Yellowhorse Morris

John Harold Goodwin “Yellowhorse” Morris wore many hats during his colorful career in professional and semipro Black baseball: pitcher, manager, owner, promoter, and scout. Along the way, he played a part in several milestones.

Morris is one of a handful of men who appeared in the first Negro League World Series.1 California was Morris’ home for much of his life, and he performed a significant role in the short-lived West Coast Negro Baseball Association. After his playing career, Morris was one of the first—perhaps the first—Black scouts hired by a team in what was then viewed as the major leagues.

Starting in 1924, Morris pitched six seasons for various Negro League teams, but he devoted more of his life to organizing, managing, or playing for barnstorming teams.

Morris was born on February 24, 1902, in Little Rock, Arkansas.2 His father was Fred Morris, a railroad porter. Fred and his wife Mary (Armstrong) also were native Arkansans.3 Harold was the third child born to the couple. By the early 1920s, Morris had moved to northern California’s Bay Area. He soon crossed paths with a man named Steve Pierce, who also had Arkansas roots. Pierce had organized a Black barnstorming baseball team called the Pierce Colored Giants, based in Oakland, California.

In early October 1922, Morris made his debut for the Giants. Although the Giants lost that game, 5-1, the Oakland Post Enquirer reported that the righthander “pitched a wonderful game and the score might have been reversed had it not been for some tough breaks during the closing innings.”4

By the spring of 1923, Morris had established himself as the ace of Pierce’s pitching staff.5 When Morris wasn’t on the mound, he typically played in the outfield.6 Morris had a square build, standing five feet, eight inches tall and weighing 180 pounds.7 He threw and batted from the right side.8

The Pierce Colored Giants played a variety of semipro clubs in California, and many of these teams were white.9 Beyond the athleticism of their players, the Giants appealed to a crowd’s broader desire for entertainment. Pierce’s team often gave fans an exhibition of “shadow ball”—a pantomime skit with an imaginary ball—to the accompaniment of a jazz orchestra that traveled with the club.10

In 1923, James Raleigh “Biz” Mackey played for the Pierce Giants a few months before he joined the Hilldale club, batting .423 that season to lead the Eastern Colored League.11 Morris and Mackey, a future Hall of Famer, crossed paths several times in their careers.

Although Morris had left the Jim Crow South, racism in California was not hard to observe in that era. After the Pierce Giants lost to an all-white club, a Sacramento newspaper used ugly language to describe the Giants players. “The watermelon demolishers came in to the clubhouse when their trainer, Jordan, told them to get a move on as the pork chops were waiting,” reported the Sacramento Union.12  

Morris acquired his nickname in 1923 during a game he pitched for the Giants against the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast League (PCL).13 In that contest, he pitched opposite Moses “Chief” Yellow Horse, a hurler who had previously appeared in 38 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates. As a sportswriter recalled, Moses Yellow Horse, a hard thrower of Pawnee heritage, would lean back after striking out a Giants batter “and emit a wild warwhoop.” Morris was not willing to cede the spotlight. The sportswriter wrote, “Morris, who also was swift, got a kick out of the Indian. He copied his methods. As Morris would fan a Solon, he, too, leaned back and warwhooped. Henceforth, Morris was ‘Yellowhorse’ to his teammates.”14

On July 2, 1923, Morris and the Pierce Giants faced the Fresno Athletic Club, one of the top Japanese-American teams on the West Coast. Morris took the mound for Pierce, facing Fresno pitcher John Nakagawa. The Giants lost that day, 11-7, but both the game and a social event the evening before built camaraderie between two teams whose players faced many social and economic barriers.15 Only three years earlier, California voters had approved a ballot measure restricting Japanese immigrants’ ability to buy or lease property.16

By the mid-1920s, Morris began exploring the next step in his baseball career. The Negro National League (NNL), formed in 1920, was an obvious option. However, the Oakland Tribune cited a source who disclosed that Morris and another Black player had been given a tryout during the 1920s by PCL teams but “had been turned down after only perfunctory training camp trials.”17 The source, J.L. Hervieux, had managed a team that faced the Pierce Giants in a 1922 barnstorming game.18 Still, no corroborating evidence for this assertion has been found. Also, the notion of the PCL giving Morris a tryout in the 1920s strains credulity, given that the league did not integrate until 1948.19

