Wilbur Hayes

There is documented evidence that baseball in Cleveland goes back to the Civil War era. An 1867 article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer mentions 22 teams practicing on the ball ground. Two of the teams were composed of African American players.1

By 1918, the first professional Black team, the Tate Stars, formed. The Tate Stars joined the Negro National League in 1922. By 1941, nine other professional Negro League teams called Cleveland home – more than any other US city. Those teams all had one thing in common: short-lived with unexceptional, at best, playing records.

That trend of mediocrity began to change at the end of 1941 with the collaboration between Ernest Wrightand Wilbur Hayes in the formation of the Buckeyes. There is minimal biographical information on the architects of the most successful of the 11 Cleveland-based Negro League teams. Reliable sources such as Baseball-Reference.com and the Seamheads Negro League Database contain only nominal information primarily focused on the time that the team played in Cleveland. Another site, Blackpast.org, has the following entry:

 “The Cleveland Buckeyes were a Negro League baseball team established initially as the Buckeyes Baseball Club, in Cincinnati, Ohio. On the eve of World War II, a white Cleveland sports promoter, Wilbur Hayes, approached Erie, Pennsylvania Black businessman Ernest Wright about financially backing a Cleveland-based black baseball team. The two collaborated and brought together a strong team of professional baseball players who initially played their home games out of Crosley Field, in Cincinnati.”2

Based on photographs, newspaper accounts, and recollections of those who knew and worked with Wilbur Hayes, this entry is wrong about Hayes’ race. He was African American.

Notwithstanding the sparse published biographical information on the key executives, access to heretofore unpublished research compiled by Merl F. Kleinknecht has been invaluable. Kleinknecht’s research was gathered during 1994 with the cooperation of the Wilbur Hayes family and research of the Cleveland Call and Post and Pittsburgh Courier newspapers. This undertaking coincided with activities, programs, and events honoring the 50th anniversary of the Cleveland Buckeyes Negro League World Series championship.

Wilbur Filmore Hayes was born on August 25, 1898, in Owensboro, Kentucky. He was of African American ancestry. His parents were Milford “Doc” Hayes and Ella Mae Daniel Hayes (homemaker). The 1910 US Census identified the Hayes family of five (Hayes, Hayes’ mother and father, and two older brothers) as residents of McLean County, near Owensboro, and listed Milford as a farm laborer. Kleinknecht’s interviews with the Hayes family confirmed that Hayes attended Orange Elementary and Brownell Junior High Schools in Owensboro into his teenage years.

It is unclear exactly when and why Hayes relocated nearly 400 miles to Cleveland from his home in Kentucky, but in 1919, at the age of 21, Hayes married Gertrude Prinne (born in Buffalo and aged 18 at the time), according to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, records. The marriage license identified Hayes as a chauffeur and living at 2356 Marion Avenue in Cleveland. No record of his divorce from his first wife has yet been found, and 1920 Census records show them living at 2349 East 40th Street. A second marriage was recorded on August 24, 1922, with Beatrice Elizabeth Johnson, with whom Hayes had a daughter, Dorothy. The marriage license listed Hayes as a trucker living at 45 Ridge Street, Akron, Ohio. The license recorded that neither Wilbur nor Beatrice had been married previously, lending an air of intrigue to Hayes’ first marriage. Beatrice or Bessie was born in Richmond, Virginia, and was 17 at the time of their marriage. Again, no date of divorce has been found, but Hayes married a third time to Erma Brown (age 25, from Toledo) on May 25, 1925. The marriage license showed Hayes as a driver, residing at 2338 E. 46th Street in Cleveland. Their 32-year marriage ended when Hayes died in 1957. They had two sons (Wilbur, Jr. and Don Leslie) and four daughters (Betty, Garnett, Erma Dee, and Jeannine).3 

The aforementioned marriage licenses, Cleveland city directories over the years, and census records place Hayes at a number of different addresses. The 1930 Census has Wilbur and Erma at 5812 Thackeray Avenue and the 1940 Census at 2275 E. 70th Street. The 1950 Census and the 1951 City Directory list the family home at 6019 Hawthorne Avenue. At the time of his death, he and Erma were living at 5512 Quimby Avenue. The Quimby Avenue residence is about a half-mile from League Park. Hayes died on February 9, 1957, in Cleveland and was buried in Highland Park Cemetery.4 Erma lived almost another quarter-century and died on April 14, 1981.

