubleheader at Washington’s Griffith Stadium.31 Although Boone had played at an all-star level with Atlanta, his .143 batting average in his limited league appearances for Baltimore resulted in his being left off the team’s postseason rosters against the Newark Eagles and Homestead Grays. It was an unfortunate ending to a season that had started out so promisingly for Boone’s baseball career.

Another event that occurred during Boone’s time in Atlanta, which may or may not have been happier than his brief tenure with the Elite Giants, was his marriage to Josie Goodwin. However, the origins of the bride as well as her fate, or the fate of her union with Boone, remain unsolved mysteries.32 When Boone filled out a World War II draft registration card in October 1940, he was back at his job with the Cactus Hotel in San Angelo and listed his cousin, Margie Simpson, as his contact person.

Before returning to Texas late in 1940, Boone had spent the early part of spring training with the Birmingham Black Barons and then had played for the Ethiopian Clowns most of the year.33 Legendary manager Candy Jim Taylor led the Black Barons that season and, while he did not retain Boone in Birmingham, he brought him north to the Windy City the following year when he took over as skipper of the Chicago American Giants.

Although the Clowns were renowned for the use of stereotyped “African” names and the antics they performed to entertain crowds, the team’s players were seasoned professionals who also played for other Negro League teams over the course of their careers. After the Clowns swept a doubleheader from the American Giants, the Chicago Defender wrote:

The Ethiopian Clowns of Miami, Fla., Hunter Campbell, manager, put on their shadow ball stunt and some other things which gave the slim crowd a good laugh – and then the visitors put on an exhibition of ball playing worth going miles to see. They trimmed the Giants in a double bill, 4 to 2 in nine innings and 8 to 3 in seven.

Although the players all use Ethiopian names, the Defender learned that the boys know their baseball. Their victory in a series with the Crawfords on the spring training tour was no fluke.34

The Defender also noted that “Oscar Boone caught the first encounter,” and the box score indicates that his “Ethiopian name” was “Tarzan.” Three of his former 1939 Black Crackers teammates – Spencer Davis, Eddie Dixon, and Felix “Chin” Evans – were members of the 1940 Ethiopian Clowns as well.35

The barnstorming Clowns were such a formidable foe that, at one point from July to early August, the team won 27 consecutive games.36 Team owner Syd Pollock decided that the Clowns would play a return engagement in the prestigious Denver Post Tournament to vie for the $10,000 prize. The team had participated in the tournament for the first time in 1939 and had finished in fifth place.37

The Clowns opened the tourney in style as they clobbered the Lead-Deadwood (South Dakota) team, 15-1. However, the tables were turned in the next game against the 1939 champion Champlin Refiners from Enid (Oklahoma) as the Clowns suffered a 9-1 defeat. The team recovered from that thumping to emerge victorious over Englewood (Colorado), 6-5, and the Coors Brewers (Oklahoma), 8-6, as it tried to reach the final round.38

The Clowns’ next match was against the Mt. Pleasant (Texas) team in what the Denver Post called “one of the wildest and most exciting games in the history of the Little World Series.”39 Boone, as Tarzan, struck a pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom of the ninth that tied the score, 6-6, but Mt. Pleasant came back with four runs in the top of the 10th inning to win, 10-6. The loss eliminated the Clowns from the tourney, and the team had to settle for a sixth-place finish.40

Before the 1941 baseball season, Boone embarked upon another short-term marriage as he wed Bessie Clark on April 1. Once again, there are gaps in public records about his bride, and her exact origins and fate remain unknown. The couple was wed in Schleicher County, which lies directly south of Tom Green County, where San Angelo is located. Divorce proceedings began in February 1942 and were finalized in September 1942.41 Although the reason for the brevity of Boone’s second marriage is unknown, one of two possible scenarios seems likely: 1) Immediately after the wedding, Boone went north to play for the Chicago American Giants, and it is possible that his new bride was unhappy with this arrangement; or 2) Boone had trouble staying faithful as may be evidenced by the fact that he married Maybelle Carson in Dallas on October 19, 1942, which was only one month after his divorce from Clark was final.42