In early 1924, Morris took his talents to the NNL, moving to Kansas City to play for the Monarchs. According to the Pittsburgh Courier, Morris was “said to be the find of the year” and the newspaper compared his pitching style to that of Bill Gatewood, a hurler who had gained fame for tossing the first no-hitter in NNL history.20 According to the Kansas City Star, the Monarchs weren’t the only team that had been interested in Morris. “Every club in the league has been trying for several seasons to get him to leave California,” the Star wrote, “but until this season he has preferred to pitch semi-pro in the West.”21

Black fans in California eagerly watched Morris’ career unfold, and their affection followed the pitcher to Kansas City in 1924. “There was a presentation of flowers to Morris from his friends in Oakland, California, amid great applause” during pregame activities at the Monarchs’ home park, wrote a Kansas City reporter.22

Although Morris trailed three other Monarchs starters in wins that season, a local sportswriter wrote that he “made good right from the start.”23 The right-hander appeared roughly half the time as a starter and the other half in relief, posting a record of 5-4.24 Although a St. Louis journalist called Morris “the supposed ace” of the Monarchs pitching staff, this role actually belonged to Charles Wilber “Bullet” Rogan, who was later elected to the Hall of Fame.25

Morris’ season with the Monarchs ended triumphantly as the team reached the 1924 Negro World Series and defeated the Hilldale club. Mackey, Morris’ ex-teammate, had played a key role in helping Hilldale capture the title of the Eastern Colored League, which was launched that year. Morris only pitched one inning in the series, allowing two singles but he stranded both runners in a scoreless inning of relief during Game Two, which Hilldale won, 11-0.26

In 1925, Morris chose to play for another NNL team: the Detroit Stars. Perhaps he was lured by the chance to be reconnected with Steve Pierce, who had purchased the Stars that year.27 Morris’ reputation grew thanks to newspaper accounts, such as a Chicago Defender story reporting that he “pitched a masterly game” against Indianapolis.28 The Stars finished 1925 in third place with a respectable mark of 56-44. Although current reference authority shows Morris as having a 6-5 record that season, a Detroit sportswriter reported his record as 20-7, which probably included the Stars’ barnstorming games.29

In the 1926 season, Morris turned in a similar performance for the Stars, logging an 8-7 record. He earned a sportswriter’s praise after a game in which he held future Hall of Famer George “Mule” Suttles hitless in four at-bats and struck him out three times.30     

The 1927 season was Morris’ best year on the mound. He produced a record of 14-8 with an ERA of 3.16, as well as garnering two saves. The only dubious achievement for Morris was leading Detroit’s staff for the third straight season in hit batters. He plunked 13 batters in 1927 to lead all NNL hurlers.31 

Several years after that season, the Detroit Tribune remembered Morris’ impressive repertoire of pitches. “His sweeping curves, coupled with a fine change of pace and a good fastball, helped the Detroit team to stay in the thick of the championship fight in the now defunct Negro National League,” the Tribune reminisced.32

After the 1927 NNL season, Morris played winter ball in California, joining the roster of the Cleveland Stars, managed by O’Neal Pullen.33 That winter, Morris decided not to return to Detroit; instead, he agreed to join Pullen’s all-Black barnstorming team to play a series of games in Hawaii during the summer of 1928.34 The year before, Pullen had taken a longer Pacific tour with Biz Mackey, Rap Dixon, and other Black stars to Japan, Korea, and Hawaii.35

In March 1928, an automobile accident nearly upended Morris’ plans to participate in the Hawaii tour. The vehicle in which Morris, Mackey, and other Black barnstormers were traveling skidded off a street in Bakersfield, California, and struck a tree. The other players suffered minor injuries, but Morris was seriously hurt, with a fractured hip and lacerations to his face.36

Morris recovered in time to take part in the Pullen-led tour, playing for the Cleveland Royal Giants—a team with no formal connection to the Ohio city. In July 1928, Morris and his teammates arrived in Hawaii to begin facing local clubs that were formed by ethnic communities or military units.37 In August, Morris led the Royal Giants to a 16-4 win over a Filipino team in Honolulu, prompting a sportswriter to declare that Morris “is starting to impress fans” with his pitching ability. Morris also helped with his bat by slugging the first grand-slam homer hit at Honolulu Stadium.38 In late September, Morris and his Royal Giants teammates sailed back to Los Angeles, having earned a record of 16-12 and one tie during the club’s Hawaiian tour.39