In addition to Hayes’ previously cited work as a chauffeur and truck driver for the City of Cleveland Services Department,5 he also owned a grooming parlor and shoeshine business at East 49th Street and Central Avenue in Cleveland. This appeared to be his base of operations during the 1940s. At the time of his death in 1957, he was reported to have been employed as a factory worker for an unidentified company.

Wilbur Hayes’ sports background was varied and impressive. As a young man, he was a star amateur athlete, participating in basketball, baseball, boxing, and football. According to his obituary in the Cleveland Call and Post, “Hayes became interested in sports during the year of 1926, when he managed a Negro team that played its first night baseball at Tate Field, at East 55th Street off Broadway.”6 He has been described as Cleveland’s first entertainment promoter catering to the city’s Black population. He began promoting events in the city at an early age, including basketball at the Elks Hall, baseball at Hooper Field, beauty pageants at Luna Park, boxing at Marotta’s Gym, and football at Kingsbury Run.7

During the 1930s, Hayes operated a boxing gym at 49th Street and Central Avenue and he was later involved in the opening of a gym to train young fighters. Hayes was also given credit for forming the Cleveland area’s first all-Black football team and operating an undisclosed number of football teams throughout that decade.8

In 1941 Hayes assumed operation of the Cleveland White Sox, a semipro baseball team. With that team, he applied for associate membership in the Negro American League. The Cleveland Call and Post included his letter to J.B. Martin, president of the Negro American League, in its March 8, 1941, edition. The letter said, “The Cleveland Fan and Business Men are deeply interested in having a team composed of Cleveland boys as an Associate Member of your League. … We are putting forth every effort to form a first class club.”9 To accomplish this, he forged a partnership with Erie, Pennsylvania, hotel owner Ernest Wright as Wright purchased a half-interest in the Negro American League St. Louis Stars and made Hayes business manager.10

Arguably, from Wright’s perspective, it was his initiative that led to the partnership with Hayes. (See Ernest Wright’s SABR biography for this point of view.)

The Cleveland Call and Post also captured Hayes’ continuing efforts as a promoter to bring top-tier Black baseball to Cleveland: “Encouraged by the interest manifested by Cleveland’s baseball lovers in top-flight sepia teams, Wilbur Hayes climbed into the ranks of active promoters this week by grace of a well-heeled backer [Wright], and a contract with League moguls for the use of the Park on the Indians’ out-of-town dates.”11

Hayes did more than reach out to Negro American League officials and organize games by visiting teams to Cleveland. In July 1941 he wrote an open letter to Cleveland’s baseball fans. The letter is worth including in its entirety:

I want to urge all of my friends and all of those persons interested in the perpetuation of Negro Baseball in Cleveland to be on hand, Sunday July 27th, at League Park. My backer and I have spent time and money trying to round out the best baseball talent available to give Cleveland a winning club. I believe that we have finally hit upon a winning combination. Both local boys and the best of the crop in the hinterlands are on this club. So, I’m appealing to, who are interested in seeing Negro baseball in Cleveland to be on hand at League Park this Sunday. I promise that you won’t be disappointed.

Wilbur Hayes, Promoter.12

These were important foundational steps, but building a successful baseball franchise is not an easy task and Hayes knew that. Over the next few years, he worked tirelessly.

Over the 1941-42 winter months, with his own limited funds and possibly supported by Wright’s infusion of capital for the franchise, Hayes traveled throughout the South and Midwest scouting and signing players for the new franchise.

