Kansas was a wild place in the 19th Century. When the time came for statehood, its status as a Slave State or a Free State was to be determined by a vote of its inhabitants, so advocates from the North and South flooded into the territory in an effort to tip the scales in favor of one or the other. When admitted to the Union on January 29, 1861, it was all a moot point; seven Southern states had already seceded and the first shots of the Civil War were mere weeks away. Kansas was by default a Free, Northern State, but in getting there had been steeped in violent bloodshed.

Twenty-five years later, the wounds were still raw. In September of 1890, the town of Atchison held a memorial event, a “sham battle,” at their fairgrounds. About ninety men, black and white, poured onto the field to do battle, led by make-believe Union and Confederate commanders. A cannon fired throughout the melee, as aging veterans attacked one another with crutches and canes. Men who had missed out on the original war belted one another with sword handles and rifle butts. Young boys, raised on their grandfathers’ war stories and longing for the glory of mangling a Yank or Reb, joined in, while women and children sipped lemonade and watched with amusement from the sidelines. Behind them, fist fights broke out and faces got smashed. It was all in good fun.

One 16-year-old boy raised a Union flag and charged across the grounds to plant it in the mouth of the cannon at the southern end of the field. He got there just in time for the big gun to be fired; there was no cannonball, naturally (though since this was 1890 Kansas, could you really be sure?), but his face was peppered with tiny clumps of sizzling gunpowder. “It will take Dr.Campbell the balance of the month to get all the powder out of his face,” chuckled the Atchison Weekly Patriot.1 The 16-year-old in the middle of the sheer Kansas chaos that rattled the teeth of the residents of Atchison was Frank Quigg — frontier-tough, which is what it took to one day survive a season as an umpire in the Iowa League.

Frank was no Wild West urchin. At 17, he went to Philadelphia for college and was a genuine lawyer and son-of-a-lawyer from one of the most well-to-do families in Atchison. He was as much a ballplayer as student, and spent the years playing madcap, 1890s-style ball wherever opportunity arose, from Kansas and Missouri to Texas and Tennessee. He built a reputation as a reliable pitcher, but also as a hardcore drinker. Much later, as his playing declined, the Leavenworth Standard suggested “his downfall is due to bad habits.” His playing career staggered to a halt in the town teams of Kansas in the last part of the decade, pausing briefly for a patriotic sojourn with the First Ohio Volunteer Regiment in the Spanish-American War.

Quigg decided if he couldn’t take the field, he would take charge. In 1903 he labored to organize Oklahoma City’s first long-running ballclub, but he was squeezed out and the team moved ahead without him. Determined to stay in the game, he took up umpiring in his home state that summer. The next year he was hired by the new Iowa League, where he was so uncompromising and loud (“with a voice like a Wisconsin bull frog”) that people both loved him and loathed him. In a league where umpires were regularly attacked by players and fans alike, it was a harrowing way to make a living. But opponents generally backed down in the face of Quigg’s firm countenance, and he was the only arbiter to withstand the entire Iowa League season.

Quigg’s superpower was knowing how to shut them down. Once, the Burlington bleacherites howled so loudly and uncontrollably that he couldn’t make his pregame announcement. The police had to step in to quiet the crowd. He finally pronounced, “When the snakes stop hissing and the rabble ceases showing its displeasure, I will announce the batteries.”2 Players knew that when he did blow a call, he would balance the scales with a call going the other way later on in the game. Still, the point was finally reached when grievances from every Iowa manager added up, and he ultimately got the axe midway into 1905. His reputation assured that he would never be out of work for long.

Over the years he officiated in one league after another, to generally high praise. At one point, he was approached by a touring group of Japanese players and investors who sought to recruit him to help organize their leagues back home; he ultimately declined to migrate to Tokyo. Everywhere he went, people called him “Senator” Quigg for his lawyer-like sense of authority and elocution. “Umpire Quigg is said to be a spellbinder and politician of considerable ability. When there is a prospect of a prolonged discussion over any of his decisions, he calmly pulls his watch and announces to the contestants that the ‘polls will soon close.’”3 Not everyone appreciated his demeanor, though, and he withstood fists and missiles from spectator and ballplayer alike; sometimes he got cold-cocked from behind, because he was such a threatening figure that even the toughest of the tough might be disinclined to challenge him face-to-face.

His status grew during a long stint down in Texas, and by 1908 when he landed in the South Atlantic League, he was being scouted as potential umpire material for the majors. For Quigg, the big league dream was within reach.

Just as suddenly, things went south. Always the man in charge on the diamond, he became disoriented on the field and overnight was unable to do an umpire’s job. The South Atlantic League fired him in no time, and he couldn’t last long in any other league he tried. He wandered the country and ended up back in Oklahoma City where, at the close of 1909, he hooked up with a genuine outlaw named Frank Carpenter, who had knocked off the post office in Golden, Colorado, just weeks before. Armed with a satchel of stolen stamps, Carpenter recruited Quigg and a third hombre, Harry Dilbeck, with his sights set on a slightly bigger target: the First State Bank in Harrah, a little town on the Rock Island Railroad just east of Oklahoma City.

The gang of three would-be Jesse Jameses sauntered into an Oklahoma City pawnshop run by a fellow named Gomez, where they unloaded the stamps and perused the shelves for various tools of the larceny trade. While they did their shopping, they jabbered away … something along the lines of: “We could use a stick of that dynamite … better make it two … and them there fuses. And that jimmy ought to work to pry open a door.” As they assembled their kit, they boastfully laid out the plan for the New Year’s Eve heist while shopkeeper Gomez listened silently at the counter. They topped off their shopping spree with a pair of well-worn six-shooters, packed up their booty and left.

Not long after, local U.S. Marshal Jack Abernathy got wind of suspicious packets of stamps that were turning up around town; the breadcrumbs led right to Gomez’s pawnshop. It wouldn’t have been Gomez’s first strike, so the seedy shopkeeper quickly spilled out a diversion. “This is small potatoes,” you can picture him sputtering, “but if you let me off the hook, I can tell you all about the real action, the big bank job that is happening later this week.” Marshal Abernathy began assembling his posse.

Back with our bank-robbing gang, there was plenty going on behind the scenes. What Quigg and Dilbeck didn’t know was that Frank Carpenter was harboring a secret.

Somewhere along the line, Carpenter must have realized that the odds were low for the success of this particular trio of bandits. Or maybe he simply saw an easier route to a “score” on this heist. In any event, Carpenter snuck away from his compadres for a little while to pay a visit to the Marshal’s office, where he spilled the beans about the whole Harrah First State Bank job, in return for a supposed cash reward that may have only existed in his imagination. He insisted that Quigg himself was the brains behind the operation. The deputy he spoke to was surely bemused; the Marshal and his men already knew about the upcoming New Year’s Eve plot, and their job kept getting easier and easier. Besides, of Carpenter’s three-man gang, there was only one man who was actually wanted by the law, and the deputy was looking right at him.

So it came down that, at one a.m. on Friday, December 31, a trio of desperados rode furtively into Harrah, South Dakota, hitched their horses and buggy in a secluded area, and crept under the moonlight to the alley side of the town’s little bank building. Adjacent was the Harrah Post Office – post offices being familiar territory for Carpenter – and they spent a fair amount of time trying to jimmy open the door. Failing that, they slunk around to the front. While Carpenter and Dilbeck kept watch, Quigg worked to remove the glass window in the door.

In the darkened windows of the hotel directly across the street was U.S. Marshal Abernathy, watching the scenario unfold. In the shadows of the surrounding buildings were a dozen other lawmen, shotguns cocked. They were waiting for the trio to gain entry into the bank so they could advance, trap them inside, and take them alive. But it was taking Quigg forever to simply get the window off the door. Just then came a huge commotion. It was one o’clock in the morning and a giddy teenager was racing down the street, firing a pistol and singing at the top of his lungs, his galloping steed leaving a cloud of dust in its trail. This country boy had been to a New Year’s Eve country dance, with rollicking tastes of kisses from his country girl, and was hellbent on waking the whole country up. The Carpenter gang froze, thinking a posse had arrived. The jimmy dropped — CLANG — from Quigg’s hands. Carpenter and Dilbeck started for the alley. And out of the darkness, the Marshal’s men opened fire.

Quigg dug into his pocket for his gun, the rickety revolver obtained from Gomez’s pawnshop in exchange for two-cent stamps. Squinting into the darkness across the street, he squeezed the trigger.

The next day, a newspaper reporter was beside himself in admiration as he panted his own version of the story: “Quigg stood his ground and although volley after volley was poured at him, he did not give an inch until he fell. Mortally wounded in four places, Quigg returned the fire until a bullet from the gun of one of the officers went through his heart.”4 It reads like a glorious dime novel, but it didn’t exactly go like that.

Instead, when Quigg pulled the trigger, he got nothing but an empty click. Nothing. The pistol from Gomez’s pawnshop was worthless.

A rain of shotgun fire came down upon poor Frank Quigg, though it was said that it was a bullet from noble Abernathy’s rifle that ultimately pierced his heart. Hit in the chest and stomach eighteen times, he was probably, as they say, dead before he hit the ground, thudding to Mother Earth at the same instant as his ineffectual pistol. Dilbeck scuttled as far as the post office back door and huddled there until his capture. Carpenter was mortally wounded as well, despite his broad gestures to remind the officers that he was the snitch who was cooperating with them. Though he lingered a while before expiring, he was the biggest fool on the scene, moaning and bleeding to death on a Harrah side street.

It’s a scene that belongs in a flickering silent movie, three hapless clowns on a ridiculous and felonious misadventure. And it would be nice to end Quigg’s story with this bit of comically fatal slapstick. But of course, there’s more to the tale.

Two years earlier, in the spring of 1908, umpire Frank Quigg was settling into his Macon hotel room following a hot and humid Sally League game. Preparing to enjoy a cooling bath, he slipped and cracked his head on the rim of the tub. No one knows how long he was out cold or how much blood was spilled. Any medical care would have been minimal as he couldn’t have afforded a hospital; besides, he was a ballplayer at heart and eschewed doctors. His mind was never the same again. In the weeks that followed, his performance as an umpire spiralled downward until he could no longer find work.

Quigg took to haunting the towns where he had long ago starred on the ballfield, seeking any kind of job to no avail. He was arrested for vagrancy in Marion, Ohio; after being jailed overnight, he was ordered by the mayor to take the shortest road out of town. He spent time in a Texas sanitarium and, being an American war veteran, was held in the Soldiers’ Home in Leavenworth for three weeks. His widowed mother lived in a fair amount of luxury back in Atchison — after his father’s death, she married into further affluence — but in her new home he was unwelcome.

He managed to latch onto an umpiring job in the Texas League, but Quigg’s gig only lasted for a matter of weeks. One day, he was mobbed by forty rabid Oklahoma City fans after a game full of bad calls. After that he stuck steadfastly to the safety of one spot in the middle of the diamond, where he called entire games. No one knew what was going on with the great old umpire, but he was soon out of work for good. With nothing left but a lifelong reliance on drink, Frank Quigg had become a “desperado” in every sense of the word: in desperate need of food, work, money and support.

Finally came “rock bottom” in Harrah.

Word of his death as a would-be bank robber spread fast, accompanied by every punchline you would expect.

“This Umpire was a Real Robber,” quipped the Washington Post. “Noted students of this species of mankind agree that there is no good umpire but a dead umpire.”

Author’s Note

This article is excerpted from the first volume of the author’s newly released Iowa League project, Fort Dodge and the Bawling, Brawling, Hard-Balling Iowa League, Scotnik Press, 2026.

Notes

1. Atchison Weekly Patriot, September 20, 1890.

2. Burlington Hawk Eye, August 9, 1904.

3. Burlington Evening Gazette, May 6, 1904.

4. Oklahoma City News, December 31, 1909. A pair of Hall of Fame brothers, Paul and Lloyd Waner (born 1903 and 1906), were young boys in Harrah at this time. As they later pointed out, “You can spell that backwards or forwards.” A detailed article by Leif Rudi Ernst about the Harrah robbery was published in the Journal of the Wild West History Association, December, 2008. Ernst makes the compelling case for the Carpenter double-cross theory; this was also suggested in some contempo-rary reports but doesn’t account for Carpenter being gunned down along with Quigg. It’s also suggested that Quigg was the brains behind the attempted robbery; knowing what we do about his state of mind (or lack thereof) he seems to fit the role of a patsy more than a mastermind, but anything’s possible. The Journal ac-count is pretty authoritative, but based almost exclusive-ly on one deputy’s self-aggrandizing account. It seems like everyone had their own version of the Legend of the Carpenter-Quigg Gang.

Scott Perry (Trading Card Database)

In 1919, Major League Baseball returned to full strength after the disruption of war. Its revival echoed far beyond the big cities — professional and independent clubs sprang back to life in small towns across the country. Ballplayers were returning from military service, while others who had spent 1918 in essential industries had discovered the advantages of playing for well-paid factory teams.

What follows is an account of independent baseball during the brief post-WWI economic upturn, when two small towns, still wringing the lingering drops from the northwestern Pennsylvania oil boom, carried their profits onto the ball field and touched off an unsustainable arms race.