Whatever the circumstances of Boone’s personal life entailed, Candy Jim Taylor lured him to Chicago to split the catching duties with Pepper Bassett in 1941.43 Boone regained the batting form he had displayed in Atlanta in 1939 as he batted .367 in NAL games that year while Bassett hit at only a .214 clip. Even so, Bassett was a well-known and popular veteran who had initially gained fame as “the Rocking-Chair Catcher,” and he was voted to be the starting backstop for the West team in that season’s East-West All-Star Game; the lesser-known Boone finished fifth in the voting for the West’s catchers.44 As for the team, the American Giants finished dead last in the six-team NAL with a league record of 16-29-2 and an overall ledger of 18-31-2.

After the 1941 season, Boone’s baseball career began to wind down. In the spring of 1942, newspapers from different parts of the country gave contradictory accounts of his whereabouts: one had him back with the Sheepherders, another claimed that he was to play in a single exhibition game for the Baltimore Elite Giants, while a third claimed he was returning to the Chicago American Giants.45 Despite these varied reports, San Angelo’s 1942 city directory lists Boone as a bartender at the Harlem Inn, and there is no evidence of his participation in any baseball games that year.

Documentation does exist, however, for his marriage to Maybelle Carson in October 1942. Maybelle’s maiden name was Callahan, and she was the widow of George W. Carson, with whom she had one daughter, Maenelle. The Carsons lived on Third Street within a block of Boone’s cousin, Maggie Simpson. Since Boone had been living with Simpson when he filled out his World War II draft registration in 1940, he may have been acquainted with the Carson family for some time. Whatever intrigue may or may not have existed between Oscar Boone and Maybelle Carson, their marriage is the best-documented of Boone’s three unions, and both their fates are known.

In 1943, the couple moved to Tucson, Arizona, about 57 miles northwest of Fort Huachuca. Boone apparently was unable to settle in one place for long, whether by nature, necessity, or both. He continued to travel, and he played in occasional semipro ballgames while looking for other work.46 At the time of the 1950 census, Boone was working for a railroad in La Platte, Nebraska, and lived in the workers’ camp while Maybelle remained in Tucson. Boone followed this lifestyle for the remainder of his days as Maybelle, after learning of Oscar’s death, reported to authorities that the couple had divorced in 1953 and that Oscar had been “bumming around riding freight trains and working here and there ever since.”47

Boone had been working and renting a room in Eloy, Arizona, 55 miles northwest of Tucson, when his life reached its tragic and violent end on October 12, 1958. A brief article in Tucson’s Arizona Daily Star reported that Boone’s body had been found “in a dry wash under a railroad bridge east of Eloy.”48 Deputy Cotton Doss of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office had received a call regarding a dead body. He discovered Boone “lying partly on his right side [and] face down in the sand” and noted that “[h]is head was hit on the side of the face and on the back of [the] head two or more times.”49 Boone was identified via his Social Security card, which was found in a small wallet on his person, and a police arrest card with a photo of Boone from an incident that had occurred earlier that year.

Boone had gained a reputation in Eloy as “a heavy drinker of wine,” and a post-mortem blood test showed that he had been heavily intoxicated at the time he was killed, leading the sheriff’s investigators to assert, “Also[,] after finding out how much alcohol Boone had in his body[,] he may have and probably was passed out when he was murdered, the blood alcohol test showed 0.56%.”50

Investigators pursued numerous theories and interviewed several suspects. Of particular interest initially was a man named C.J. Wright, whom Boone had stabbed that January in the assault that had occasioned his arrest. Wright was alleged to have made threats that he would retaliate against Boone, but all his acquaintances averred that he had moved to Phoenix after being released from the hospital. One investigator stated that “the location of the murder and [modus operandi] makes me believe it is the type of crime most common among the Indians of this area.” However, none of the “several Indian suspects” who were questioned could be placed at the scene of the crime. The investigation stalled and the lead investigator on the case conceded in a one-week follow-up report, “We have had no real leads in this case[,] but we have checked out several rumors all this week but to no avail.”51

News of Boone’s death quickly reached Maybelle in Tucson, likely through a mutual acquaintance, and she phoned the sheriff’s office in Eloy to inform them that Oscar was her ex-husband. She also saw to it that Oscar was buried in the US Military Veterans section of the Eloy Park Memorial Cemetery. Maybelle Boone died in Tucson on November 24, 1967, and is interred in San Antonio, Texas.52 The Boones had no children together, but Maybelle was survived by her daughter, Maenelle (Carson) Fleming, who also lived in Tucson.