By the spring of 1929, Morris had returned to the Negro National League, joining the pitching staff of the Chicago American Giants. He produced an 8-5 record with an earned run average of 2.19, which was the second-lowest mark in the NNL.40 The highlight of his 1929 season came in mid-July when the American Giants swept a five-game series against Birmingham with Morris claiming two of those victories—one of which was a five-hit shutout.41 That September, Morris married Gladys Greene in northern Indiana, and the couple resided in Chicago.42

The 1930 season handed Morris the only losing record of his NNL career, as he went 3-4 and produced the highest ERA of his career: 6.15.43 After this disappointing season, Morris returned to California. Decades later, a sportswriter for the Des Moines Register cited the 1930s as the start of Morris’ nomadic baseball life. “Criss-crossing the country, playing for whichever team could offer him the most lucrative payday, Morris became a type of Negro Leagues cipher at a talent level just below that of his big-time, Hall-of-Fame equivalent, Satchel Paige,” the Register explained.44

In 1931, he played with a barnstorming club called the Oakland Colored Giants. The Oakland team traveled that summer and fall through California, mainly playing white semipro teams.45 Over the winter of 1931-32, Morris played for the Nehi Giants, who participated in the racially integrated Berkeley International League, based in northern California.46

In 1932, Morris returned to the Midwest to play for a Black semipro barnstorming club called Gilkerson’s Union Giants.47,48 Based in Spring Valley, Illinois, the team was organized many years earlier by Robert Gilkerson, a former Black ballplayer.49

In 1933, Morris took on a new role by becoming manager of the Portsmouth Black Sox, a semipro baseball team in southern Ohio.50 Decades earlier, a 20-year-old college student named Branch Rickey had briefly played baseball for another semipro team in the same city.51 Morris’ club played other teams in the Ohio Valley. The Black Sox offered fans the novelty of Ruth Calloway, a female who played second base. A sportswriter called her “a mighty fine” player who was then hitting for a respectable .275 average.52

During the summer of 1934, Morris pitched briefly for the Van Dyke Colored House of David (CHD) barnstorming team.53 Based in Iowa, the CHD club was an all-Black version of the House of David team that was formed by a religious community in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Beyond playing traditional baseball, the team engaged in shadow ball and clowning antics to attract a wider audience.54 In September 1934, a sportswriter reported that Morris and another teammate had been “cut loose” from the CHD for reasons that were undisclosed.55

In 1936, Morris pitched during the spring for the Athen Elks, an all-Black team named for the Athens Elks Lodge—a key social hub for African Americans in Oakland.56 The Athen club competed in the Berkley International League.57 Little else is known of Morris’ activities during the late 1930s.

By 1940, Morris had married a second time and was living in San Francisco with new wife Ella Catherine.58 Much of his time was devoted to arranging barnstorming games in the region.59 In 1943, he organized a Black all-star club whose main attraction was pitcher Satchel Paige. The Paige-led nine faced multiple teams of players drawn from the PCL.60 Yet baseball was not the only sport drawing his attention. That same year, Morris acted as a booking agent for a local basketball team called the Harlem Ramblers.61

In 1945, Morris again organized a team of stars featuring Paige, and the white club they faced in multiple games had a marquee player of its own: Bob Feller.62 That year, Morris also managed the Pierce Colored Giants—his former club, which Steve Pierce had revived that summer.63

Morris recognized the novelties that could draw more fans to a ballpark, and that might have inspired him to sign a one-armed outfielder named Jesse Alexander to the Pierce club. In the fall of 1945, Morris’ club got plenty of publicity from promoting multiple games pitting the Giants against a white barnstorming team that also had a one-armed outfielder—Pete Gray, who had played that summer for the St. Louis Browns. A newspaper headline touted one of these games as the “battle of one-armed players.”64

In 1946, Morris was recruited to assume an ownership role in the San Francisco Sea Lions, one of six teams in the newly formed West Coast Negro Baseball Association (WCNBA).65 The league was the dream of Eddie Harris and David Portlock, firefighters in Berkeley, California. The duo were prominent members of the High Marine Social Club, which was the oldest African American organization in the East Bay.66 The WCNBA elected Abe Saperstein, founder of the Harlem Globetrotters, as its president, while Olympic track star Jesse Owens was chosen as its vice-president.67