In 1942 the Buckeyes were admitted to the Negro American League with a roster that included a young East St. Louis catcher named Sam Jethroe.13 Hayes and Wright reached an understanding with the league that the Buckeyes would play home games in Cincinnati and Cleveland to create a statewide appeal for the club and fill the Black-baseball void in both cities. The team’s games began in Cincinnati and the May 13, 1942, issue of the Atlanta Daily World seemed to portray the sentiment of many in Cincinnati who were happy to share the Buckeyes with Cleveland:

“After two months of training by the ball players and of watchful waiting by the fans, the 1942 baseball season will get underway at Crosley Field Sunday afternoon when the Cincinnati Buckeyes cross bats with the famous Jacksonville Red Caps from Florida. This doubleheader will mark the opening of the Negro American League season and signal the return of professional league baseball in Cincinnati. No league teams having represented the Queen City since the old Tigers disbanded in 1938 after blazing a flaming trail across the baseball skies.”14

A similar storyline appeared in the Norfolk (Virginia) New Journal and Guide on June 13 when the Jacksonville Red Caps split an Opening Day doubleheader with the Buckeyes at Cleveland’s League Park. The team was described as “the first real locally owned team since the boom days of the old Tate Stars,” and added, “Mayor Frank J. Lausche threw the first ball to Councilman Augustus G. Parker and Wilbur Hayes, front gate manager of the local Buckeyes.”15

Further evidence of the commitment to Black baseball in Cleveland came during a meeting of the Negro American and National leagues in Chicago, when Ernest Wright, Cumberland Posey, business manager of the Homestead Grays and Wilbur Hayes were named co-workers of the committee on the benefit game to be played at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium on August 18, 1942.16 The game was played two days after the annual East-West All-Star Game at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Many of the players from that contest also played in Cleveland. The game drew a crowd of 10,971 and brought in $9,499.04 for the Army-Navy Relief Fund. It was reported that this was the first time such a game for such a purpose had ever been staged in Cleveland. The East dominated the West by a score of 9-2.

During that initial season, the Buckeyes claimed the Negro American League’s first-half championship. In September near the end of the season, the team was scheduled to play a four-game series against the New York Black Yankees in Buffalo, New York; Akron, Ohio; and Meadville, Pennsylvania, all in just over 24 hours. Players were traveling in three cars because their bus had broken down. One of the cars was involved in a fatal accident near Geneva, Ohio, that resulted in the death of catcher Buster Brown and pitcher Smoky Owens.17 Hayes and three other players survived. The Buckeyes chose to finish their season after the accident. All of the games were played on the road and all resulted in losses.

At the beginning of 1943, the league allowed Hayes to drop Cincinnati from the two-city arrangement, and Cleveland became the Buckeyes’ full-time home.18 Also in 1943, while serving in his role as Negro American League sergeant-at-arms, Hayes aided in the ouster of the Consul of Mexico from Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, in response to the consul’s pursuit of Negro League players for the Mexican League. (Over the years, Hayes signed at least four players from the Mexican League and lost three players to the league.) A special Wilbur Hayes Day was held on September 12, 1943, as the Buckeyes closed out a second winning season.19 At the NAL’s December meeting, the Buckeyes were recognized as the league’s Most Outstanding Franchise due to a five-fold attendance increase. Sam Jethroe was recognized as the league’s “2nd Most Valuable Player.”20

Despite finishing only three games over .500 in the league in 1944 (45-42), the Hayes-built Buckeyes featured the NAL’s best defensive infield, as each infielder led at his position in NAL fielding average as well as having the loop’s fastest and hardest-hitting outfield, paced by 1944 batting champion Sam Jethroe. During the December NAL meeting, Hayes traded the rights to Mexican League defector Theolic Smith to the Kansas City Monarchs for the rights to Mexican League catcher Quincy Trouppe.