Sources

Except where otherwise indicated, all player statistics and team records were taken from Seamheads.com.

Ancestry.com was consulted for US Census information, military records, and birth, marriage, and death records.

Oscar Boone’s murder report, autopsy results, and blood test results were obtained from the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Notes

1 Oscar Boone’s family tree is complex and difficult to trace; however, sufficient documentation exists to confirm that Malinda Williams was Oscar’s maternal grandmother. Malinda apparently had been once widowed before she embarked upon her second marriage to Bradford Hammonds with whom she had Willie (Oscar’s mother), Bradford Jr., and a daughter named Laura before her second husband also died. After Bradford Hammonds Sr.’s death, Malinda again reverted to her maiden name, Williams, in official records; Bradford Jr.’s death certificate confirms Malinda’s maiden name to have been Williams. Malinda and her parents were from Alabama and, given her approximate birth year of 1858 and the fact that she could neither read nor write (per multiple censuses), it is quite possible that they were former slaves who had obtained freedom after the Civil War. Whether or not that was the case, Malinda’s life was filled with hardships. In addition to being twice widowed, the 1910 census states that she had given birth to 16 children, only four of whom still were living at that time.

2 On Ancestry.com, Boone is listed as “Asken Bearns” in the 1920 US Census; this is the result of both the census-taker’s sloppy handwriting and the reliance on modern computer programs to read handwritten documents. A closer inspection of the original scanned census document showed that “Asken Bearns” might be “Oscar Boone,” and additional research into Boone’s family history established that this was indeed the fact.

3 Bradford Hammonds Jr.’s death certificate does not indicate whether his death was a homicide, suicide, or an accidental shooting.

4 U.S. Army, “History of Fort Huachuca,” https://home.army.mil/huachuca/index.php/about/history, accessed July 1, 2023.

5 “Fort Huachuca,” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), June 19, 1930: 8.

6 “Internationals Win Their 22nd Consecutive Victory,” Arizona Daily Star, August 4, 1930: 7; “Rails Outclass Fort Huachuca Soldiers, 14 to 3,” Arizona Daily Star, July 6, 1931: 7.

7 “Internationals Triumph Over Soldiers,” Arizona Daily Star, August 11, 1930: 6.

8 “Fort Concho, National Historic Landmark,” https://fortconcho.com/, accessed July 1, 2023.

9 Bob LeMoine, “Bobby Robinson,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bobby-robinson/#_edn12, accessed July 1, 2023.

10 “Bakers to Play Fast Colored Team Friday/Game with Texas Sheepherders to Start at 6:10 at Summers Field,” Emporia (Kansas) Gazette, June 30, 1938: 13.

11 “Bakers Beaten by Texans, to Face Abilene/Game at Summers Field Sunday – Sheepherders Win by 9 to 2,” Emporia Gazette, July 2, 1938: 7.

12 “Herders Look Good in Winning,” Wichita Eagle, July 12, 1938: 6.

13 “Sheepherders in Slugging Form,” Wichita Eagle, July 13, 1938: 9.

14 “Sheepherders in Slugging Form.”

15 “Sheepherders in Two Big Innings Trounce Topeka,” Wichita Eagle, July 20, 1938: 12: “Just Among Us Folk,” San Angelo Evening Standard, July 20, 1938: 10.

16 “Two Featured Games Will Feature ‘Old Timers’ Tonight,” Wichita Eagle, July 21, 1938: 8.