THE SETTING

Franklin, Pennsylvania, and Oil City lie 10 miles apart, on the banks of the Allegheny River, about 90 miles north of Pittsburgh. Franklin is the seat of Venango County, but Oil City is the larger of the two. In 1919 Oil City’s population was about 20,000; Franklin’s was 10,000.1 The towns had a baseball rivalry stretching back to 1866,2 coinciding with the rise of northwestern Pennsylvania as the cradle of the American oil industry.

The Oil City club played at the West End Grounds along West 1st Street,3 where a railroad car barn crowded right field, just 200 feet from home plate.4 The field had a new clubhouse, with showers, for the 1919 season. Franklin played at Miller-Sibley Field, part of 14 acres donated to the city in 1913. Franklin’s field had no fence in centerfield.5 Each field had a grandstand; the seating capacity at either field remains undiscovered. Any Oil City player hitting a home run was entitled to a free silk shirt.6 In Franklin, the same feat got you free laundry services for the rest of the season.7

Pennsylvania law still prohibited Sunday baseball in 1919. Ohio law permitted it, though, and both Oil City and Franklin crossed the state line to play Sunday games at Idora Park, an amusement park outside Youngstown.8 In May, New York allowed each municipality to decide for itself, and both clubs visited the resort town of Celoron Park, near Jamestown, for Sunday games.9

Oil City and Franklin were hardly alone in the region’s strong baseball scene. Closer to Pittsburgh were clubs such as Allegheny Steel of Tarentum, the Aluminums of New Kensington, the Pittsburgh “Collegians,” and the Homestead Grays. Sixty miles west, the Youngstown, Ohio, area fielded formidable teams including the McElroys, Carnegie Steel, and Sharon Steel Hoop just across the state line in Sharon. 160 miles to the north, the Buffalo region boasted the Niagara Shoe Company team — the “Niagaras” — along with several other powerful nines. Most of these clubs benefited from company backing, a luxury neither Oil City nor Franklin possessed. The president of the Oil City club was John Dickson Rynd, an oil producer, and the Franklin club’s president was James Brown Borland, editor of the Franklin News-Herald.

Reportedly, these teams signed players to contracts, though little evidence remains to show the specific terms. Clubs occasionally “loaned” players to one another, often as short-term replacements for injuries. Sometimes players from one team would appear for another under an alias, with a local newspaper frequently exposing his true identity. Even players under contract to clubs in Organized Baseball10 sometimes took the field, under assumed names.

Neither the Oil City nor the Franklin club had an official team name. The Oil City team was usually referred to simply as the “Independents”. Writers sometimes called the Franklin team the “Nurserymen” or “Nurseryites,” reflecting the city’s nickname as the “Nursery of Great Men.” To avoid confusion, I do not use any of these informal names in this article.

In retrospect, the rivalry is often referred to as the Two Team League. Strictly speaking, there was no “league,” but this term did emerge during the 1919 season. Newspapers initially described games between the two clubs simply as part of a series (against the other team). The earliest use that I found of “two-team league” for this rivalry appears in the June 29 Pittsburg Press.11 By the following week the News-Herald adopted the phrase,12 and within another week began using “The Two-Team League” as the heading for team standings.13

THE STAKES

On the surface, little more than bragging rights were on the line between Oil City and Franklin and their fans. Oil City had had the best of things in 1918, posting a 19–8 record with one tie.14 I’ve found no evidence of a trophy or any monetary prize awarded for the series between the two clubs, even though both teams did offer cash challenges for short series with other opponents in the region.

However, there was substantial betting on these games. Some Oil City and Franklin fans reportedly had a standing $50 wager on each game.15 (The author resists the temptation to convert 1919 currency to modern dollars, but an approximate ratio is 20 to 1.) The News-Herald often mentioned the prevalence of wagering in the ballparks; betting odds were also mentioned, if only after the fact. Moreover, the so-called “Scott Perry Incident,” in which Franklin inserted ringers in the second inning, strongly suggests Franklin management itself had money riding on the outcome.

In the aftermath of that affair, directors of the Oil City club, as well as the News-Herald, publicly condemned betting on the games and called for wagering to be barred from the grounds.16 If anyone made a serious effort to enforce that call, I found no trace of it. On the contrary, betting seems to have continued in Oil City, with thousands of dollars wagered on its final home game.17

FINANCIALS

The teams were funded through stock sales, “subscriptions,” “memberships,” paid attendance, and fund-raising carnivals. I found no evidence of any ancillary income such as concession sales or parking fees.

Oil City attempted to raise money with a campaign to secure 2,000 “members” at $2 a head. By mid-March, however, only about 600 signed up, barely sufficient to cover the salary of new manager Jake Pitler.18 By April 1 that number had increased to 900. The club also sold season tickets at $5 each, good for admission to all non-holiday games between Memorial Day and Labor Day — roughly sixty games. By May 2, 400 season tickets had been sold, with another 300 anticipated.19 Taken together, the 900 memberships and 400 season tickets suggest Oil City entered the season with just under $4,000 in hand.

By February of 1919, Franklin had offered 100 shares of stock at $25 apiece.20 The incoming manager, Otto Jordan, had agreed to take the position only on the condition that the entire $2,500 issue be sold.21 Demand proved strong enough that an additional ten shares were soon offered.22 It’s unclear what these shares actually conferred — did ownership entitle the holder to a share of any profits, or were they simply a thinly disguised donation? Additional subscriptions were expected to pull in several hundred dollars. The proceeds cleared several hundred dollars in debt from the previous season and left roughly $2,000 in working capital.

Those initial funds would not last the entire season. Franklin was close to running out of money by mid-June and raised another $300 in subscriptions.23 On July 1, the News-Herald published a reminder that subscribers who had not yet paid were requested to “make payment at once,” and that “any others who wish to see the club maintained at its present, or increased, strength are asked to make a subscription.”24 Meanwhile, Oil City was also having trouble. By late July it made a plea that the team “needs the money, and needs it now.” Club officials gave many reasons, among them that they’d lost $500 for a home game when Franklin refused to show up, and that much of the club’s bankroll was tied up in a local bank that was shuttered by the State Banking Department.25

Both teams held special fundraising events during the season. Franklin held a two-day street carnival in late July, raising more than $1,000,26 expected to be enough to “place the club on Easy Street for the remainder of the season.”27 A month later, Oil City hosted its own carnival, raising at least $2,500.28 Both teams also declared certain games “booster days,” with a $1 admission charge. Franklin’s stated goal for a booster day in late August was to raise $5,000;29 but gate receipts amounted to only $1,272.30

Ticket prices fluctuated throughout the season, and contemporary newspaper accounts are not always clear in their wording. My reading is that “35 cents admission and 10 cents to the grandstand” meant a 35-cent charge to enter the park, with an additional ten cents required for a seat in the grandstand.

At the beginning of the season, Oil City set admission at 33 cents, and 11 cents for grandstand seating. These prices included the ten-percent war tax on entertainment. 31 By the end of June, however, it became clear that handling odd pennies was slowing the flow at the gate, so the club adjusted prices to a simpler 35¢/10¢.32 Special games incurred higher prices. For example, when Oil City hosted the morning half of the Fourth of July doubleheader it charged 50 cents for adults, 15 cents for children.33 A ticket for the July 29 Booster Day game against Franklin cost a dollar.34 In August the price was raised to 50¢/10¢.35

Franklin began the season charging 50 cents.36 I found no specifics regarding the extra fee for the grandstand, but since this fee was rescinded for September games against Oil City, there must have been a fee earlier.37 The admission price was raised to 75 cents prior to the September 30 game, due to an escalation of player payroll including “the heavy expense involved in bringing George Sisler to Franklin.”38 It was reported afterward that the higher price had not cut down the crowd, with fans evidently realizing “they are getting their money’s worth in the only opportunity many of them will have to see in action famous big league stars whose names are household words among baseball fans.”39

Oil City and Franklin had agreed that each team would usually retain the full gate receipts from its home games.40 The clubs made an exception to split gate receipts for the two-site Fourth of July double header, netting $810 apiece.41 For games against other opponents, it was more common to pay a fixed guarantee, rain or shine, rather than a share of the gate, although newspapers seldom reported precise amounts.42 Franklin was said to have asked for $150 to travel to Jamestown,43 but it is not known if this amount was typical.

Newspapers reported attendance figures sporadically, often only in general terms such as “the largest crowd that ever gathered at West End Park”44 or “there were so many at the game that dozens of women were forced to stand in the bleachers.”45 Attendance for a few specific games was reported though. Oil City’s opener in mid May was witnessed by 800.46 A week later, Franklin’s opener drew only 250-300.47 But Franklin’s half of the Fourth of July doubleheader had 2,200 paid admissions,48 and two games there in August had 1,100 and 1,280.49 The final meeting of the two teams, a booster day at Franklin, pulled in 1,400.50

A mid-July report in the Pittsburgh Leader claimed Franklin averaged about 400 a game.51 This can be compared to an estimate for gate receipts and attendance derived from the reported $1,350 in war tax Franklin collected for the season.52 That equates to a roughly $15,000 total gate.53 With admission costing at least 50 cents for every one of Franklin’s 41 home games, total attendance was no more than 30,000, and the average no more than 750. In contrast, the lowest attendance for a major league club that year was just under 2,500 per game.54

All told, the Franklin club seems to have made a profit of $200 for the season, lowering the $800 debt it had coming into the season to $600.55

Player salaries are also hard to pin down. The only concrete figures I encountered are these: first, Honus Wagner received $100 per game to play for the McElroys in 1918;56 and second, Elmer Knetzer was said to be asking $800 per month the pitch the final two months of the 1919 season for Oil City.57

A 1961 article in the Oil City Derrick claimed that Oil City’s payroll ran to $12,000 per month, but that figure likely refers to the 1921 season rather than 1919.58 The same article stated that some Oil City players received as much as $1,000 a month, in contrast to the $600-per-player monthly pay ceiling then in effect in the Class AA American Association. For further context, the Memphis News-Scimitar reported in 1918 that a hanger-on in the class A southern Association earned about $200 per month.59

THE 1919 SEASON

Both cities were optimistic about their team’s chances versus the other for the upcoming season. The clubs had met nearly 30 times the previous year, with Oil City enjoying a wide margin, winning 19, losing 8, and tying 1.60

For the 1919 season, they agreed to a fairly regular schedule of games every Tuesday and Wednesday from Memorial Day to Labor Day, 13 weeks, and three holiday doubleheaders, including the Fourth of July. The midweek games alternated home-and-home, and the holiday doubleheaders featured a morning game in one city and an afternoon game in the other. This would have been 32 games, but with some minor changes, the two teams ended up meeting 34 times in that period. They decided to extend the series into early October with another 12 games, bringing the total to 46.

Each team’s schedule also included other teams. These seem to not have been arranged more than a few weeks in advance. Oil City ended up playing another 34 games, with 23 at home, while Franklin played another 33, 17 at home.

At the outset, Oil City’s operation was much better organized. New manager Jake Pitler, formerly of the Pirates, had wintered in Oil City, and by early April the News-Herald reported roughly a dozen players that he’d secured.61 Among these was Ben Shaw, one of Pitler’s Pirate teammates. Most of the other players had played for Oil City in 1917 and/or ’18; some of these had Organized Baseball experience, but at levels below the high minors. A few of the announced players did not end up in Oil City, most notably Carmen Hill of the Pirates. But by and large, the players reported to be with the team were. The team held its first practice on April 23.62 It played its first game on May 17, before 800 fans,63 and played two more prior to the first meeting with Franklin, winning all three.

In contrast, Franklin’s new manager, Otto Jordan, didn’t arrive until May 1.64 Jordan had been in charge of athletics at Camp Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, and his arrival was delayed as he awaited discharge from the service.65 Jordan was not forthcoming about specific players he was recruiting; at one point, he was quoted as saying, “Just tell the boys that when the season opens, I will have a club that will give any independent club in the country a run for the money.”66 A roster was finally announced on May 12, the day before the first practice was to be held.67 Most of the 18 players listed apparently had no Organized Baseball experience; only one had major league experience — Larry Cheney — but he didn’t end up with the team. Of the 18 players listed, 7 were either rumors or not good enough, and none lasted the entire season. Franklin called off a practice game scheduled for May 21 because several players hadn’t arrived yet.68

The first contest with Oil City was little more than a week away, Oil City had been practicing for nearly a month, had already played its first game, and Franklin didn’t even have a full team in place. Even up to Franklin’s first game, on May 23, player information was sketchy. The day of the game, the News-Herald reported the arrival of “… two new players from the Buffalo district. Another from there, a pitcher, arrived last night, and a third baseman is to come Monday. They are all players of Class A calibre.”69 That first game was played in front of 250-300 loyal fans on a wet day; one of the Franklin reserve players was furnished with a box of sawdust and tasked with keeping baseballs dry.70

Franklin and Oil City began play with a doubleheader on Memorial Day, Friday, May 30 — the teams met in the morning in Franklin, then reconvened in Oil City for an afternoon contest. The grandstand and bleachers were both packed. Fans sat along the outfield, in the field of play. Oil City won both games, 5-1 and 9-3.71 The two teams met again the following day in Franklin, Oil City winning again, 3-2. The News-Herald reported that the Franklin team was “outclassed” and that there was no mystery why Oil City wins: “… it has the better team — a better one than we have so far been able to get with money.”72

With nearly a week before its next scheduled game, the Franklin club responded to the Memorial Day catastrophe by releasing six players “in order to make room for men who can hit.”73 Manager Jordan was sent out of town to round up some new players — “that they will be heavy hitters is the general expectation,” and “every effort of the Franklin backers has been directed toward securing men who can wield the stick and field to perfection.” 74 They did have four new players in the lineup for their game against the McElroys on May 6. However, none of these appear to have had any Organized Baseball experience, and two of them were not with the team beyond that weekend. Franklin’s stopgap roster changes were an improvement, though, as they split the next four games against Oil City.