These initial moves helped set the table for 1945. Hayes named Trouppe the team manager. He told the Call and Post that “knowing that catching was our weakest spot last year, we have taken care of that position by signing Quincy Trouppe.”21 He persuaded the previous pilot, all-star third baseman Parnell Woods, to remain with the Buckeyes as team captain. Trouppe brought along far-ranging Mexican League shortstop Avelino Cañizares, a Cuban,22 to further strengthen an already formidable infield. The Buckeyes’ addition of Trouppe as catcher reunited him with former Monterrey batterymate Willie Jefferson. Hayes acquired four former Mexican League players and the Mexican League Raiders had one former Buckeye.

Call and Post columnist Bob Williams wrote, “Spring training is just around the corner, and the Buckeyes do seem really destined to play some real ball this year.”23 The Call and Post also declared that the Buckeyes “are now preparing to bring Cleveland that long awaited winning team.”24

The Buckeyes won 27 of their first 36 league games. Outfielders Jethroe, Buddy Armour, and Ducky Davenport (both acquired by Hayes in 1944) were the league’s two, three, and four hitters respectively. With a 31-9 record, the team won the first-half NAL title. Outfielder Davenport defected to the Mexican League before second-half play began.

In July and August Hayes, recognizing the importance of community involvement, sent the Buckeyes into Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium for games to benefit the Future Outlook League.25 The Future Outlook League, founded in Cleveland in 1935, was a civil rights organization focused on promoting employment, mobility, and equality for African American youth and young adults.26

On September 2 Hayes was honored in a ceremony at League Park and was presented with a certificate for a new Chevrolet. Wrote the Call and Post, “[T]he presentation climaxed an effort to show how much Hayes is appreciated for his years in sports and particularly his outstanding job of building the Buckeyes into a championship ball club.”27 It was reported that his previous car had 250,000 miles on it. The Buckeyes were also crowned second-half NAL champs.28 Their reward was a slot in the Negro League World Series against the dominant Homestead Grays.

In the run-up to the Series, Hayes received full credit for building the Buckeyes. “Just four years ago Manager Wilbur Hayes began to collect pro and semi-pro ball players from all over the country to begin building today’s championship title contenders. The brilliant players who hold down most berths on the Buckeyes’ squad were secured only after long and diligent search,” wrote the Call and Post.29 The Hayes-built Buckeyes swept the Grays in four straight games in that World Series. The new Negro League world champions were feted on September 30 with a banquet in Cleveland’s Majestic Hotel. Hayes “gave credit freely to those who aided in the Buckeyes’ progress” and Ernest Wright was “‘too overwhelmed to talk’ and actually felt like crying, he was so happy.”30

The team focused on sustaining its championship caliber, but the 1946 season was impacted from the start by a series of offseason occurrences that began when Cañizares signed a contract to return to the Mexican League. Parnell Woods and Willie Jefferson left the team to play in Venezuela and, to top things off, pitcher George Jefferson (Willie’s brother) suffered a serious arm injury in winter league play. Nonetheless, “[O]wner Ernie Wright and general manager Wilbur Hayes are leaving no stones unturned in their attempts to strengthen the Forest City Nine for the 1946 diamond campaign.”31

Hayes signed young prospects Al Smith, Leon Kellman, Tommy Harris, and Vibert Clarke32 and obtained veteran pitcher Chet Brewer,33 but the Buckeyes suffered through a so-so campaign, finishing a distant third to pennant winner Kansas City. But  the young players gained valuable experience. Willie Grace, who was signed by Hayes late in the 1942 season, emerged as the bright spot of the season and was named the club’s most outstanding player.34 A November scouting trip in the South by Hayes brought in five more prospects including reputed slugger Joe Atkins.35

The 1947 season got underway with Hayes trading veteran outfielder Armour for Clyde Nelson and acquiring young right-handed pitcher Sam Jones (who had pitched briefly for the 1946 NNL Homestead Grays). With Smith, Kellman, Harris, Clarke, Atkins, Brewer, Jones, and Nelson all performing at a championship level along with 1945 holdovers Gene Bremer, Quincy Trouppe, Archie Ware, Sam Jethroe, and Grace, Hayes’ rebuilt Buckeyes returned to the Negro American League throne with a 57-19 record.