17 “Watermen Move into Finals of State Tourney,” Wichita Eagle, July 24, 1938: 11; “Tonight Is Final Night at Tourney,” Wichita Eagle, July 24, 1938: 11.

18 “Only One Kansas Team Assured of National Chance,” Wichita Eagle, July 26, 1938: 7.

19 “Negro Team Ends Birds’ Eight-Game Streak, 14-5/Allie Reynolds Will Get Starting Call for Cushing Contest Here Friday,” Seminole Producer, July 27, 1938: 6. Oklahoma A&M University was renamed Oklahoma State University in 1958.

20 Royse Parr, “Allie Reynolds,” SABR Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/allie-reynolds/, accessed July 1, 2023.

21 Lucius “Melancholy” Jones, “Slants on Sports/Donald Reeves Arrives, Ready to Don Crax Uniform; Oscar Boone, New 200 Pound Catcher, Thrills Crowd,” Atlanta Daily World, March 25, 1939: 5. Either Boone had temporarily bulked up or Jones overestimated/overstated his weight: Boone’s WWII draft registration, filled out in October 1940, listed his weight as 170 pounds. The abbreviation “BTWHS” denotes Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta.

22 “A Cracker a Day,” Atlanta Daily World, April 22, 1939: 5.

23 “A Cracker a Day.” The claim about Boone playing in New York is in reference to his brief stint as a second-string catcher with the Mohawk Giants of Schenectady, New York, as that team made a swing through the South in April 1938. See “Mohawk Giants Schedule Eight Games in South,” Glens Falls (New York) Post Star, April 6, 1938: 9; however, there is no evidence that Boone spent any time with the team in New York state.

24 Lucius “Melancholy” Jones, “Slants on Sports/Catcher Oscar Boone Had All but Stolen Donald Reeves’ Batting Lead Through Sunday’s Game,” Atlanta Daily World, April 25, 1939: A5.

25 “Black Crackers to Play Tonight,” Atlanta Constitution, May 8, 1939: 13.

26 Lucius “Melancholy” Jones, “Black Crax Out of Negro American League!/Slants on Sports/Atlanta Baseball at Crossroads After League Expels Black Crackers; Harden Charges Club Was ‘Railroaded,’” Atlanta Daily World, June 26, 1939: 5.

27 Jones, “Black Crax Out of Negro American League!”

28 “East-West Officials Lament Red Moore’s Fate: Seventh Annual Sepia All-Star Game to be ‘Rubber’ Tilt/Red Moore, Oscar Boone Miss Chance to Play in Colorful East-West Classic in Comiskey Park, Chicago, August 6,” Atlanta Daily World, July 6, 1939: 5.

29 “Mackey to Philly – Five Atlanta Players Signed by Baltimore,” Chicago Defender (National Edition), July 22, 1939: 8.

30 See, for example: “All-Stars Drop Hot Game to Elite Giants Team 7-1,” Poughkeepsie (New York) Eagle-News, July 13, 1939: 8; “Easton East Penn Club Beats Colored Team, 8-7,” Allentown (Pennsylvania) Morning Call, July 20, 2023: 16; “Schwartz Repulses Baltimore Elite Giants, 3 to 2,” Central New Jersey Home News (New Brunswick), August 15, 1939: 10.

31 “Ex-Black Crax Keep Baltimore in League Lead/Red Moore Bats 1.000 as Elites Win 4-1; Drop Opening Tilt 4-2/Oscar Boone’s Pinch Single Scores Run in First Game, but Rally Falls Short; Pea-Eye Butts Plays in Both Tilts,” Atlanta Daily World, July 29, 1939: 5.

32 Boone’s birth year and place of birth as listed on the 1940 census do not match up with the facts, but this is hardly an unusual occurrence in census documents. Much of the information jibes with Boone’s background, and his occupation was listed as “Ball Player.” Additionally, no other man named Oscar Boone can be found in the area at that time; thus, it appears that Boone was the man who was married to Josie Goodwin. Frustratingly, neither Josie herself nor any of her family members can currently be found in any additional census or other official documents. The couple may have divorced, or one of them may have decided to leave the other without a legal divorce; another possibility is that Josie Goodwin Boone died.