An altercation caused a temporary cancellation of the series after only 8 games had been played. A near riot broke out in the first inning of the June 17 game at Franklin. Newspapers from the two cities gave differing accounts but agreed on some basic details. With runners on first and third, Franklin attempted a double steal. The runner from first, Jack Snyder, was out, but prevented Pitler from throwing home to catch the runner scoring from third. Fans and players swarmed the field. Oil City’s catcher, Ben Shaw, may have punched Snyder but Franklin’s sheriff intervened, preventing either a first or second punch.75 The game resumed after officials restored order, apparently without further incident. The umpire had ejected both Snyder and Pitler.

The next morning’s Derrick reported that Snyder had started the fight; and that his act was one of rowdyism. It included a side article reminding fans that Franklin, including Mr. Snyder specifically, would be playing in Oil City that evening.76 Fans were advised to buy tickets during the day to avoid long lines at the box office. To this modern reader it seemed like an invitation to another riot.

The Franklin team did not show up for that June 18 game at Oil City.77 Around noon Franklin’s management informed Pitler they would not be coming, claiming their scheduled pitcher was unable to make it. Franklin’s claim was probably an excuse to avoid a potential riot. However, just a week earlier Franklin found itself without its expected pitcher because manager Jordan had neglected to inform Hageman, who lived 60 miles away in Youngstown, that he would be pitching in the June 11 game.78 That was a home game, though, and Franklin trotted out the same pitcher it had used the day before (and lost to Oil City 13-2).

Pitler’s stance was that Franklin should play — many tickets had already been sold and it was too late to inform the public of a cancellation. He offered to let Franklin use any of his pitchers of choice so the game could be played. Thinking this offer had been accepted, the Oil City team and fans showed up for the 6:10 game and waited until 7:30 to no avail. Oil City lost an estimated $500 due to the cancellation.79

The next evening the Franklin stockholders met to discuss the fate of the club.80 It had become clear that, as things stood, the team could not compete with Oil City; Franklin had won only 2 of 8 games. Moreover, very little of the initial capital of $2,500 remained. Though the team was not in debt, more money would be needed. Subscribers pledged an additional $300 during the meeting and officials planned to solicit more.81 Whether or not to continue playing games against Oil City was left undecided — but this was a moot point since Oil City’s management decided to terminate the inter-city series.82 While Franklin sought to acquire better players, the two cities’ newspapers traded thinly veiled insults on a daily basis.

Within a week, the two clubs had mended fences and resumed play on June 24. The two midweek games, already on the schedule, were played as planned, and additional contests were added for Friday and Saturday. Each team posted a deposit, which it would forfeit in the event of any future failure to appear.83

Meanwhile, Franklin began its talent upgrade, announcing two new players: centerfielder Gene Layden and shortstop Lester Buffington. Both had Organized Baseball experience, albeit at class B and C, respectively; both had been in the military in 1918. Buffington had played for Oil City in parts of 1917 and ’18 and had been expected to rejoin them upon his return from France.84

Coming into the Fourth of July doubleheader, the improved Franklin team was holding its own versus Oil City. It had won the three most recent games, bringing the series standings to 5-7 (5 wins, 7 losses). Not to be outdone, Pitler was now in search of players to strengthen the Oil City Club.85 Franklin directors requested that subscribers who had not yet paid do so, and anyone who wished “to see the club maintained at its present, or increased, strength” should subscribe.86 The News Herald wrote that a professional umpire would be needed, as “the war has reached that stage;” and noted that “the teams are costing so much that we’ll probably retire from the business for a few years at the end of the season.” 87 The race was on — but it would be a slow start.

Either Jordan found the heightened managerial task beyond him, or Franklin’s directors found Jordan unequal to the task. By July 8 he had resigned and the club was negotiating with Billy Nixon to take over.88

Pitler had little early success in finding better players. On July 4 he added outfielder Munch, a former class B player who’d played for Oil City in parts of 1917 and ’18 and had just returned from France. On July 15, infielder Tommy Ray was lured away from the Pittsburgh Collegians. On July 16, Pitler brought in Elmer Knetzer to pitch a game, but it was 3 weeks before he’d reappear. (In the interim, Knetzer may have pitched in one game for Franklin; probably two.) On July 25, it was announced that “star shortstop” Merle Edmunds would be joining the team; Edmunds’s prior experience was mostly at class D, but he’d been a popular Oil City player in 1917. Ray was just a good player in western Pennsylvania independent ball; Knetzer was a former major leaguer, considered one of the best pitchers in the region. Knetzer was the best of this bunch but it didn’t seem that Pitler would be able to hold onto him.

In the same period, Nixon’s only significant acquisitions for Franklin were George Murray (July 15) and Bill Thompson (July 18), both from other western Pennsylvania independents. On August 9, Franklin decided it could not afford the luxury of a backup catcher, owing to “the high cost of the club.”89

Pitler’s first real upgrade was pitcher Ray Gordinier, who arrived for the July 29 game. Gordinier was under contract to Buffalo of the International League. Newspapers reported that “Oil City is paying real money this season for ball players and to get Gordinier to jump the International must have required a big slice.”90 At the same time, Oil City also signed pitcher Lory Lodestro, recently released by class B Kitchener.

Tom Rogers

On August 14, it all went to the next level with a fresh influx of talent and the Scott Perry Incident. Franklin brought in Scott Perry and Tom Rogers, who’d recently jumped from the Philadelphia Athletics.91 Moreover, Perry and Rogers (and another newcomer, Harry O’Donnell) didn’t enter the game — didn’t show up at the ballpark, even — until the second inning, after bets had been placed.92 The kicker — though Perry gave up but three hits, Oil City won the game 1-0 in ten innings behind the five-hit pitching of Knetzer.

Oil City responded by signing Knetzer for the rest of the season93 (though he also continued to pitch for Allegheny Steel) and bringing in four new players over the next two weeks — pitchers George Mohart and Bob Steele, and outfielders Pete Knisely and Lee Strait. Mohart had been with the Niagaras and was one of the better pitchers in the Buffalo area. Steele, Knisely, and Strait were all jumping class AA contracts.

Franklin answered with a salvo of its own, adding pitcher Herb Kelly on August 30. Kelley was jumping from class A Chattanooga.

Despite the roster turnover, the two clubs were evenly matched. Beginning with the Fourth of July double-header they split the next 19 games evenly through late August (with one tie), neither winning more than twice in a row. By that point, Oil City remained two wins ahead, just as things stood before the Fourth. Oil City then captured the final two games in August to take an 18-14 lead going into the Labor Day doubleheader.

For Labor Day, Oil City added Charley Caton from the Pirates. In the second game they enlisted a mystery pitcher known only as “James,” said to be from Buffalo of the International League. They swept the double-header, closing out the originally scheduled series with a commanding 20–14 edge. A second series, consisting of twelve additional games, was then set to carry the rivalry through September — culminating with four games ending on October 4.

Franklin brought in several new players in the first half of September. Anderson (1b), Harber (ss), and Fielder (3b) in the infield; Sullivan in the outfield. Anderson and Harber were class B players who’d been out of Organized Baseball for a few years. Fielder and Sullivan were fresh from the Southern Association. Lober, a former class AA outfielder, was brought in to play one game before Sullivan’s arrival. Both teams brought in pitchers in the middle of the month — Main for Oil City and Peterson for Franklin. Main was a former major leaguer who’d left the Pacific Coast League earlier in the season. Peterson came directly from the International League. Each team added one more player prior to the big four-game showdown at the end of September. Oil City added Hersche from class AA Toronto, while Franklin added Kennedy from class C Greenville.

Franklin had won five of the first eight post-Labor Day games against Oil City, and tied one, reducing Oil City’s edge to 22-19. It would need to win all four of the remaining games, set to start on September 30, to take the season’s series. With the major league seasons ending on the 28th, the two teams were able to bolster their rosters with a few bona fide non-jumpers.

On September 26 it was rumored that Wilbur Cooper, of the Pirates, and Bill Doak, of the Cardinals, would be pitching for Oil City.94 That rumor would turn out to be true, though Cooper used the name Wilson. On September 29, the public was informed that the Browns’ George Sisler would be joining Franklin for the series, and he would be bringing another player with him.95 The other player turned out to be Joe Harris of the Indians.96 Newspapers listed these two in the top five in batting average in the American League (though by modern standards, Harris would not have enough at-bats to qualify). False rumors flew right up to game time, with Ray Caldwell and George Uhle both reported to appear. Big-city newspapers claimed that these lineups were full of major leaguers.97 In reality, for the first of the four games, the Oil City lineup had four players with recent major league experience — Pitler, Shaw, Caton, and Cooper/Wilson; Franklin’s lineup had three — Perry, Sisler, and Harris. Oil City followed up with four in the second game, Doak replacing “Wilson;” and dropped to three and two in the final two games, pitching Gordinier and Steele while Pitler sat out two games for Yom Kippur. With Rogers or Perry on the mound, Franklin had three every game.

Franklin won only one of the four games, Oil City two; the other was tied. This gave Oil City the final edge, 24 wins to 20. Franklin took solace in the fact that it had the advantage in the “second series of 12 games,” six wins to four (with two ties).98

THE AFTERMATH

The arms race did not end with the 1919 season. Immediately following the season, the Franklin directors issued a statement that “sentiment among the directors was for a strong club in 1920” and that “fans of the city are practically unanimous in their desire for one.”99 Thus, plans were begun for the 1920 season.

In fact, the push for each team to outdo the other’s roster only escalated in 1920 and into 1921, with several players enticed away from the major leagues. But the salaries were too high — it was not sustainable. It all came crashing down in July of 1921, when the Franklin club folded.100 The Pittsburgh Post reported that $5,000 of debt still remained from 1920,101 and the News-Herald opined that if only Oil City “would agree to live up to a proper salary limit, we would be able to make a go of it,” but admitted such an arrangement was unlikely to work. Oil City folded a few weeks later;102 the ballpark at West End Grounds was dismantled, and the lumber was sold, with the proceeds used to cover some of the club’s deficit.103

But while Oil City and Franklin had folded, the desire to improve a local team, financial sanity be damned, had spread to other independent teams across the state, and beyond. Many of the players ended up playing for Clearfield (about 90 miles east) and its rival, Philipsburg. A third club in that region, Osceola, apparently went so far as to hire the entire team away from Allegheny Steel.104 When these teams went down the tubes, some of the players crossed the state to join the Mahanoy City-Tamaqua rivalry and later found their way to Hornell, New York, for its rivalry with Corning.105

EPILOGUE

Billy Nixon had originally signed to manage Franklin through the end of 1920,106 but resigned the position shortly after the end of the 1919 season.107 The 30-year-old Nixon had purchased co-ownership in a dry-cleaning establishment in Meadville (about 30 miles away). His resignation letter included this assessment of the rivalry:

“I have been accustomed to playing ball where, when the breaks of the game went against a club and they lost, it was taken as a matter of course, but every game between Franklin and Oil City is a World’s Series contest, with all the tenseness that implies, and each one is played over in the evening by the fans and all the mistakes discussed, with a liberal sprinkling of what ‘might-have-beens.’ No, I much prefer the quiet life.”

We end with this limerick, penned by your author:

Two small towns in west Pennsylvania

Infected with rivalry mania

Had salary frenzy

That spread throughout Pennsy

And chased common sense from their crania.

ENDNOTES

1. In 1920 Oil City had 21,274 residents, Franklin 9,970. In contrast, the city of Pittsburgh had 588,313. Department of Commerce Bulletin, Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920; Population : Pennsylvania, page 20.

2. “First Franklin Oil City Game Was Played 53 Years Ago,” Franklin (Pennsylvania) News-Herald, September 4, 1919: 3; “History of the Game Here,” Oil City (Pennsylvania) Derrick, August 25, 1919: 12. “Some Local Gossip,” Franklin News-Herald, August 19, 1919: 3.

3. “Steelers Win, 6-2, Before West End’s Large Assemblage,” Franklin News-Herald, August 29, 1919: 9.

4. “Munch Recalls Player Fights,” Oil City Derrick, December 28, 1961: 11.

5. It was noted that the lack of a fence in “middle field” conveniently provided the umpire with an escape route for a hasty retreat. “Notes of the Game,” Franklin News Herald, July 19, 1919: 3.