Doc Young in the Call and Post reminded readers that Hayes told fans earlier in the year, “Boys, I am going to give Cleveland and the surrounding cities of Ohio another championship team and I don’t mean maybe!”36 In recognition of Hayes’ delivering, he was honored for his job as general manager and Trouppe for his job as manager in ceremonies at League Park.37

As Negro American League champions, the Buckeyes were set to meet the New York Cubans in the World Series.38 A second championship was not to be, however, and the Buckeyes lost 4-1-1 to  the Cubans. Deflated but unbowed, Buckeyes fans and the team moved on. And changes were in the works, particularly in light of Jackie Robinson’s breaking the color barrier and the slow trickle of Black ballplayers into the American and National leagues. Hayes began in December by naming Alonzo Boone as the team’s new manager.39

Early in 1948 Quincy Trouppe’s contract was sold to the Chicago American Giants, who named him manager. Hayes also sold veteran second baseman Johnnie Cowan to the Memphis Red Sox and sent Atkins to the Kansas City Monarchs for Othello Renfroe, an infielder, and catcher Joe Greene. Renfroe hit .306 as the Buckeyes shortstop and Greene, a veteran, filled in capably for the departed Trouppe behind the plate. Atkins left the NAL to play in Canada’s Provincial League. The Buckeyes finished in second place for the NAL’s first half. However, the team plummeted in the second half and ended with a record of 47-53-3 as Sam Jethroe, the offensive leader since the team’s inception, and Al Smith entered the White major leagues. Jethroe was sold to the Brooklyn Dodgers and Smith to the Cleveland Indians.40 The Buckeyes received a reported $5,000 for Jethroe; the Dodgers later sold Jethroe to the Boston Braves for over $100,000.41 As a sign of the times, the Call and Post sports pages began covering Black ballplayers in the American and National Leagues, forgoing column-inches in its weekly paper for previously covered Buckeyes in order to focus on the Indians and Dodgers.42

The Buckeyes relocated to Louisville for the 1949 NAL season43 as the Cleveland Indians came to the forefront of integration and drew Buckeyes fans to their games to see former Negro League stars Larry Doby and Satchel Paige perform. The Call and Post reported on this development in early 1949:

There will be no Buckeyes to represent this city in the Eastern Division of the Negro American League as previously announced by management last month. … The franchise was transferred to Louisville by the league directors. … [I]t is believed that the switch was made to take some of the pressure off the team. It is a certainty that most of the slack in attendance at Buckeyes games last year was due to the tremendous popularity of Larry Doby and the Cleveland Indians. … Last year, the club was considerably weakened by the loss of Sam Jethroe, who went to the Brooklyn Dodgers and Al Smith, sold to the Cleveland Indians.44

Hayes did bring the Buckeyes home to Cleveland for a July twin bill sponsored by the Karamu House, a Cleveland-based center for performing arts and community education. The Karamu Benefit offered Hayes the opportunity to express remorse over the team’s move to Louisville and, at least for a day, bring back Black baseball to Cleveland in the form of a Buckeyes-Indianapolis Clowns contest. Hayes “readily admits that he made a serious [mistake] when he took his popular aggregation of Negro stars off to Louisville with the expectations of bigger gates and lusher profits for his boss, Ernie Wright, Erie, PA, sportsman.”45

The ever-optimistic Hayes hoped that improved business practices would ensure the survival of the Negro American League and Black baseball. In December Sam Jones was sold to the Cleveland Indians for $4,000. At the same time, Hayes announced the Buckeyes’ return to Cleveland for the 1950 season.46