33 Marion E. Jackson, “Birmingham Takes On Baltimore Sunday,” Atlanta Daily World, April 17, 1940: 5; Eulus L. Nance, “Ethiopian Clowns, Atlanta All-Stars at BTWHS Today/Donald Reeves, Oscar Boone to Be Seen in Game Here This Week,” Atlanta Daily World, April 27, 1940: 6.

34 “Ethiopians Win Two from American Giants,” Chicago Defender (National Edition), June 8, 1940: 24.

35 Lucius “Melancholy” Jones, “Slants on Sports/Erstwhile ‘Name’ Stars of Atlanta Black Crackers Now Making Headlines for Major Clubs of Negro American, National Leagues,” Atlanta Daily World, July 23, 1940: 5.

36 “Ethiopians Win 27 Straight; Eye Denver Go/Chin Evans, Oscar Boone, Spencer Davis in $10,000 Diamond Meet,” Atlanta Daily World, August 6, 1940: 5.

37 Jay Sanford, The Denver Post Tournament: A Chronicle of America’s First Integrated Professional Baseball Event (Cleveland: Society for American Baseball Research, 2003), 90.

38 “Ethiopian Clowns Win Three, Lose One in $10,000 Denver Tourney,” Phoenix Index, August 17, 1940: 6.

39 “Mt. Pleasant Trips Clowns, 10-6, in Tenth,” Denver Post, August 11, 1940: 5-1, 5-3.

40 Sanford, 90.

41 Boone’s last name was misspelled as “Boome” in the official marriage record; however, there was no individual by that name, nor was there any other man named Oscar Boone who lacked a middle name that lived anywhere close to the San Angelo area. However, there were two women named Bessie Clark in the vicinity. One, also with no middle name (as in the marriage record), was listed as “Mulatto,” and, given the time and the place (Texas), must have been Boone’s bride, while the other also had the middle initial “B” and was identified as “White.” The “B” in Bessie B. Clark’s name did not stand for “Boone” as the initial can be found in her name prior to the date of Boone’s marriage; additional public records for Bessie B. Clark also indicate that she was a different person. For information about Oscar Boone and Bessie Clark’s 1942 divorce, see: “51st District Court (Civil Docket),” San Angelo Daily Standard, February 13, 1942: 7, and “Double Divorce Decree Granted as Total Rises,” San Angelo Standard-Times, September 23, 1942: 3.

42 Maybelle Carson did not escape misspellings of her name in official documents. Alternate spellings found are Mable, Mabel, Maebelle, Mae Bell, and Mabelle.

43 “American Giants to Use Chicago White Sox Stadium This Season/Donald Reeves, Shug Cornelius, Oscar Boone with Taylor Crew,” Atlanta Daily World, May 5, 1941: 5.

44 “Expect 50,000 at East-West Game Sun. July 27: Looks Like Paige Will Face ‘Impo’ Barnhill, New York Cubans Ace,” Chicago Defender (National Edition), July 19, 1941: 24.

45 “Black Herders and Forth Worth Panthers Tangle,” San Angelo Standard-Times, April 5, 1942: 14; “Cuban Stars, Equal of White Majors, Noted Baseball Scribes Say,” Atlanta Daily World, April 15, 1942: 5; “Chicago and Monarchs in Double Bill/American Giants Have Improved Team for League Opener,” Michigan Chronicle (Detroit), May 9, 1942: 16.

46 “Black Eagles Nudge San Angelo, 4 to 2,” Abilene Reporter-News, August 25, 1947: 2.

47 “Oscar Boone Murder Case Report,” Pinal County (Arizona) Sheriff’s Office, October 12, 1958.

48 “Dead Body Found Near Eloy Bridge,” Arizona Daily Star, October 13, 1958: 14.

49 “Oscar Boone Murder Case Report.”

50 “Oscar Boone Murder Case Report.”

51 “Oscar Boone Murder Case Report.”

52 “Boone, Maybelle C.,” Arizona Daily Star, November 26, 1967: 53.