6. “Notes of the Second Game,” Franklin News-Herald, May 31, 1919: 3.

7. “Eisenbeis to Have Laundry Done Free,” Franklin News Herald, July 11, 1919: 3.

8. “Jake Pitler’s Team Plays at Youngstown,” Franklin News Herald, May 16, 1919: 3; “Jordan’s Crew Captures Game at Youngstown,” Franklin News-Herald, June 30, 1919: 3.

9. “Larry Lobestro [sic] Walloped In Sunday Game,” Franklin News-Herald, August 18, 1919: 3; “Jamestown Team Beaten,” Oil City Derrick, August 4, 1919: 10.

10. Organized Baseball refers to the formal alliance of the two major leagues — the National League and the American League — together with the National Association of minor leagues, all operating under a common agreement that governs player contracts and the reserve clause. The term distinguishes this structured system from independent clubs and so-called outlaw leagues (such as the short-lived Federal League), which were not bound by its rules or authority.

11. “Franklin Wins This Time,” Pittsburg Press, June 29, 1919: 24.

12. “4 Games on Card for Franklin Next Week,” Franklin News-Herald, July 5, 1919: 3.

13. “Standings of the Clubs,” Franklin News-Herald, July 10, 1919: 3.

14. “Independents Had Big Margin Over Nursery Batters,” Franklin News-Herald, September 5, 1918: 3.

15. As part of a series of reminiscences four decades after the fact, specific values like “50 dollars” should be taken with a grain of salt. “Local Club’s Payroll Was High,” Oil City Derrick, December 27, 1961: 13

16. “Some Local Gossip,” Franklin News-Herald, August 16, 1919: 3.

17. “Steelers defeat Oil City in Final Game of Big Series,” Pittsburgh Post, October 8, 1919: 12.

18. “Oil City is Long On Stars, But Short On Funds,” Franklin News-Herald, March 21, 1919: 3.

19. “Stovers in Oil City Plan Big Parade,” Franklin News Herald, May 2, 1919: 3.

20. “Three-Fourths of Stock for Ball Team is Sold,” Franklin News-Herald, February 12, 1919: 3.

21. “Jordan’s Terms Satisfactory to Fan’s Committee,” Franklin News-Herald, February 10, 1919: 3.

22. “Baseball Team Assured …,” Franklin News-Herald, February 19, 1919: 3.

23. “Local Team to ‘Carry On’; New Players Signed,” Franklin News-Herald, June 20, 1919: 3.

24. “Subscribers to Baseball Team Requested to Pay,” Franklin News-Herald, July 1, 1919: 3.

25. “Booster Day Will Be Dollar Day At Oil City Ball Park,” Franklin News-Herald, July 25, 1919: 9.

26. “To Boost Ball Team,” Oil City Derrick, July 29, 1919: 12.

27. “Baseball Directors Grateful for Help,” Franklin News Herald, July 29, 1919: 3.

28. “Carnival Yields Baseball Team $2,500 or More,” Franklin News-Herald, August 25, 1919: 9.

29. “Some Local Gossip,” Franklin News-Herald, August 18, 1919: 3.

30. “Some Local Gossip,” Franklin News-Herald, September 2, 1919: 8.

31. “Independents Look First Rate in First Game,” Franklin News-Herald, May 7, 1919: 3.

32. “Battle Royal Expected, Oil City Derrick, June 27, 1919: 12.

33. “Two Games on Friday,” Oil City Derrick, July 3, 1919: 12.

34. “Booster Day Will Be Dollar Day At Oil City Ball Park,” Franklin News-Herald, July 25, 1919: 9.

35. “Baseball Rates Raised,” Oil City Derrick, August 1, 1919: 12.

36. “50 Cents to be Charged for Ball Games This Year,” Franklin News-Herald, May 20, 1919: 3.

37. “Some Local Gossip,” Franklin News-Herald, August 30, 1919: 3.

38. “George Sisler, St. Louis Star, Joins Franklin,” Franklin News-Herald, September 29, 1919: 3.

39. “Notes of the Game,” Franklin News-Herald, October 1, 1919: 3.

40. “Booster Day Will Be Dollar Day At Oil City Ball Park,” Franklin News-Herald, July 25, 1919: 9.

41. “Friday’s Crowd at Ball Game Second Largest for City,” Franklin News-Herald, July 5, 1919: 3.

42. Ibid.

43. “Westfield Seeking Game With Locals,” Franklin News Herald, August 4, 1919: 3.

44. “Steelers Win, 6-2, Before West End’s Large Assemblage,” Franklin News-Herald, August 29, 1919: 9.

45. “Notes of the Game,” Franklin News-Herald, August 21, 1919: 9.

46. “Independents Start Season With Victory,” Franklin News-Herald, May 19, 1919: 3.

47. “Jordan’s Players Get Off With Win, 8 to 0,” Franklin News-Herald, May 24, 1919: 3.

48. “Franklin and Oil City Split Even in 2 Games on Fourth,” Franklin News-Herald, July 5, 1919: 3.

49. “Some Local Gossip,” Franklin News-Herald, August 16, 1919: 3; “Notes of the Game,” Franklin News-Herald, August 20, 1919: 3.

50. “Franklin Loses to Oil City Crew in Closing Game,” Franklin News-Herald, October 6, 1919: 3.

51. “Richard Guy Thinks Well Of Bill Nixon,” Franklin News-Herald, July 12, 1919: 3.

52. “Baseball Finances In Good Condition; Debt Is Reduced,” Franklin News-Herald, October 9, 1919: 3.

53. For a 10% tax, the tax amounts to 9.09% of receipts. $1,350 divided by 9.09% is $14,850.

54. The Cardinals and Braves averaged 2,421 and 2,462 fans, respectively. From the table at baseball-reference.- com/leagues/majors/1919-misc.shtml.

55. “Baseball Finances In Good Condition; Debt Is Reduced,” Franklin News-Herald, October 9, 1919: 3.

56. SABR BioProject for Casey Hageman. sabr.org/bioproj/ person/casey-hageman.

57. “Baseball Gossip,” Franklin News-Herald, July 21, 1919: 3.

58. “Local Club’s Payroll Was High,” Oil City Derrick, December 27, 1961: 13.

59. “The Sporting Spotlight,” Memphis News-Scimitar, December 2, 1918: 9.

60. “Independents Had Big Margin Over Nursery Batters,” Franklin News-Herald, September 5, 1918: 3.

61. “Franklin’s Old Hoodoo, Murray, To Oppose Again,” Franklin News-Herald, April 1, 1919: 3; “Oil City Already Has World Beater; on Paper, at Least,” Franklin News Herald, April 10, 1919: 3.

62. “Oil City Takes On Two More Players,” Franklin News Herald, April 23, 1919: 3.

63. “Independents Start Season With Victory,” Franklin News-Herald, May 19, 1919: 3.

64. “Jordan Arrives; Fans to Greet Him Next Week,” Franklin News-Herald, May 2, 1919: 3.

65. “Manager Jordan Asked to Report Here on April 15,” Franklin News-Herald, March 31, 1919: 3.

66. “Otto Jordan Promises Good Club; Will Be Here Soon,” Franklin News-Herald, April 12, 1919: 3.

67. “Candidates for Baseball Team Due to Report,” Franklin News-Herald, May 12, 1919: 3.

68. “Practice Contest for Tonight is Off,” Franklin News Herald, May 21, 1919: 3.

69. “Jordan’s Players Have First Game Here This Evening,” Franklin News-Herald, May 23, 1919: 3.

70. “Jordan’s Players Get Off With Win, 8 to 0,” Franklin News-Herald, May 24, 1919: 3.

71. “Notes of the Second Game,” Franklin News-Herald, May 31, 1919: 3.

72. “No Mystery About Why Oil City Wins,” Franklin News-Herald, May 31, 1919: 3.

73. “Six of Jordan’s Players Draw Their Releases,” Franklin News-Herald, June 2, 1919: 3.

74. “New Players to Oppose M’Elroys, of Youngstown,” Franklin News-Herald, June 5, 1919: 3.

75. “Oil City Wins Game,” Oil City Derrick, June 18, 1919: 12; “Franklin Loses 11-Inning Battle to Oil City,” Franklin News-Herald, June 18, 1919: 3; “Answer Franklin Claim,” Oil City Derrick, June 19, 1919: 12; “Mr. Cunningham’s Affadavit Didn’t Go Far Enough,” Franklin News-Herald, June 19, 1919: 3.

76. “To Play Here Today,” Oil City Derrick, June 18, 1919: 12.

77. “Franklin Not On Hand,” Oil City Derrick, June 19, 1919: 12.

78. “Locals Forced to Use Hurler Who Had Not Rested,” Franklin News-Herald, June 12, 1919: 3.

79. “Booster Day Will Be Dollar Day At Oil City Ball Park,” Franklin News-Herald, July 25, 1919: 9.

80. “Baseball Fans Call to Meet at 7:30 Tonight,” Franklin News-Herald, June 19, 1919: 3.

81. “Local Team to ‘Carry On’; New Players Signed,” Franklin News-Herald, June 20, 1919: 3.

82. “Oil City Dates to be Ignored by Local Club,” Franklin News-Herald, June 20, 1919: 3.

83. “4-Game Series With Oil City is Scheduled,” Franklin News-Herald, June 24, 1919: 3.

84. “Franklin Signs 2 More Players; Buffington One,” Franklin News-Herald, June 21, 1919: 3.

85. “Some Local Gossip,” Franklin News-Herald, June 30, 1919: 3.; “Some Local Gossip,” Franklin News-Herald, July 1, 1919: 3.

86. “Subscribers to Baseball Team Requested to Pay,” Franklin News-Herald, July 1, 1919: 3.

87. “From Franklin’s Viewpoint,” Franklin News-Herald, June 28, 1919: 3.

88. “Franklin Wins Easily,” Oil City Derrick, July 9, 1919: 10; “Meeting of Directors Called,” Franklin News-Herald, July 8, 1919: 3; “Nixon Secured to Manage Local Baseball Team,” Franklin News-Herald, July 9, 1919: 3.

89. “O’Toole Through As Arbiter in Inter-City Games,” Franklin News-Herald, August 9, 1919: 3.

90. “Gordinier is Star Buffalo Pitcher,” Franklin News-Herald, August 2, 1919: 3.

91. “Jack Meehan Lands Trio After Fruitless Trip to South Bethlehem to Get Players On Disbanded Plant Team,” Franklin News-Herald, August 15, 1919: 3.

92. There are many accounts of this event, with differing details, variously called “The Scott Perry Incident” or “The Hays Hollow Coup.” Some appeared in newspapers decades after the fact. Here, we only reference the accounts from the next day’s newspapers in the two cities. “Oil City Captures Great Game; Franklin Signs 3 Big Leaguers,” Franklin News-Herald, August 15, 1919: 3; “Franklin’s Bluff Fails,” Oil City Derrick, August 15, 1919: 12.

93. “Franklin Signs Leaguers,” Pittsburg Press, August 16, 1919: 11.

94. “Some Local Gossip,” Franklin News-Herald, September 26, 1919: 3.

95. “George Sisler, St. Louis Star, Joins Franklin,” Franklin News-Herald, September 29, 1919: 3.

96. “Sisler And Harris Arrive; To Play Here This Evening,” Franklin News-Herald, September 30, 1919: 3.

97. “Ambridge Must Play Better Ball … Big Leaguers Galore,” Pittsburgh Post, September 30, 1919: 16.

98. “Outlucked, That’s All,” Franklin News-Herald, October 4, 1919: 8.

99. “Baseball Finances In Good Condition; Debt Is Reduced,” Franklin News-Herald, October 9, 1919: 3.

100. “All Efforts To Save Club Have Failed,” Franklin News Herald, July 9, 1921: 3.

101. “Oilers Win Final From Franklin; To Finish Out Season,” Pittsburgh Post, July 10, 1921: 23.

102. “Oil City Club Disbands; West End Park Goes Too,” Oil City Derrick, July 27, 1921: 12.

103. Ibid.

104. “Knetzer and Tyson Help Osceola Win,” Pittsburgh Post, August 9, 1921: 8.

105. “Joe Harris To Finish Season With Hornell,” Franklin News-Herald, September 10, 1921: 3.

106. “Richard Guy Thinks Well Of Bill Nixon,” Franklin News-Herald, July 12, 1919: 3.

107. “Franklin Must Find New Pilot For Next Season,” Franklin News-Herald, October 15, 1919: 3.

Jack Coombs of the Philadelphia Athletics (Library of Congress)

During a game at Boston’s Huntington Avenue Grounds on September 1, 1906, Jack Coombs of the Philadelphia Athletics faced 89 batters.1 The two whom he walked consecutively during this 24-inning marathon — the most innings played in a game during the Deadball Era — may have been the most consequential.