In 1950 Ernest Wright turned ownership of the Buckeyes over to Wilbur Hayes. The Buckeyes returned to Cleveland.47 Hayes, cognizant of the competition from the Cleveland Indians with their integrated roster, shared his new business model with the press. “Hayes told the Call and Post that he expects to reduce prices for his home games, and that he is trying to arrange a number of night games to be played,” the Call and Post reported.48 Hayes’ offseason player acquisitions reflected his longstanding commitment to the Hot Stove League. Hayes traded first baseman Archie Ware for Indianapolis Clowns’ catcher Leonard Pigg, who was the 1949 NAL batting champion. Joe Caffie from nearby Warren, Ohio, was one of many youngsters that Hayes invited to spring training.49 Caffie became an American Leaguer, debuting in 1956 with the Indians.

During a preseason interview, Hayes declared that Sam Jethroe was among the best players in baseball.50 Jethroe became the first Black player for the Boston Braves and was named Rookie of the Year as he led both the American and National Leagues in stolen bases in 1950. Hayes knew the Negro Leagues would no longer be what they once were, given the drain of high-caliber players like Jethroe to the American and National Leagues thanks to integration.

Stubbornly, Hayes vowed that his young Buckeyes would burn the NAL with their blazing youth. With Pigg off to Canada to play, the 1950 Buckeyes went 3-37 and used 50 players as they suffered through a horrendous NAL first-half schedule. In early July, Hayes withdrew the Buckeyes (3-39) from the Negro American League.51

Ever the industrious and positive promoter, Wilbur Hayes seemed to recognize from the beginning that for Cleveland to sustain a Negro League franchise, support was necessary from the city’s Black community, including its press and civic organizations. Through dedicated effort, he obtained the support of those elements to make the Buckeyes succeed for most of the 1940s.

Hayes masterfully built the Cleveland Buckeyes into a Negro League power. Seven Buckeyes eventually played in the White major leagues with varied degrees of success. Twelve players represented the club in the Negro Leagues’ annual East-West All-Star Games, and every one of those players became Buckeyes through the singular efforts of Wilbur Hayes. Eventually Hayes had to recognize that the Cleveland Indians’ aggressive role in integration and the success begun in 1947 left little room in the city for his Buckeyes. But for a time, Hayes had marshaled the talent and forces to make the Buckeyes a Cleveland success. In his time with the Buckeyes and the Negro American League, his executive profile was second to none. And at his death in 1957, the Cleveland community expressed their appreciation for his long and industrious career. The Call and Post summed it up: “Old sports fans and entertainers will never forget Wilbur Hayes, many of whom he started on their careers. He was loved by all groups for his interest in the sports field.”52

Business/General Management

• 1942: Cincinnati-Cleveland Buckeyes [Negro American League – NAL]
  1st Half NAL Champions
• 1943: Cleveland Buckeyes [NAL]
  Most Outstanding Franchise
• 1944: Cleveland Buckeyes [NAL]
• 1945: Cleveland Buckeyes [NAL]
  NAL Champion
  Negro League World Series Champion
• 1946: Cleveland Buckeyes [NAL]
• 1947: Cleveland Buckeyes [NAL]
  NAL Champion
• 1948: Cleveland Buckeyes [NAL]
  1st Half NAL Runner-up
• 1949: Louisville Buckeyes [NAL]

Team Ownership

• 1950: Cleveland Buckeyes [NAL]
  Withdrew from NAL in early July

Negro American League Administration

• Sergeant-at-arms [NAL]

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the authors wish to acknowledge the important contributions of Merl Kleinknecht.