Morris co-owned the San Francisco Sea Lions with Hal King.68 The team’s manager was Cleo “Baldy” Benson, who had played catcher with the Pierce Giants the year before.69 The Sea Lions’ uniforms featured a bear cub instead of a marine mammal. Why the visual oddity? To minimize costs, the Sea Lions acquired the uniforms of a defunct local team that had been called the Cubs.70 In 2023, a writer for Major League Baseball named the Sea Lions’ attire one of the “10 most iconic Negro Leagues uniforms.”71 The San Francisco Giants wore the uniform in their commemorative 2024 game with the St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama.72

Morris gave a sober assessment of the WCNBA’s prospects for success. “Our people must support their own teams if they expect to receive consideration from white teams and fans. We have a 50-50 chance of breaking even this season, depending, as I say, upon the attitude of our own people.” Yet Morris was hopeful, predicting that “in five years, perhaps, we will be on a par with the Pacific Coast League.”73

On May 12, 1946, California Governor Earl Warren threw out the first pitch when the league began play in a split-season format.74 The Oakland Larks—whose pitching staff included a young Sam Jones—captured the crown in the first half-season, but the WCNBA folded before August.75

Multiple factors were involved in the league’s quick collapse, including the rush to begin playing before the schedule and other logistics had been fully resolved.76 Moreover, the cost of traveling for road games was high because the franchises stretched more than 1,250 miles from north to south. Some writers have cited the WCNBA’s lack of access to PCL ballparks as a reason for its failure.77 This hurdle is overstated. WCNBA teams played numerous games at PCL stadiums, but the cost of leasing these ballparks may have limited the WCNBA’s desire to play in these venues.78

Morris suffered financially from the WCNBA’s collapse. Baseball historian Bill Swank wrote that Morris “claimed to have lost $30,000 on the Sea Lions” after the WCNBA’s demise.79 In today’s dollars, Morris’ losses would equal $1.6 million.80

As for the Sea Lions, Morris tried to make lemonade out of lemons by converting the team into a barnstorming club. In 1948, the team journeyed to 22 states, playing 170 games. The club also barnstormed in Canada, Japan, and the Philippines.81 After two and a half seasons as the Newark Eagles’ player-manager, Biz Mackey joined the Sea Lions in 1948. Although Morris might have recruited him primarily to serve as a coach, Mackey sometimes appeared in the lineup.82 And Mackey’s bat still shined—even at the age of 50. In a game against the Cincinnati Crescents, Mackey went 3-for-4 with two doubles.83

An Oklahoma newspaper wrote that “the Sea Lions rate a place among the best of Negro nines traveling the country” and compared the team to the Harlem Globetrotters. Like the Globetrotters, Morris’ club included players and skits that appealed to audiences’ desires for the comical and outlandish. A case in point was a player called Little Sammy. “Armless and legless, he amazes the fans with his exhibition of batting, catching and throwing a ball and daredevil sliding into bases,” a sportswriter explained.84

In 1948, after his second season in the major leagues, Jackie Robinson formed a team and traveled to California to play games that Morris organized against several clubs, including the PCL-champion Oakland Oaks.85

The following year, Morris faced a player revolt when he led his Sea Lions squad to Canada. A sportswriter called Morris “a very worried man” after learning that all but one of his players had decided to jump ship and sign contracts to play for a semipro team in Saskatchewan. Because the mutinous players lacked Canadian work permits, Morris talked with immigration officials about having the players deported back to the U.S.86 It isn’t clear how the situation was resolved.

Multiple ballclubs sought Morris’ eye for baseball talent. In 1948, Charlie Graham, owner of the PCL’s San Francisco Seals, wanted Morris’ advice, recognizing that the former Black hurler “keeps tab on all the best Negro ball players” in the West.87 The Seals signed their first Black player based on the recommendation of Morris.88

In April 1949, the Chicago Cubs hired Morris as a scout.89 He was assigned to search for talent on the West Coast.90 Before hiring Morris, the Cubs’ farm system director sought the opinion of Tom Baird, longtime co-owner of the Kansas City Monarchs who was also a Ku Klux Klan member.91 In his reply, Baird wrote that Morris was “above the average in intelligence for a Negro”—a racist assessment but, sadly, not atypical given how many white Americans viewed Black people.92 