In the bottom of the nineteenth inning, on the heels of twelve consecutive scoreless innings, Philadelphia manager Connie Mack instructed Coombs to walk Boston batters Hobe Ferris and Jack Hoey in succession with one out and Freddy Parent on third. Mack’s “perfect strategy,” according to Coombs, worked: swinging third strikes from Myron ‘Moose’ Grimshaw and Red Morgan with the infield in ended Boston’s threat. “Experience by the older man, Mr. Mack,” said Coombs, “saved the situation.”2

Coombs, then 23 and a sidearm pitcher, was matched against Joe Harris, then 24, of the Boston Americans.3 Coombs was straight out of Colby College. Later, Coombs earned great fame from battling Ed Walsh in a sixteen-inning scoreless tie in 1910 and by winning three games in a single World Series. Mike ‘Doc’ Powers that day caught Coombs for all 24 innings. Harris, “a big youth from Melrose, Mass.” entered the game with a disheartening 2-17 record.4

This memorable game, played in four hours and 40 minutes, featured many elements that made Deadball Era baseball so captivating: abundant scoring chances, strategic moves, a quick pace, critical umpiring decisions, and individual endurance. The game also marked a turning point for three players.5

For Coombs, it was his first magnificent pitching effort, one that previewed his pitching greatness, but the strain placed on his arm from the marathon outing likely affected Coombs in the future. For Harris, the game was a single enduring highlight in a career short-circuited by illness. For Powers, it represented his greatest achievement in a decorated but truncated career, but the game also became a symbol of what might have been. Less than three years later, Coombs was a pallbearer at his catcher’s funeral.6

Coombs was a rookie. He made his debut only 59 days prior, pitching a complete-game shutout against the Washington Senators. As recounted by baseball historian Norman Macht, Powers and Harry Davis settled Coombs down after some initial trouble in his debut.7 Powers was known to be a savvy handler of pitchers: a vintage Boston Herald piece said that Powers, himself trained in medicine, “often calmed the high-strung [Eddie] Plank with his familiar chant: ‘Work hard, old boy, work hard.’ They were friends off the field too, and Doc even became Plank’s personal physician. Powers was a gentleman with a sunny disposition, respected and well-liked.” 8

Harris, a right-hander, had made his debut for Boston nearly one year prior. In what could be taken as an omen, he lost a complete game decision at home in his debut, 2-1 against Harry Howell and the St. Louis Browns. Harris’ lone win in 1905 for the Jimmy Collins-managed team came against the Tigers of Ty Cobb and Sam Crawford on September 30, a seven-inning complete game during which Harris struck out eight.

The 1906 Athletics did not exhibit the pennant-winning form they had a year before, on the way to a sluggish fourth-place finish. Still, circumstances were appreciably worse in Boston. The presence of both Cy Young and Jesse Tannehill in Boston’s starting rotation notwithstanding, the Americans that season lost their first twenty games of the month of May, plunging into last place. The team’s performance led to Chick Stahl, the team’s RBI leader in 1906, replacing Collins as a player-manager on August 27, just five days before this game in Boston. It is a delight that two otherwise forgettable teams would play the most remembered game of 1906.

Boston was buoyed by a crowd of 18,084 fans for this 1:30 pm Saturday afternoon game, the first of a scheduled doubleheader. The game had one umpire: Tim Hurst, known best for his combustible personality, behind the plate.9

The third inning brought the first run. Powers struck out, but Coombs reached when Harris slipped trying to field his grounder. Coombs stole second and advanced to third on a Topsy Hartsel groundout, scoring when Bris Lord beat out a hit.10

Philadelphia came close to getting an extra run in the top of the sixth inning. Hartsel got to second after a single and a Lord sacrifice. After a Davis groundout got Hartsel to third with two out, Freddy Parent made “a phenomenal stop and throw of Seybold’s grounder from behind second,” ending the scoring chance.11 In the bottom of the sixth, Boston finally scored: following a Hayden groundout, Parent, on the heels of his run-saving play, hit a triple. Stahl then singled, scoring Parent, only to thereafter be part of an inning-ending double play on a grounder by Ferris. The game was now tied, 1-1.

During the seventeen consecutive scoreless innings to follow, the teams tried to manufacture runs without success. There were many scoring chances for each team: in the top of the eleventh inning, for instance, Ossie Schreckengost (‘Schreck’ in most box scores) — pinch hitting for Davis in Philadelphia’s only substitution of the game — tripled before Socks Seybold’s groundout ended the inning. In another instance, in the bottom of the fourteenth inning, Parent got to second base only to have Stahl and Ferris strike out and Danny Murphy ground out to end the threat.

A controversial moment occurred in the bottom of the fifteenth inning. Buck Freeman pinch-hit for Bill Carrigan with one out and Grimshaw on second base. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Freeman swung at an intentional ball four and easily grounded out to the mound. “It was Boston’s last chance to score.”12 With the heading: “Dumb Work by Freeman,” the Boston Daily Globe characterized Freeman’s reach as “the dumbest play ever seen at the Huntington Av. Grounds” and threw “away a splendid chance at a Boston victory.”13

The crowd at the Huntington Avenue Grounds appeared to appreciate the magnificent efforts of both pitchers:

“Every good play by Philadelphia was as generously cheered as a good play by Boston. Coombs was given an ovation every time he went to the bench, just as Harris was. Even after the game had been lost the rooters stood up and cheered Harris.”14

Recounted The Boston Daily Globe:

“The game developed into a wonderful machine-like affair. One side came to bat only to be retired by some fast fielding stunt, and as inning after inning passed on, and neither pitcher seemed to weaken, the continual outs tired a part of the crowd. “Watching a ball game four hours was more than enough for many, and they left the park, but their number was very few.”15

It is sometimes forgotten that Powers threw out Hoey and Hayden stealing in consecutive innings (the twenty-first and twenty-second, respectively), a feat that may have saved the game. During the game, Powers caught 24 consecutive errorless innings at catcher, a record which still stands and one which ranks among baseball achievements that are least likely ever to be surpassed.

It was becoming dark, and the second game of the doubleheader was canceled. But umpire Hurst “has no record of calling a game,” reported the Boston Daily Globe, and he did not do so on this day, no matter what pressure he received from the respective teams.16

In the top of the twenty-fourth, the Athletics’ ship found new wind. Following a Coombs strikeout, Hartsel singled, and Lord struck out. Then, Schreckengost’s two-out hit scored Hartsel all the way from first, finally breaking the 17-inning tie. With quick efficiency, the Athletics padded their new lead. Seybold’s triple scored Schreckengost, and Murphy’s triple scored Seybold. Three runs were in by the time Monte Cross flied out to end the inning.

But here, the crowd had affected the outcome of the game. With the sun setting, the enthusiastic fans moved closer and surrounded the players. “But for this, two of the triples made off of Harris would have been outs or doubtful two baggers.”17

The bottom of the twenty-fourth inning was almost anticlimax: Hoey grounded out, Grimshaw was out, and Lou Criger grounded out. The game was over, with Philadelphia a 4-1 victor.

It is worth noting that Philadelphia stole six bases in this game, and Boston stole one. The only player to steal two bases on that September afternoon was Coombs, who toiled for 24 innings on the mound.

Though no record of pitch counts exists, if Coombs and Harris each averaged three pitches per batter, it is reasonable to assume each threw roughly 250 pitches overall. Note also that each pitcher came up to bat nine times. In one instance, Coombs batted with a runner on second base and two outs in the ninth inning, a re-markable event especially since no substitutions had been made in the game to that point.

Coombs was the winner, and Harris was the very hard-luck losing pitcher. Perhaps surprisingly, Coombs later said that this 24-inning complete-game victory was not as good as the game he pitched against Walsh.18

The inside game of baseball, beyond pitching prowess alone, was also a factor. Coombs walked a total of five batters intentionally, living dangerously in a tight game.

“The great work of the pitchers was due as much to the catchers as to the box work,” opined the same outlet, “with Powers showing special strength in this line of work, and he seemed happiest when asked to work out of some small hole.”19

Powers was a team stalwart, even if he was the epitome of a light-hitting catcher (not hitting above .200 in any of his final seven full seasons). He continued in that same role for Athletics through the season opener in 1909, the day that Shibe Park opened. That day, Powers experienced major abdominal pain around the seventh inning, later diagnosed as acute gastritis. He subsequently endured three surgeries, including “the removal of least twelve inches of his bowels.”20 Powers, “one of the best known and most popular players in the country,” died of gangrene two weeks later.21 A posthumous benefit game in Powers’ honor was held on June 30, 1910.

Called “the game of all games” by the Boston Daily Globe, the September 1, 1906, 24-inning contest was the essence of pure Deadball Era baseball.22 The game featured six triples and no home runs, constant scoring chances, and perpetual excitement, as the teams played nearly two complete scoreless games with the score tied 1-1. Even with singles, sacrifices, triples, and walks in nearly every frame, the average time of a complete inning in this game was approximately 12 minutes.

Coombs struck out 18 batters in this game; no other pitcher struck out more Red Sox batters in a single contest than Coombs did until 1962.23 Harris, too, pitched brilliantly. The Boston Daily Globe recounted that the home team “had a dozen chances to win by anything like a sharp hit, but was at the mercy of the young college pitcher.”24

During his own complete game, Harris faced 87 batters, yielded 16 hits, and struck out 14 Philadelphia hitters. Formidable as Harris may have been on this September day, he finished the 1906 season with a 2-21 record, leading the American League in losses. More critically, “Harris,” noted one account, “was stricken with typhoid shortly after the game and never regained his speed or his ability. Whereas Coombs proceeded to the heights, Harris dropped back to the minors in 1907.” Harris never won another major league game.25

One recapitulation of this game noted that Coombs “impressed the overflow crowd with his precocious poise and ability.”26 Still, it is easy to wonder if Coombs’ endurance in this game hurt his future prospects; Coombs had “arm trouble” to wind down the 1906 season, and, after a promising start to the 1907 season, he strained his arm. Coombs played 47 games in the outfield during the 1908 season on account of arm tendon issues.27 His top-notch pitching form was realized until 1910 when he posted a 31-win season, and one can reasonably wonder if Coombs might have had a Hall of Fame career but for his extended outing in this 1906 game.

Perhaps just as consequentially, the game was a seminal moment for Coombs, who eventually enjoyed sustained success, and for Harris, who didn’t. That day’s game also represented the apex of Powers’ career. At once, it was a majestic baseball moment but also a reminder that fates can be fickle, especially in baseball and even more so during the Deadball Era.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With thanks to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for providing clippings of vintage articles cited in this piece and to Bill Lamb, who provided helpful suggestions.

NOTES

1. Box score of September 1, 1906, game between the Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Americans available at https://baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS190609010.shtml.

2. Jack Coombs, as told to Frederick G. Lieb, “My Greatest Diamond Thrill,” The Sporting News, November 2, 1944, 17.

3. Harry Grayson, “Strong-Armed Jack Coombs Overcame Typhoid Spine,” November 21, 1963. No publication given. Unattributed clipping from Coombs’ Hall of Fame file. Mack noted that Coombs, especially around the time of his first injury, had a “dinky little curve” but “got so he could break it all the way to the ground” in 1908.

4. “Longest Game Finished in Baseball History,” New York Times, September 2, 1906.

5. The 4:40 time is included in the box score on baseball-reference. com, but it is worthwhile to note that some contemporary accounts list the game as lasting for 4 hours and 47 or 48 minutes.

6. Joe Dittmar, “Doc Powers’ Shocking End,” The National Pastime (Vol 13: 1993), 64.

7. Macht, Norman. Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press: 2012), 368.

8. Dittmar, 62-65.

9. The fan total and the umpire are noted in the baseball-reference. com box score, and the start time of the game is included in “New Pitcher Wins Longest Game in League’s History,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 2, 1906, pp. 1-2. At this time, Retrosheet does not have a play-by-play for this game.

10. All play-by-play recounted in this article derives from “New Pitcher Wins Longest Game in League’s History,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, above, 1-2. At this time, Retrosheet does not have a play-by-play of this game available.

11. “New Pitcher Wins Longest Game in League’s History,” 2.

12. “New Pitcher Wins Longest Game in League’s History,” 2.

13. “Boston Beaten in 24th Inning,” 1-2.

14. “Athletics Win in 24th Inning,” Chicago Sunday Tribune, September 2, 1906, 9.

15. “Athletics and Boston in Record 24-Inning Go,” Washington Post, September 2, 1906, S1.

16. “Boston Beaten in 24th Inning,” 1.

17. “New Pitcher Wins Longest Game in League’s History,” 2.

18. Coombs, as told to Lieb, 17.

19. Coombs, as told to Lieb, 17.

20. Dittmar, 62-65.

21. “Catcher Powers, Veteran Catcher of Philadelphia Athletics Is Dead,” Cincinnati Enquirer, April 27, 1909: 4.

22. “Boston Beaten in 24th Inning.”

23. Joe Dittmar, “The Coombs-Harris Marathon,” undated clipping from Coombs’ file at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

24. “Boston Beaten in 24th Inning,” 1.

25. Frederick G. Lieb, “Jack Coombs Dies at 73; Won 24-Inning Marathon,” The Sporting News, April 24, 1957, 30.

26. Joe Dittmar, “The Coombs-Harris Marathon.”

27. Coombs, as told to Lieb, 17.

This statue of Henry Aaron was unveiled in June 2025 in Mobile. (Photograph by George Bovenizer.)