Merl joined SABR in 1971.53 His area of expertise was the Negro Baseball Leagues. Merl cited John Holway as exerting the greatest influence on his research efforts. Merl was a founding member of SABR’s Negro Leagues Research Committee and served two terms as committee chair in the 1970s. He authored several articles published in a variety of publications. His research efforts have been recognized by the Ohio Baseball Hall of Fame. According to his son Jon, Kleinknecht is neither active in SABR in 2024 nor in writing and speaking about Negro League baseball. His focus has been on helping residents at an assisted living center. His son granted permission to share the research compiled by his father as SABR salutes the 1945 Cleveland Buckeyes during the 80th anniversary of that historic achievement.54

Notes

1 Extract from a Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) website post from September 2020 regarding the history of Black baseball in Cleveland. As of December 2024, this post appears to be inaccessible.

2 Entry regarding the Cleveland Buckeyes on the website The Cleveland Buckeyes (1941-1950) • (blackpast.org), December 31, 2020.  

3 This compilation is based on Federal Census records from 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, and 1950. Also, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, marriage registries document Hayes’ three marriages.

4 Wilbur Hayes (1898-1957) – Find a Grave Memorial.

5 Family members identified his workplace.

6 “Wilbur Hayes, Pioneer Baseball Promoter Dies,” Cleveland Call and Post, February 16, 1957: 1A.

7 “Wilbur Hayes, Pioneer Baseball Promoter Dies.”

8 “Wilbur Hayes, Pioneer Baseball Promoter Dies.”

9 “Baseball Hopes Rise as Men Ask for Team Here, Plan to Have More Good Games Here on Sundays,” Cleveland Call and Post, March 8, 1941: 7.

10 “League Awards Cincy ‘9’ Berth,” Pittsburgh Courier, January 3, 1942: 16.

11 “Hayes Back in Baseball Picture …with Backer,” Cleveland Call and Post, May 24, 1941.

12 “Wilbur Hayes Pens an Open Letter to Baseball Fans,” Cleveland Call and Post, July 26, 1941: 11.

13 “Seven Former ‘Ethiopians’ Bagged by Cincy Buckeyes,” Atlanta Daily World, May 9, 1942: 5.

14 “Cincinnati Buckeyes, Jacksonville Reds Pry Lid in Negro American League Sunday,” Atlanta Daily World, May 13, 1942: 5.

15 “9200 See Red Cap, Buckeyes Split Pair in Cleveland Opener.” Norfolk (Virginia) New Journal and Guide, June 13, 1942: 14.

16 “Ernie Wright Chairman of Fund Game,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 4, 1942: 16.

17 “Two Ball Players Killed; Four Injured: Pitcher and Catcher Die in Collision,” Chicago Defender, September 12, 1942: 1-2.

18 “Cincinnati Baseball Club Goes to Cleveland, American League Moguls Plan for ’43,” Norfolk New Journal and Guide, January 9, 1943.

19 “Bucks Whip Cincy,” Pittsburgh Courier, September 18, 1943: 16.

20 Bob Williams, “Chicago Meeting Gives Unanimous Endorsement; Kills Exhibition Games, Cleveland Call and Post, December 25, 1943: 10A.

21 “We Are Ready, Bucks Promise Winning Team, Managers Confer,” Cleveland Call and Post, March 3, 1945: 18.

22 “Vastly Improved Buckeyes Strong in Every Field, May Bring Out Fans, 10,000 Strong,” Cleveland Call and Post, May 26, 1945: 7B.

23 Bob Williams, “Sports Rambler,” Cleveland Call and Post, March 17, 1945: 6B.

24“We Are Ready: Bucks Promise Winning Team, Managers Confer,” Cleveland Call and Post, Marcy 3, 1945: 18.

25 “Future Outlook League Night Game to Feature League Leading Bucks,” Cleveland Call and Post, July 7, 1945: 7B.

26 “Future Outlook League,” entry from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University.   https://case.edu/ech/articles/f/future-outlook-league, accessed August 13, 2024.

27 “Fans Give New Car Certificate to Wilbur Hayes … In Appreciation,” Clevland Call and Post, September 8, 1945: 6B.