Morris may have been the first Black scout hired by a big-league team. Although some writers have assigned this status to John Donaldson,93 newspaper archives indicate that Morris’ hiring preceded the White Sox’s decision to hire Donaldson.94 Morris worked as a Cubs scout for only about a year, and it is unknown why his tenure was short.95 Chicago’s Northsiders did not integrate their roster until 1953, although their minor league system was integrated as early as 1949.96

Near the end of 1958, a blood clot prompted the amputation of Morris’ left leg.97 On September 6, 1959, he died in San Francisco from a heart attack at the age of 57. He was survived by his wife Ella Catherine and two children.98 Morris was buried just south of the city in Cypress Lawn Memorial Park—the same cemetery where Hall of Famer Willie McCovey was interred in 2018.99

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Bill Lamb and fact-checked by Rod Nelson.

Notes

1 Anthony Castrovince, “100 years ago: Negro Leagues hold their first World Series,” Major League Baseball, October 27, 2024, https://www.mlb.com/news/1924-negro-leagues-world-series-100-years-later.

2 “John Harold E Morris,” Birth Return, City of Little Rock, State of Arkansas, February 28, 1902, accessed at Ancestry.com.

3 “Morris, Frederick,” porter, CO&G RR Depot, Little Rock City Directory, 1902, accessed at Ancestry.com. (Note: CO& G stood for the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad.)

4 “Cycol Oils Defeat Steve Pierce’s Club,” Oakland Post-Enquirer, October 10, 1922: 18.

5 “Bay Station Merchants Are Primed for Game with Giants,” Alameda (California) Times Star, March 31, 1923: 5.

6 “Sport Notes,” Richmond (California) Record-Herald, July 17, 1923: 3; “San Pablo Nine Wins Game from Pierce Giants,” Richmond (California) Independent, August 6, 1923: 4.

7 “Yellow Horse Morris,” Major League Baseball, https://www.mlb.com/player/yellow-horse-morris-818041.

8 “Yellow Horse Morris,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Data Base, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=morri01har.

9 “Kansas City Monarchs,” Kansas City Call, October 10, 1924.

10 “Shadow Baseball at Napa Sunday,” Vallejo (California) Evening News, August 21, 1923: 2; “Baseball: Oak Park,” advertisement in Stockton (California) Evening and Sunday Record, March 22, 1924: 20.

11 “Pick’s Regulars Report at Moreing Field Today,” Sacramento Union, March 1, 1923: 6; “1923 Season, Eastern Colored League,” Seamheads, batting statistics: https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/year.php?yearID=1923&lgID=ECL&tab=bat_basic.

12 W.D. Morris, “Senators Humble Colored Giants in Baseball Tragedy,” Sacramento Union, March 4, 1923: 27.

13 “Senators Win Over Colored Giant Nine,” Salt Lake Tribune, March 5, 1923: 8.

14 Bill Conlin, “More Economy?” Sacramento Union, May 18, 1946: 4.

15 Bill Staples, Jr., “The Other ‘Colored’ Leagues: Japanese American Baseball,” International Pastime, January 31, 2021, https://billstaples.blogspot.com/2021/01/baseballs-other-colored-leagues.html?m=1.

16 California Proposition 1, Alien Property Initiative (1920), Ballotpedia, https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_1,_Alien_Property_Initiative_(1920).

17 Emmons Byrne, “The Bullpen,” Oakland Tribune, August 3, 1949: 31.

18 “Colored Stars to Play Oakland Nine,” Vallejo Evening News, October 20, 1922: 2.

19 Alan Cohen, “San Diego Breaks Pacific Coast League Color Barrier,” The National Pastime (San Diego, 2019), Society for American Baseball Research, 2019, https://sabr.org/journals/pacific-ghosts/.

20 Bill Johnson, “Bill Gatewood,” Society for American Baseball Research, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bill-gatewood/. (Note: According to Hervieux’s story, Morris had a brief tryout with the Salt Lake Bees, who were part of the PCL from 1915 to 1925.)

21 “The Monarchs Look Strong,” Kansas City Star, April 11, 1924: 22.

22 “Five to Two Score Downs Champions in First Defeat,” Kansas City Sun, May 31, 1924: 3.

23 “Kansas City Monarchs,” Kansas City Call, October 10, 1924; “Yellow Horse Morris,” Baseball Reference, https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/morriye01.shtml.