Hank Aaron’s hometown of Mobile, Alabama, is full of history, both baseball-related and otherwise. The latter includes bragging rights as the birthplace of Mardi Gras, although New Orleans may beg to differ, but that’s an argument for another day. As you walk under Mobile’s quaint downtown balconies, from which countless beads have been thrown, you will stumble upon odes to Hammerin’ Hank both big and small. We’ll get to the big in just a bit. To see the small, just wander down the cobblestones of St. Michael Street, where there is a charming general store called “Do Goods Mercantile.” The mom-and-pop shop sells, among many things, whiskey and beer glasses with engravings of quotes belonging to this Southern city’s baseball legends. It’s a long list of Hall of Fame talent.

According to Mayor Sandy Stimpson in 2022, “Per capita, there is no other community in the United States with more Hall of Fame baseball players than Mobile, Alabama.”1 It’s the birthplace of Aaron, Satchel Paige, Ozzie Smith, Billy Williams, and Willie McCovey. While their incredible statistics are carved into major-league baseball’s record books, etched in those aforementioned beer and whiskey glasses Aaron’s quote reads, “… when it’s over, I’m going home to Mobile and fish for a long time.”2

Aaron’s wistful-for-home words were uttered to a newspaper reporter during the thick of his chase of Babe Ruth’s home-run record. The 1974 chase captivated the nation, and his quote accentuates the pressure and exhaustion experienced in the pursuit to pass 714. It also reveals his desire to leave the bright Atlanta lights and return to his Alabama roots, even just for a bit. Of course, Hank would accomplish it all, breaking the Babe’s all-time record, playing two more seasons to finish his career with 755 home runs, and eventually finding the time to go fishing back in Mobile.

Although he spent the last years of his life in the Atlanta area to be close to his children and grandchildren, Aaron was always welcomed back to his hometown with open arms, and Mobile has honored him with several prominent tributes – most notably a nine-foot bronze sculpture posthumously dedicated to the slugger. Still, for all the love Aaron received from the city – and though he was someone who typically chose to see the good in Mobile – it wasn’t always an easy place to grow up in. Reflecting on his childhood, Aaron once said, “I realized while growing up in Mobile that being a black person I already had two strikes against me and I certainly wasn’t going to let them get the third strike. I felt like being a baseball player I had one way to go – and that was up.”3

Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron was born on February 5, 1934, in a section of Mobile known as Down the Bay, a tight-knit but poor Black neighborhood. His parents, Herbert, a shipyard worker, and Estella, a homemaker, raised Hank alongside his seven siblings, including Hank’s brother Tommie, who would also become a major-league player. A few years after Henry was born, the family moved to the Toulminville neighborhood on the north side of Mobile, where Herbert hand-built their modest family home. Work at the docks was sporadic, so the family didn’t have a lot of money, but as a child Henry and his siblings didn’t go hungry. In his autobiography Henry recalled:

My father made $115 a week when he worked, but the only thing was he would work a week and be laid off two. … He only worked when the docks had work. We just did without meat when my father got laid off. We had a garden out back of the house where we’d grow beans and tomatoes and a little okra. I never remember being real hungry.4

There was also fish to eat and Hank would pass the days of his childhood fishing and playing ball. Mobile is famous for its baseball, but it’s a city shaped by water – its history flows from it. For generations, Mobilians have cast their lines and nets into the rivers, lakes, and bayous that sprinkle the region. And make no mistake – this place is soaked. Mobile’s location on the Gulf Coast, not far from the Florida state line, regularly ranks it among the rainiest cities in the country, and with its steamy, subtropical climate, it often feels as though Florida’s weather wandered west. Hot, humid afternoons frequently give way to dramatic thunderstorms, drenching the streets and feeding the lush landscape.

But Mobile’s waterways hold more than natural beauty – they also carry the weight of a painful past. The city’s sprawling port and tributaries once made it a hub for the slave trade. Before the Civil War, slave ships docked in the city routinely. Even after the international slave trade was outlawed, a ship named the Clotilda carrying slaves from West Africa clandestinely came ashore. Many of its passengers formed a small community that grew into what became known as Africatown.

During the 1930s and ’40s, when Hank was a boy, Mobile, like much of the American South, was segregated under Jim Crow laws. Schools were segregated, public spaces were divided, and Black citizens were expected to act with deference toward Whites. But Mobile was, in some ways, marginally better than other Deep South cities in terms of racial relations. As a port city, it had a degree of cultural diversity and racial fluidity not always present in other Southern communities. This duality – systemic oppression alongside a measure of tolerance – shaped Aaron’s formative experiences. He recalled:

There were things that a black person in Mobile just had to put up with – things more subtle than riding in the back of the bus and drinking at the colored fountain. If you were in line at the grocery store, a white person could just step right in front of you and you couldn’t say a thing.5

He learned to navigate the complexities of a racially divided society while drawing strength from the resilience of his family and the broader community. These early lessons would later serve Aaron well during the intense public scrutiny and racism he encountered while pursuing Babe Ruth’s home-run record.

From an early age growing up in Mobile, baseball captivated young Hank, but he knew little about Ruth. “Why should I have read about a man playing a game I couldn’t get into at the time?”6 Before Hank was born, his father saw Ruth play in a local exhibition and Herbert told his son stories of the Babe’s prodigious power. However, like many Black children of his era, Jackie Robinson was Hank’s hero:

I remember sitting on the back porch once when an airplane flew over, and I told Daddy I’d like to be a pilot when I grow up. He said, “Ain’t no colored pilots.” I said, okay, then, I’ll be a ballplayer. He said, “Ain’t no colored ballplayers.” But he never said that anymore after we sat in the colored section of Hartwell Field and watched Jackie Robinson.7

That exhibition game was in 1948, a year after Robinson broke the major-league color barrier. Hank remembered skipping school to hear Robinson talk to a crowd in front of a drugstore. “If it were on videotape, you’d probably see me standing there with my mouth wide open. I don’t remember what he said. It didn’t matter what he said. … I was allowed to dream after that.”8

Young Hank’s baseball dreams were big, but money and equipment were scarce. So Hank made do with whatever he could find – bottle caps became baseballs, and broomsticks turned into bats used on makeshift sandlots. Aaron said, “I believe that my style of hitting was developed as a result of batting against bottle caps.”9 He explained that he hit off his front foot because that’s how to best hit a bottle cap; out in front before it can curve some more. His mother had a problem with it, but it had nothing to do with Hank hitting off his front foot. Estella once caught him utilizing her new mop as a stickball bat. It was part of a long-running battle with her baseball-loving boy; she was also constantly after him to do his schoolwork because all he wanted to do was fish and play ball.

Henry Aaron grew up in this house in the port city of Mobile, Alabama. (Photograph by George Bovenizer.)

Boys and girls can climb an oversized bat and balls at Henry “Hank” Aaron Park. (Photograph by George Bovenizer.)

In his first 17 games with the Clowns, Henry Aaron batted a robust .427 with five home runs and 26 RBIs. (Negro Leagues Baseball Museum)

“Teammates barely knew what to make of him – until he stepped into the batter’s box.” – Howard Bryant, writing of Henry Aaron’s first days with the Indianapolis Clowns.1

Henry Aaron began his professional career in the minor leagues with Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1952. A plaque indicates that he played his first professional game there. But did he?

Weeks before he joined the Boston Braves organization, the 18-year-old Aaron suited up with the Indianapolis Clowns of the six-team Negro American League. The NAL was quite different from the league it had been a decade earlier. By the start of 1952, 10 Black players had cracked the racial barrier in the AL/NL major leagues. Dozens more were in the affiliated minor leagues.

Aaron was discovered in 1951 by Ed Scott while playing with the semipro Mobile Black Bears. The following spring, Aaron boarded a train from Mobile and joined the Clowns for spring training,2 which began April 10 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. When he joined the club, media coverage was scant and the trail of his first games is elusive. On April 16 at Charlotte, he was in the lineup against the Philadelphia Stars and singled, doubled, and tripled as the teams played to a 7-7 tie.3

The Clowns were managed by Buster Haywood, who also did some catching. The clowning of “King Tut,” a part-time first baseman named Dick King, was a main attraction.4

The team traveled to Austin, Texas, to take on the Kansas City Monarchs, and then it was on to Muskogee, Oklahoma, where Aaron gained a bit of ink (although they got his first name wrong, calling him Frank Aaron) for fielding 13 chances at shortstop without an error in a 7-0 loss.5 He played exclusively at shortstop with the Clowns and it was not until he joined the Braves organization that he was moved to the outfield.

On May 3, the bus stopped at Nevada, Missouri, and the Clowns and Monarchs engaged in a slugfest with the Clowns winning 7-5, largely on the strength of Aaron’s first two home runs as a professional.6 Aaron participated in seven double plays in the contest.7

The next afternoon in Kansas City, Aaron had two hits in each game and stole two bases in the opener, but the Clowns came up short in each game. In the second game, the Clowns could muster only three hits against Henry Mason. Aaron doubled and scored the only Clowns run in the second inning of an 8-1 loss.8

The regular season began for the six-team NAL on May 11. The Clowns swept a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Stars in Nashville. Accounts of these games are incomplete and there was no mention of Aaron. The next days were spent on a trip that took the Clowns and Stars through Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, splitting six games before arriving at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium.

On May 18 in Baltimore, Aaron hit two homers for the Clowns. They came in the second game of a twin bill and accounted for four of the Indianapolis runs in a 5-2 win. In the opener, Aaron had gone 1-for-4 in a 4-3 win.9

The Stars and Clowns were scheduled to play at Washington’s Griffith Stadium on May 19, but the game was rained out.

The Clowns then made their way north with stops at Wilmington, Delaware, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, en route to Buffalo, New York. In Wilmington on May 21, the Clowns won, 5-0, with Aaron going 2-or-5.10 He doubled in a 2-1 Clowns win at Lancaster the next night.11

At Buffalo on Sunday, May 25, Aaron came up big as the Clowns swept two games from the Memphis Red Sox. He went 4-for-5 in the opener and 3-for-4 with a home run in the nightcap.12

Statistics published in Black newspapers reflected Aaron’s dominance in the early season. Through May 25 he had 28 hits in 58 at-bats (.483) and also led the NAL in home runs (5) and RBIs (24). He had a league-leading six doubles and 51 total bases.13 He also had six stolen bases.14

On June 1 in Kansas City, the Clowns split a doubleheader against the Monarchs, with Aaron getting a hit in each game. In the second game, he drove in a run and stole a base as the Clowns won 17-7.15

As May turned into June, reports surfaced that Aaron, still hitting over .400, was bound for the Boston Braves organization. Even so, he continued with the Clowns until the signing was officially announced on June 10.

In Des Moines on June 6, Aaron had two singles and a walk in the Clowns’ 9-1 win over Kansas City.16

On June 8, the Clowns were at Comiskey Park and Aaron’s fourth-inning single in the second game helped his team score its only run in a 5-1 loss. The Clowns had won the opener, 6-0, but there are no details of the game.17

On June 9, the Clowns played in Benton Harbor, Michigan, against the St. Joseph Auscos. Although the Clowns lost 10-5, Aaron singled, doubled, and stole a base.18

Aaron played his last game with the Clowns on June 10. In a 14-6 loss to the Chicago American Giants, he went 0-for-3. Ironically enough, it was the only time during his days with the Clowns that the team played in Indianapolis.19

On June 12 Aaron arrived in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. His first game in the Northern League was on June 16.

His final stats with the Clowns, as shown in the Baltimore Afro-American on June 14 and reported in newspaper articles accompanying reports of his signing with the Braves, had him with a .427 batting average with 32 hits in 75 at-bats in 17 games.20 He had 26 RBIs with 7 doubles, a triple, and 5 home runs. He also led the league with 18 runs scored and 56 stolen bases.21

Because these numbers did not include his final games with the Clowns at the beginning of June, a look at June 21 and 28 Black newspapers is necessary to see Aaron’s total with the Clowns. He tailed off a bit toward the end. His final totals included 40 hits in 107 at-bats for a .374 average. He led the league with 8 doubles, 5 home runs, and 32 RBIs. He also had 5 stolen bases.22

Henry Aaron played mostly shortstop for the Indianapolis Clowns. (Chicago Defender, June 7, 1952)

But even these were not Aaron’s final numbers with the Clowns.

After a stellar season with Eau Claire, he returned to the Clowns for a postseason series against the Birmingham Black Barons. The Clowns had won the first-half title, and Birmingham (23-15) had led the league in the second half of the season, with Indianapolis (18-16) dropping to second place. The series was to have begun in Birmingham on September 14, but the game was rained out. Details from this series are incomplete at best.

In Memphis on September 15, the Clowns won, 4-3. Aaron went 2-for-3 with a double and a stolen base.23 Birmingham won the next two games, and the Clowns pounded out a 16-10 win in Knoxville on September 19 to even the series. Aaron hit a home run, a double, and three singles.24

Birmingham won three of the next four games, but little is known about those games. Down five games to three, the Clowns won four straight contests to take the 12-game series. Per the article that appeared in the Philadelphia Tribune, Aaron batted .402 with 5 homers during the 12 games.25 The only home run that was documented came in the fourth game.