28 “Buckeyes Make It Banner ‘Hayes Day,’” Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 3, 1945: 31. 

29 Jimmy Jones, “Buckeyes Aim to Dethrone Homestead Grays, Czars of All Baseball for Six Years, First of Five Games in Stadium Tonight, Expect Record Turnout for Sunday Tilt at League Park,” Cleveland Call and Post, September15, 1945: 7B.

30 Bob Williams, “Greatest Ball Club Receives Town’s Greatest Tributes at Banquet, City Council Fetes,” Cleveland Call and Post, October 6, 1945: 6B.

31 Cleveland Jackson, “Buckeyes Get Rookies for 1946 Baseball Season,” Cleveland Call and Post, January 12, 1946: 8B.

32 Jackson.

33 “John Brown Traded for Chet Brewer,” Cleveland Call and Post, June 22, 1946: 9B.

34 “Willie Grace Wins Seltzer Trophy,” Cleveland Call and Post, September 7, 1946: 9B.

35 “Acquisition of Prize Rookies Boosts Buckeye’s Baseball Hopes for 1947; Joe Atkins at Third,” Cleveland Call and Post, November 30, 1946: 9B.

36 A.S. “Doc” Young, “Trouppe, Hayes: Winners Again,” Cleveland Call and Post, September 13, 1947: 9B.

37 “Wilbur Hayes Day on September 7,” Chicago Defender, September 6, 1947: 11.

38 “Negro League World Series Opens in New York Sept. 19,” Chicago Defender, September 20, 1947: 20.

39 “Team Names New Manager,” Springfield (Ohio) Daily News, December 27, 1947: 5.

40 “Sell Smith To Indians, Jethroe to Royals,” Cleveland Call and Post, July 17, 1948: 6B.

41 Bill Nowlin, “Sam Jethroe,” Society for American Baseball Research BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/sam-jethroe.

42 The September 28, 1948, edition of the Call and Post ran separate stories on Jethroe’s and Don Newcombe’s exploits with the Montreal Royals and one on Dan Bankhead’s exploits in the Brooklyn Dodgers’ minor-league system. In contrast, it had a brief report on the Monarchs-Barons NAL playoffs and Artie Wilson’s batting championship. Cleveland Call and Post, September 25, 1948: 6B.

43 “Meeting the Louisville Buckeyes,” Ohio Daily Express (Dayton, Ohio), March 30, 1949: 1, 4.

44 “Buckeyes Move to Louisville, Ky.,” Cleveland Call and Post, February 12, 1949: 6B.

45 “Hayes Tells What ’appened to Cleveland Buckeyes, Brings Roster of young, Hustling Players Back Home for Karamu Benefit with Indianapolis Clowns,” Cleveland Call and Post, July 23, 1949: 6B.

46 “1949 in Sports,” Cleveland Call and Post, December 31, 1949: 10B.

47 “Play in Stadium,” Massillon (Ohio) Evening Independent, February 3, 1950: 14.

48 “Ernie Wright Out, Wilbur Hayes in as Operator of Buckeye Franchise,” Cleveland Call and Post, February 18, 1950: 1B.

49 “Youthful Rookies Bring Hope,” Ohio Daily Express, April 1, 1950: 2

50 “Wilbur Hayes Says Jethroe Will Rate with the Greatest,” Cleveland Call and Post, March 4, 1950: 1B.

51 “NAL Teams Go into Second Half of Race: Buckeyes Fall by the Wayside in Campaign,” Cleveland Call and Post, July 22, 1950: 19.

52 “Wilbur Hayes, Pioneer Baseball Promoter Dies,” Cleveland Call and Post, February 16, 1957: 1A.

53 Society for American Baseball Research, A History of the Society for American Baseball Research (Paducah, Kentucky: Turner Publishing Company, 2000), 87.

54 Email from Jon Kleinknecht, September 9, 2023.