24 “Yellow Horse Morris: Pitching,” The Seamheads Negro Leagues Database, accessed March 23, 2025, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=morri01har. 

25 “Revamped St. Louis Stars Win 2 Straight Games from Champion K.C. Monarchs,” St. Louis Argus, July 18, 1924: 7.

26 “Hilldale Giants (HIL) 11 Kansas City Monarchs (KCM) 0,” Retrosheet, accessed March 23, 2025, https://retrosheet.org/NegroLeagues/boxesetc/1924/B10040HIL1924.htm.

27 “Detroit Stars,” Encyclopedia of Detroit, https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/detroit-stars.

28 “6,000 Watch Detroit Cop 7-to-2 Game,” Chicago Defender, June 27, 1925: 9.

29 “Detroit Stars,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Data Base, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/team.php?yearID=1925&teamID=DS&tab=pit; “Morris Pops Up as Portsmouth Mgr.,” Detroit Tribune, July 29, 1933: 7.

30 “Morris Pops Up as Portsmouth Mgr.,” Detroit Tribune, July 29, 1933: 7.

31 “1927 Season – Negro National League I,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Data Base, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/year.php?yearID=1927&lgID=NNL&tab=pit_basic.

32 “Morris Pops Up as Portsmouth Mgr.,” Detroit Tribune, July 29, 1933: 7.

33 “Clevelanders Play Hilldales,” Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, December 21, 1927, 11; “Colored Clubs Open Season,” Los Angeles Evening Post-Record, November 1, 1927, 6.

34 “Colored Stars Seeking Series of Games Here,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 4, 1928: 10.

35 Bill Staples Jr., “Gentle Black Giants — Negro Leaguers in Japan: 1927 Philadelphia Royal Giants Tour,” published in Nichibei Yakyu: US Tours of Japan, 1907-1958, Society for American Baseball Research, https://sabr.org/journal/article/gentle-black-giants-negro-leaguers-in-japan-philadelphia-royal-giants-tour-1927/; Adam Darowski and Bill Staples Jr., “Jesse “Hoss” Walker,” Society for American Baseball Research, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/hoss-walker/.

36 “Slippery Paving Injures 10 Men,” Bakersfield (California) Morning Echo, March 24, 1928: 1.

37 Loui Leong Hop, “Cleveland Giants Open Series Here on July 21,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 14, 1928: 11.

38 Loui Leong Hop, “Cleveland Giants Go on Batting Rampage; Beat Fils, Mandarins,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 6, 1928: 8.

39 Pete Doster, “Royal Giants Sail Saturday,” Honolulu Star-Advertiser, September 20, 1928: 58.

40 “1929 Season – Negro National League I: Pitching,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Data Base, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/year.php?yearID=1929&lgID=NNL&tab=pit_basic.

41 “Chicago Wins Birmingham Series,” Chicago Defender, July 13, 1929: 9.

42 “Harold Morris in the Indiana, U.S. Marriage Certificates,” Ancestry, September 14, 1929, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61009/records/6121221; “Harold Morris in the 1930 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6224/records/84272471.

43 “Yellow Horse Morris,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Data Base, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=morri01har.

44 Ryan Whirty, “One of black baseball’s top pitchers, characters played briefly in Iowa,” Des Moines Register, April 4, 2015.

45 “Colored Giants Play at Eureka Sunday,” San Francisco Examiner, October 9, 1931: 26; “Eagles Ready for Colored Outfit,” Petaluma (California) Argus-Courier, August 8, 1931: 5.

46 Whirty, “One of black baseball’s top pitchers, characters played briefly in Iowa.”

47 “Chicago Cubs Sign Colored Talent Scout,” Associated Negro Press, Afro-American (Baltimore), April 16, 1949: 9. (The article reported that Morris had barnstormed with the Gilkerson team in the early 1930s.)

48 “Dailey Pitches Fifth Straight Win; Score 6-1,” Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Argus-Leaderr, August 29, 1932, 4; “Canaries to Play Hampton in Final,” Omaha World-Herald, September 25, 1932: 20.

49 Thomas Kern and Bill Staples Jr., “Chet Brewer,” Society for American Baseball Research, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/chet-brewer/.

50 “Morris Pops Up as Portsmouth Mgr.,” Detroit Tribune, July 29, 1933: 7.