The teams continued to play after the decisive game was played on September 28. On October 8 in Knoxville, they concluded their 18-game barnstorming tour, and Birmingham won, 11-7, with Aaron getting a double and a triple in his last game with the Clowns.26

ALAN COHEN has been a SABR member since 2011. He chairs the BioProject fact-checking committee, serves as vice president-treasurer of the Connecticut Smoky Joe Wood Chapter, and is a datacaster (MiLB stringer) with the Eastern League Hartford Yard Goats, the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. He also works with the Retrosheet Negro Leagues project and serves on SABR’s Negro League Committee. His biographies, game stories, and essays have appeared in more than 80 baseball-related publications. He has four children, ten grandchildren, and one great-grandchild, and resides in Connecticut with wife Frances, their cats Zoe and Ava, and their dog Buddy.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources shown in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com and the following:

“Clowns Get Minor Loop Stars for World Series,” Knoxville News-Sentinel, September 16, 1952: 15.

“Hank Aaron Cinches ’52 Rookie Honor,” Philadelphia Tribune, September 16, 1952: 10.

NOTES

1 Howard Bryant. The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron (New York: Pantheon Books, 2010), 42.

2 Bryant, 39; Hank Aaron with Lonnie Wheeler, I Had a Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story (New York: Harper-Collins, 1991), 22-25.

3 Bill Johnson, “Clowns and Stars Battle to 7-7 Knot,” Charlotte Observer, April 17, 1952: 4-B.

4 When Aaron was with the team, the clowning was limited to King Tut and Spec Bebop.

5 “Shut Out by Monarchs,” Kansas City Times, May 1, 1952: 28.

6 Paul Jenner, “Clowns Win, 7-5, in Battle of Home Runs, Double Plays,” Nevada (Missouri) Herald, May 8, 1952: 6.

7 “Clowns Set NAL Record,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 17, 1952: 24.

8 “A 3-Hitter by Monarch,” Kansas City Times, May 5, 1952: 19.

9 “Clowns Win Double-Header from Stars by 4-3 and 5-2,” Baltimore Sun, May 19, 1952: 16.

10 “Indianapolis Clowns Top Philadelphia Stars, 5-0,” Wilmington (Delaware) Morning News, May 22, 1952: 24.

11 “Ex Roses Star Scores Winning Run for Clowns,” Lancaster (Pennsylvania) New Era, May 23, 1952: 19.

12 “Baseball News,” Macon (Georgia) Telegraph, June 2, 1952: 2.

13 “N.A.L. Data: Aaron Monopolizes Slugging Honors,” St. Louis Argus, June 6, 1952: 20.

14 “Negro American League Averages (including Games of May 25),” Kansas City Call, June 2, 1952: 11.

15 “A Split for Monarchs,” Kansas City Times, June 2, 1952: 21.

16 Jim Foster, “Clowns Romp on Two-Hitter,” Des Moines Register, June 7, 1952: 10.

17 “Clowns Blank Giants, 6-0, Then Lose, 5-1,” Chicago Defender, June 14, 1952:

18 “Major League Trial Awaits Clowns Star,” Benton Harbor (Michigan) Herald-Palladium, June 10, 1952: 8.

19 “American Giants Whip Clowns,” Indianapolis Star, June 11, 1952: 27.

20 “Official NAL Statistics,” Baltimore Afro-American, June 14, 1952: 17.

21 “Aaron, Top Hitter, Bought by Braves,” Cleveland Call and Post, June 14, 1952: D-1.

22 “Aaron Sets Pace in NAL Hit Parade,” Pittsburgh Courier, June 21, 1952: 25.

23 “Clowns Defeat Barons,” Memphis Commercial Appeal, September 16, 1952: 21.

24 “Rookie Leads Clown Victory,” Knoxville News-Sentinel, September 20, 1952: 6

25 “Third NAL Title for Funmakers,” Philadelphia Tribune, October 14, 1952: 10.

26 “Homers Defeat Clowns, 11 to 7,” Knoxville News-Sentinel, October 9, 1952: 34.

A young Henry Aaron with the 1952 Eau Claire Bears. Top row from left to right: Chester Morgan, Richard Engquist, Elmer Toth, Gordon Roach, Wes Covington, Robert MccConnell, Kenneth Reitmeier. Middle row: Henry Aaron, Donald Auten, Chuck Doehler, Bill Adair, Lantz Blaney, George Kornack, Julie Bowers. Bottom row: Bill Conroy, Johnny Goryl, Robert Brown, Don Jordon, Joe Subbiondo. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

Speaking to an audience in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on August 17, 1994, Henry Aaron said, “You gave me my start. You made me realize I had a dream and all I had to do was go out and play baseball as hard as I could.”1

Aaron had come to the small city east of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul to witness the unveiling of a statue in his honor. That statue stands in a plaza outside of Carson Park, Eau Claire’s WPA-era ballpark that has hosted baseball since 1937.

In 1952 Aaron began his journey through the Braves farm system on his way to the Hall of Fame via Milwaukee and Atlanta. He played in Eau Claire for only 2½ months, but during his brief tenure he showed flashes of the greatness that would take him to the Hall of Fame.

The Eau Claire Bears, members of the Class-C Northern League, had been a farm club of the Boston Braves since 1947. After a successful campaign in 1951 in which the Eau Claire topped the regular-season standings, Bears fans were cautiously optimistic at the start of the 1952 season. Second-year manager Bill Adair thought he might have a pennant contender on his hands but admitted he had little idea how his club would stack up against the other seven members of the league. He expected “some turnover of players before his club becomes a strong contender (and) looks for help at catching, the left side of the infield, and in the outfield.”2

Starting the season at home on May 4, the Bears got off to a rocky start as the Superior Blues swept them in the opening three-game series. Throughout May and into June, the Bears hovered around the .500 mark, despite the batting heroics of their star slugger, Wes Covington, who sported a batting average of .316 to go with 6 home runs and 29 RBIs by June 10.

Aaron had originally signed with Indianapolis on November 20, 1951. Early in the 1952 season, Clowns owner Syd Pollack touted Aaron in a letter to Boston’s farm director, John Mullen, and after a favorable report from Braves scout Dewey Griggs, Boston offered Indianapolis $10,000 to purchase Aaron’s contract.4 The New York Giants also expressed an interest, but according to Aaron, the Braves offered to pay Aaron $350 per month to play in Eau Claire, while the Giants offered $250 per month to play for their Sunbury, Pennsylvania, affiliate in the Interstate League. Aaron accepted the Braves offer both for the higher monthly salary and because he thought he had a better shot to make the Braves’ big-league roster.5

Aaron arrived in Eau Claire after playing a doubleheader for the Negro League Clowns in Chicago, taking a train to Milwaukee, and finally an airplane flight to his new baseball home. He unpacked his bags at the Eau Claire YMCA. “It was the first flight of my life, and the worst flight,” noted Aaron in later years.6

The Bears were scheduled to return home to Carson Park on June 13, although rain postponed the start of the homestand until the following day. On the 14th the Telegram noted, “Tonight’s game with St Cloud marks the close of the first one-third of the 1952 playing dates and finds the Bears still trying to get above the .500 mark. They hold fourth place by a margin over Duluth.” (At the time, the Bears’ record stood at 17-19, 12 games behind league-leading Superior and only one game ahead of the fifth-place Dukes.)7

During the afternoon of June 14, Aaron signed the contract that would pay him $350 per month ($200 from Eau Claire and $150 from Evansville of the Three-I League. The portion from Evansville presumably was to keep the Bears from exceeding the Northern League’s roster salary cap of $3400 per month).8 The young shortstop was set to make his debut on a hot and humid evening. Aaron wrote that he was “more nervous that it was my first time at bat against a white pitcher” than he was about playing his first minor-league game.9

Batting seventh, Aaron came to bat for the first time in the bottom of the second inning with the Bears trailing 2-0. After Collins Morgan doubled to deep center field, Aaron stroked a hit off left-hander Art Rosser to score Morgan but was thrown out at second base trying to leg out a double, so his first minor-league at-bat went into the books as a single with an RBI. The same combination of a Collins double and Aaron single tied the ballgame in the bottom of the fifth. Two subsequent walks put Aaron on third as the tying run, but the Bears were unable to bring him home.

Although Aaron handled seven chances in the field, he did muff a potential double-play ball in the top of the sixth. With a man on first and one out, Aaron bobbled a ball hit by Rollie Thomas, which put runners on the corners. The Rox went on to score two runs in the inning and sent the Bears to defeat, 4-3.10

After that respectable debut, Adair moved Aaron to the second spot in the Bears batting order, where the youngster fashioned a seven-game hitting streak.

Aaron later admitted he was somewhat wary of his Eau Claire manager. Like Aaron, Adair hailed from Mobile, Alabama, and Aaron was initially unsure how his White manager would treat him. Looking back in his autobiography, I Had A Hammer, Aaron credited Adair with being a “fair and good manager” who “gave me every chance to prove myself.”11

Likewise, Aaron noted he had some trepidation about playing in an overwhelmingly White city like Eau Claire. “Eau Claire was not a hateful place for a black person – nothing like in the South – but we didn’t exactly blend in,” he noted.12 Fortunately for the young player, Eau Claire had developed a history of welcoming African American players. Bill Bruton and Roy White had integrated the Bears in 1950, and Bruton won over the local fans with stellar play that earned him the Northern League Rookie of the Year Award that season. The following year, another Black player, Horace Garner, won the same award.13

Eau Claire’s 1952 roster included two other African Americans besides Aaron: John “Wes” Covington, a 20-year-old outfield prospect, and William Julius “Julie” Bowers, a 26-year-old veteran catcher who “was the type of black player you always found on minor-league teams back then – an older guy who was there to provide company for the younger players and keep them out of trouble.”14 The three teammates all stayed at the local YMCA.

Aaron by his own admission “wasn’t much of a talker anyway, but in Eau Claire, you couldn’t pry my my mouth open.”15 Covington noted that “Hank was a very private individual. I don’t think at that time we were really trying to be close. We were trying so damned hard to make the team.”16 The quiet Aaron apparently was content to let his play do the talking for him,

On the field, Aaron ended his first week of play in style, when he stroked a bases-clearing triple that capped a five-run sixth inning and provided the winning margin as Eau Claire notched an 8-5 victory for their first win in seven games against Superior.

Aaron was hitless in the second game of the series, but bounced back with two hits and an RBI in the series finale on June 20. He also made two errors in the contest, one of which injured Superior catcher, Chuck Wiles. Wiles had walked in the top of the eighth to put runners on first and third. The next batter grounded to Bears second baseman Bob McConnell, who threw to shortstop Aaron to force Wiles, but Aaron’s relay throw to first struck Wiles in the head, allowing the tying run to score as the ball rolled into right field. Alfredo Ibanez, a pitcher who was forced to substitute at catcher for the injured Wiles, allowed the Bears to score the winning run on a passed ball in the bottom of the ninth.17

Wiles was hospitalized with a severe concussion and was even in a coma for three days. He was released after a two-week hospital stay, but the impact of the ball had damaged his inner ear to such an extent that his sense of balance was destroyed. He never played professional baseball again. Reflecting on the incident, Aaron wrote, “I felt horrible, and on top of everything else, they booed me in Superior every time I came to bat for the rest of the season.”18

Despite sweeping the league leaders, Eau Claire still occupied fourth place. The Bears moved one game above .500 at 23-22 and were riding a six-game winning streak as they embarked on a road trip to the Northern League’s North Dakota cities, Fargo and Grand Forks.

In Fargo on June 22 Aaron swatted his first Northern League home run. With the teams tied, 4-4, in the top of the 10th, Bears center fielder Collins Morgan blasted a two-run homer to give Eau Claire the lead. Aaron then faced Twins pitcher Reuben Stohs. Stohs recalled that the “count went to 3-and-2 and I threw a high fastball. I could see his eyes get wide. He went up on his toes to get that ball, and just whipped it out of the park.”19 The Bears shut down Fargo-Moorhead in the bottom of the inning to notch an 8-4 victory.

The next day, in the second game of a doubleheader with Fargo-Moorhead, Aaron hit his second home run, although it showcased his speed rather than raw power. According to the Eau Claire Telegram, Aaron “opened the fourth with an inside-the-park home run to deepest center field. It was the first inside circuit clout for the Bears this season.”20 Eau Claire swept that four-game series with the Twins to extend its winning streak to nine and moved up to third place.

Eau Claire ran its winning streak to 10 games before the Grand Forks Chiefs cooled off the Bears in the first game of a doubleheader on June 25. Aaron scored the Bears’ run in the 2-1 defeat by again showcasing his speed. He singled in the seventh inning, took second on a wild pitch, went to third on an infield out, and scored on another wild pitch to prevent Stan Burkholder from tossing a shutout. The Bears won the nightcap and headed home to Carson Park six games above .500.21

After dropping two out of three to Fargo-Moorhead, Eau Claire recovered to sweep a three-game set with Grand Forks and Aaron closed out June on a high note by hitting a home run, driving in three runs, and kicking off a six-run rally in the eighth inning with a leadoff single and a stolen base.22

Aaron kept right on going as the calendar turned to July. In the final game of a homestand on July1, according to the Telegram, he “sparked the Eau Claire attack for the second straight night. He drove in one run with a tremendous double to center field, scored twice and stole two bases.”23 The Bears completed another sweep of Grand Forks, 4-2.