51 John Heidenry, The Gashouse Gang, (New York: PublicAffairs, 2007), 7.

52 “Morris Pops Up as Portsmouth Mgr.,” Detroit Tribune, July 29, 1933: 7.

53 “Interest Mounting in State Baseball Tourney,” Oakland Tribune, June 6, 1934, 15; Whirty, “One of black baseball’s top pitchers, characters played briefly in Iowa.”

54 “Another Bearded Ball Team Coming,” Vancouver (British Columbia) Province, August 9, 1937: 9.

55 “House of David Wins Baseball Game, 9-3,” Atlanta Daily World, September 18, 1934: 5.

56 Ronald Auther, “49 Days: The West Coast ‘Baseball’ Association,” The Shadow Ball Express, August 23, 2020, https://shadowballexpress.wordpress.com/2020/08/23/49-days-the-west-coast-baseball-association/.

57 “3500 See Elks Beat Wa Sungs,” Oakland Post-Enquirer, April 7, 1936: 28.

58 Military draft registration card, Harold Goodwin Morris, U.S. Department of War, 1942, accessed on Ancestry.com, August 9, 2024; Voter Registration Records, Roll 073, City of San Francisco, California, 1944, accessed on Ancestry.com, August 9, 2024.

59 U.S. Selective Service Administration, draft registration card submitted by Harold Goodwin Morris in 1942, obtained through Ancestry.com on August 9, 2024.

60 “Satchel Paige Makes Debut at Seals Stadium Tonight,” San Francisco Examiner, November 19, 1943, 21; Jay Gould, “Jay Gould Says … ” Chicago Defender, December 11, 1943: 19A.  

61 Dick Scott, “Sport Shots,” Vallejo (California) Times-Herald, December 11, 1943: 7.

62 “Feller Will Oppose Paige in Seals Stadium, Oct. 5,” San Francisco Examiner, September 20, 1945: 19.

63 Ronald Auther, “49 Days: The West Coast ‘Baseball’ Association,” The Shadow Ball Express, August 23, 2020, https://shadowballexpress.wordpress.com/2020/08/23/49-days-the-west-coast-baseball-association/.

64 “Gray to Play Here on Thursday Night,” Oakland Tribune, September 30, 1945: 20; “Battle of One-Armed Players Looms in Big Baseball Series,” California Eagle (Los Angeles), October 4, 1945: 15.

65 David Eskenazi and Steve Rudman, “Wayback Machine: Seattle Steelheads’ short life,” SportsPressNW (Seattle, Washington), February 5, 2013, https://www.sportspressnw.com/2145947/2013/wayback-machine-seattle-steelheads-short-life.

66 Bill Swank, “Tigers’ tale: Nearly 80 years ago, San Diego fielded an all-Black baseball team in a pioneering league,” San Diego Union-Tribune, February 17, 2024.

67 “West Coast Negro Baseball Association Collection,” Oakland (California) Public Library, https://oaklandlibrary.org/archival_post/west-coast-negro-baseball-association-collection/.

68 “Negro Ball Team Boasts Speed, Power,” Sacramento Bee, May 15, 1946: 14.

69 “Sea Lions Will Field Good Club,” Fresno (California) Bee, June 9, 1946: 9; “Crabs ‘Blow Up’ – Milt Poole Blanks Local Baseballers,” Humboldt Times (Eureka, California), July 10, 1945: 6.

70 “San Francisco Sea Lions,” Baseball Reference, BR Bullpen, https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/San_Francisco_Sea_Lions.

71 Michael Clair, “The 10 most iconic Negro Leagues uniforms,” Major League Baseball, February 27, 2023, https://www.mlb.com/news/10-greatest-negro-leagues-uniforms.

72 “Tracking the Sea Lions,” The Negro Leagues Baseball Uniform Database, June 26, 2024, https://www.nlbuniforms.com/post/tracking-the-sea-lions.

73 Dave Beronio, “Behind the Scenes in Sports,” Vallejo Times-Herald, July 4, 1946: 11.

74 “Warren Tosses First Ball for Negro Players,” United Press, Hanford (California) Morning Journal, May 14, 1946: 1.

75 Ralph Pearce, “Looking Back: California’s Negro League,” San José Public Library (San José, California), February 14, 2015, https://www.sjpl.org/blogs/post/looking-back-californias-negro-league/.

76 Leslie Heaphy, “The San Diego Tigers of the West Coast Negro Baseball League,” The National Pastime: Pacific Ghosts (San Diego, 2019), Society for American Baseball Research, https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-san-diego-tigers-of-the-west-coast-negro-baseball-league/.

77 Ronald Auther, “49 Days: The West Coast ‘Baseball’ Association,” The Shadow Ball Express, August 24, 2020,  https://shadowballexpress.wordpress.com/2020/08/23/49-days-the-west-coast-baseball-association/.

78 “Sea Lions take 3-game series from San Diego,” Los Angeles Tribune, July 6, 1946: 13; “Negro Nines Vie Tonight; 2d at Stake,” Oregon Daily Journal (Portland), June 27, 1946: 12; “Steelheads Defeat Portland Club, 4-2,” Seattle Star, June 11, 1946: 6; “L.A. White Sox Play Sun., Mon., Versus Oakland,” California Eagle, June 27, 1946: 14.

79 Bill Swank, “Tigers’ tale: Nearly 80 years ago, San Diego fielded an all-Black baseball team in a pioneering league,” San Diego Union-Tribune, February 17, 2024.

80 Results from a query performed at MeasuringWorth.com, converting a $30,000 project or investment in 1946 to its relative cost in 2024 dollars.

81 “San Francisco Negro Team to Play Dusters Tuesday,”  Vernon (Texas) Daily Record, April 10, 1949: 12; “Sea Lions to Play Sunday,” Vallejo Times-Herald, March 13, 1948: 8; “Ben’s Golden Glow to Play S.F. Sea Lions Next Sunday,” Alameda Times Star, April 14, 1948: 8.

82 “Sea Lions Will Play Shelby Next Sunday,” Tribune of Shelby (Montana), August 17, 1948: 1; “Fans Will Get Double Treat from Sea Lions,” Rapid City (South Dakota) Journal, August 13, 1948: 10. (Note: Mackey was 50 years old when he joined the team.)

83 “Crescents Down Sea Lions, 7-2,” Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Oklahoma), May 16, 1948: 10.

84 “Top Negro Semi-Pro Teams to Tangle Here Friday Night,” Ardmore (Oklahoma) Democrat, May 13, 1948: 3.

85 “Oaks to Play Robinson Stars Here,” Vallejo Times-Herald, November 3, 1948: 13.

86 “Baseball manager here but he has no team,” Regina (Saskatchewan) Leader-Post, June 29, 1949: 1.

87 Jack Townsend, “Night Tilt?” San Mateo (California) Times, April 28, 1948: 15.

88 Joe Gnow, “Seals Sign a Negro Player,” Los Angeles Tribune, February 26, 1949: 15.

89 “Cubs Sign Negro Scout,” Pittsburgh Courier, April 2, 1949: 24.

90 “Sports Roundup,”  Detroit Tribune, April 23, 1949: 13.

91 John Klima, “When the Yankees Were Not Ready for Willie Mays,” New York Times, September 12, 2009, https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/sports/baseball/13mays.html

92 Letter from Tom Baird to Jack Sheehan, April 29, 1949, cited in: Leslie A. Heaphy, Satchel Paige and Company: Essays on the Kansas City Monarchs, Their Greatest Star and the Negro Leagues (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2007), 150.

93 “Missouri school district honors local baseball pitcher,” Associated Press, St. Joseph (Missouri) News-Press, September 13, 2020: B4.

94 “Cubs Sign New Scout,” Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Florida), April 1, 1949: 3; “Sox Sign Former Negro Pitcher to Scout’s Job,” Chicago Tribune, June 28, 1949: 36.

95 Conversations via text messaging with Ed Hartig, SABR member and Chicago Cubs team historian, February 20, 2025.

96 Alan Cohen, “The Path to the Cubs and White Sox from the Negro Leagues: 17 Barrier Breakers,” The National Pastime: Heart of the Midwest, Society for American baseball Research, 2023. https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-path-to-the-cubs-and-white-sox-from-the-negro-leagues-17-barrier-breakers/.

97 “Harold Morris Under Knife,” San Francisco Examiner, December 24, 1958: 24.

98 “Morris, Negro Promoter Dies,” San Francisco Examiner, September 7, 1959: 45.

99 “Willie McCovey,” Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/194404338/willie-mccovey.