In the same issue the Telegram reported on a visit by Billy Southworth, former Boston Braves manager, who was then serving as a roving scout for the organization. While the paper quoted Southworth as saying the Eau Claire infield was “pretty good defensively,” he made no particular mention of Aaron.24 (In his scouting report, Southworth did remark that “for a baby-face kid of 18 years his playing ability is outstanding.”)25

The Bears then traveled to St. Cloud, Minnesota, where Aaron would have the biggest game of his budding career.

After the Bears split the first two games with the Rox, the teams squared off in a morning/evening doubleheader on the Fourth of July, and the Bears shortstop provided plenty of fireworks. The Bears scored 10 runs in each game, with Aaron getting a combined six hits in 10 at-bats. His grand slam in the eighth inning of the morning contest powered the Bears to a 10-7 win. For an encore, he was 4-for-5 with two doubles in the nightcap, which Eau Claire won 10-3.26

The Bears returned home for a two-game set (which was reduced to a single game after a July 5 rainout). An overflow crowd of 3,770 filed into Carson Park to watch the Bears take on the Dukes (and to enjoy postgame fireworks). Dukes pitcher Vern Belt handcuffed the Bears for the most part, until Aaron doubled in the seventh inning and later scored to knot the score, 1-1. Duluth rallied for two runs in the eighth inning, but Aaron had a golden opportunity for some heroics in the bottom of the frame as the Bears loaded the bases with two outs. Instead, he lined directly to left fielder Dick Getter for the third out and Duluth went on to top the Bears, 3-2.27

The Bears continued inching up the standings, and their record stood at 40-28 on July 10. They trailed first-place Superior by 5½ games and second-place Sioux Falls by 2½. That day, Aaron joined four of his teammates in being named to an all-star squad that would take on the league-leading Blues. Aaron joined his skipper Adair, along with pitcher Bobby Brown, catcher Julie Bowers, and left fielder Covington on the all-star roster.28

Before the all-star break, the Bears faced a pair of three-game series with second-place Sioux Falls and fourth-place Aberdeen.

After Eau Claire and the Sioux Falls Canaries split the first two games at Carson Park, the rubber game on July 13 came down to an exciting finish. Aaron led off the eighth inning with a double to left field and scored the first run in a two-run rally to give the Bears a 4-2 lead. Eau Claire starter Bobby Brown gave up a two-run homer in the top of the ninth to Dick Wright and the game moved to the bottom of the ninth tied, 4-4. Back-to-back scratch singles by Dick Engquist and John Goryl chased Sioux Falls reliever Ray Grund. The Canaries brought Gordon VanDyke to the mound and Aaron launched a 350-foot homer over the fence in left-center to give the Bears a 7-4 walk-off win and move them only 2½ games out of second place.29

Aberdeen came to Eau Claire the following night and Aaron’s two-run homer to right field staked the Bears to a 2-0 lead after one inning en route to a 7-2 victory over the Pheasants. The Bears dropped a doubleheader to Aberdeen on the 15th but still held third place at the break.

The all-star game took place in Superior on July 16. Aaron started at shortstop for the league all-stars and batted second. He singled in the first inning in what turned out to be his only at-bat in the game. While sliding into second in an attempt to break up a double play, he twisted his ankle. After a visit to a Superior hospital, Aaron was diagnosed with a slight ankle sprain and was expected to miss two days to a week. Superior went on to win the game, 8-6 taking advantage of seven errors by the all-stars.30

As it turned out, Aaron missed only one game for the Bears and returned to the lineup on July 18 at Sioux Falls. His bat showed few ill effects from his injury, although he did commit several errors in the subsequent games. Eau Claire continued to hold third place and managed to creep slightly closer to Superior and the second-place Canaries.

At Grand Forks on July 28, Aaron clouted a three-run homer in the top of the third to give the Bears a 3-1 lead. The wallop must have kick-started the Bears offense, as they went on to rout the Chiefs in a 26-3 laugher and inched closer to second place.31

On August 5 the Bears swept seventh-place Fargo-Moorhead in a doubleheader that combined with a Sioux Falls loss, moved Eau Claire past the Canaries and into second place. (Eau Claire was still 8½ games behind Superior.) The next day the Bears tightened their grip on second with another win and a Canaries doubleheader loss, but disaster struck the Bears. Late in the game, Covington was hit in the head by a pitch and knocked unconscious. He was hospitalized in Eau Claire and expected to miss at least 10 days just as the Bears were heading into the home stretch.32

Eau Claire had a brief respite from league play on August 6 and met the House of David, a talented barnstorming team, for an exhibition game at Carson Park. The Bears dropped the contest, 5-2. Aaron was restricted to pinch-hitting duty by a sore hand, but he slapped a single in the ninth inning and later stole third, but was stranded there when the final out came.33

Still, Aaron was in the lineup the next day in Sioux Falls and contributed a double as the Bears whipped the Canaries 10-5 to keep their hold on second place. Sioux Falls won the next two games of the series, however, and the Bears moved on to Aberdeen, where the fourth-place Pheasants swept a three-game set and bumped the Bears back into third. The second game of the Aberdeen series, on August 11, would also mark Aaron’s most ignominious moment of the season, at least since his errant throw struck Superior’s Chuck Wiles in June.

This time, one of Aaron’s own teammates, first baseman Dick Engquist, was the victim; he was struck in the face by Aaron during batting practice. As Aaron described the incident, “I was taking batting practice left-handed, toying with the idea of becoming a switch-hitter, when the bat slipped out of my hand and broke the nose of one of my teammates. After that, I never again tried to bat left-handed. I regret that now, because after batting cross-handed for so long, I would have been a natural switch-hitter.”34

More injuries piled up for the Bears in August. As one writer noted, “Third baseman Johnny Goryl lost a pop fly in the sun; it hit him on the top of the head and knocked him out.” The Bears became so shorthanded that not only was Adair forced into action, the skipper also was forced to use three pitchers as infielders.35

After the disastrous trip to South Dakota, the Bears returned home to face Duluth on August 13. Aaron helped set the table in the seventh inning with a single ahead of Julie Bowers’ home run as the makeshift Bears snapped a five-game losing skid and won their 60th game of the season.36

Aaron went 3-for-4 at Superior on August 18, but the Bears dropped the rubber match of a three-game set. That day, Covington worked out for the first time since his injury, so Eau Claire still had hopes of salvaging second place.37

Covington returned to action to open a key series at home with Superior on August 22. Aaron contributed an RBI single as the Bears shut out the Blues 4-0 and moved Eau Claire back within a game of second place.38

In the second game of a doubleheader against Aberdeen in Carson Park on August 28, Gordon Roach tossed a seven-inning no-hitter with Aaron credited for turning a sharp double play in the sixth inning to help out his pitcher.39 The win gave the Bears a split and set up a final confrontation with Sioux Falls. Both the Bears and Canaries were nine games behind Superior, although Sioux Falls held second by percentage points.

Aaron was hitless in the three-game set, and Sioux Falls swept Eau Claire to take the season series, 11-7 and put a lock on second place, three games ahead of Eau Claire.

Eau Claire ended the regular season on Labor Day with a sweep of the St Cloud Rox. The Bears walked off both games, with Aaron contributing to both rallies. In the first game, his sacrifice moved Covington into scoring position, and Covington eventually tallied the winning run. In the nightcap, Aaron tripled in the bottom of the ninth with one out. With runners on the corners after an intentional walk, Aaron scampered home with the winning run as the Rox were unable to turn a double play on a grounder.40 Aaron’s final batting average stood at .336, second in the league to the .342 of Duluth’s Joe Caffie. Aaron finished with 9 home runs and 61 RBIs.41

Finishing the season 72-53, the Bears earned a date with pennant-winning Superior in the first round of the league playoffs. The series opened in Superior on September 3, and 1,600 fans saw both starters (Bobby Brown for Eau Claire and Alfredo Ibanez for the Blues) pitch the distance as Superior topped the Bears 5-4 in 12 innings. Aaron contributed two RBIs when he launched a two-run homer in the sixth.42

The action moved to Carson Park for the remainder of the best-of-three series. In the second game, Aaron had two hits, including a double, although he did not have a role in the Bears’ five-run winning rally in the eighth inning. Julie Bowers’ three-run home run provided the final fireworks to tie the series and set up a decisive game three.43

Aaron was hitless in the finale, although Bowers scored when Aaron reached on an error in the bottom of the first.44 Superior won the third one-run game of the series, 4-3, to advance to the Northern League finals, where they swept Sioux Falls.

For his stellar first season in Organized Baseball, Aaron was named the Northern League Rookie of the Year and the league all-star shortstop.45 The same day he was announced as an all-star, the Telegram reported that Aaron had been recalled by Evansville. As it turned out, Aaron would not spend the 1953 baseball season in Indiana. For the next step on his road to the majors, he would return to his native South for an eventful season in Jacksonville, Florida, on his way to the major leagues.

POSTSCRIPT

Wes Covington joined Aaron in Milwaukee in 1956. Eau Claire infielder Johnny Goryl also made it to the major leagues in 1957, making his debut playing for the Cubs against Aaron and the Milwaukee Braves. Goryl later played for and managed the Minnesota Twins. Bears skipper Bill Adair had a long career managing the minor leagues for several organizations and had a cup of coffee with the Chicago White Sox, for whom he served as an interim manager for 10 games in September 1970 (the White Sox went 4-6.)

TIM RASK has been a member of SABR since 1992. He is a former umpire-in-chief of the FIeld of Dreams (Iowa) Chapter, and has contributed to several SABR publications. He currently resides in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. During the summer months, he attends many games at Eau Claire’s Carson Park, the same ballpark where Henry Aaron played his first season in the minor leagues.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, eds., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, fourth edition (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2024).

NOTES

1 Thomas B. Pfankuch, “Aaron Swings Through Town,” Eau Claire (Wisconsin) Leader-Telegram, August 18, 1994: 2A.

2 “Bears Tie Appleton, Arrive Here,” Eau Claire Leader, May 1, 1952: 18.

3 “Bears Return Tomorrow for 11-Game Stand,” Eau Claire Telegram, June 11, 1952: 16.

4 Dan Schlossberg, Home Run King: The Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron (New York: Sports Publishing, 2024), 48-49,

5 Henry Aaron with Lonnie Wheeler, I Had A Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story (New York: Harper Collins, 1991), 52-53.

6 Aaron, 54.

7 “Adair Must Cut Player to Make Room for Aaron,” Eau Claire Telegram, June 14, 1952: 8.

8 Jerry Poling, A Summer Up North (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), 18.

9 Aaron, 58.

10 “Brown Takes Loss, Blaney Hits Homer,” Eau Claire Telegram, June 16, 1952, 11.

11 Aaron, 61.

12 Aaron, 55.

13 Poling, 34.

14 Aaron, 55.

15 Aaron, 57.

16 Poling, 38.

17 “Bears Win in Ninth, 5-4 to Sweep Series,” Eau Claire Telegram, June 21, 1952: 10.

18 “Aaron, 59-60.

19 Aaron, 59.

20 “Bears Win Two Behind Robinson, Brown,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, June 24, 1952: 10.

21 “Bears Split as Chiefs Snap Streak at Ten,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, June 26, 1952: 10.

22 “Bears Score Six in 8th, Beat Chiefs, 11-6,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, July 1, 1952: 14.

23 “Brown Hurls 4-2 Win, Bears Sweep Series,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram July 2, 1952: 10.

24 “Southworth Predicts Bears Will Soon Be in Flag Fight,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, July 2, 1952: 10.

25 Schlossberg: 49.

26 “Bears Slam St. Cloud Twice, 10-7, 10-3,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, July 5, 1952: 8.

27 “Bears’ Rally Falls Short, Dukes Win, 3-2,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, July 7, 1952: 8.

28 “Five Bears on Star Team,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, July 11, 1952: 9.

29 “Brown Hurls Win for Edge in Series,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, July 14, 1952: 10.

30 “Superior Cops Error-Studded Contest, 8-6,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram July 17, 1952: 18.

31 “Bears Batter Chiefs, 26-3; Take Series,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, July 29, 1952: 12.

32 “Bears Win, 8-7, Sweep Series From Twins,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, August 6, 1952: 14.

33 “Bears Lose to House of David, 5-2,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, August 7, 1952: 18.

34 Aaron: 60. Aaron recounts the incident as taking place earlier in the season and implies that it took place at roughly the same time as the throwing incident with Wiles.

35 “Patch-Work Bears Lose to Pheasants, 4-3,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, August 12, 1952: 8.

36 “Bears Break Losing String; Tip Dukes, 7-4,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, August 14, 1952: 18.

37 “Superior Tops Bears, 5-2, to Take Series,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, August 19, 1952: 10.

38 “Conroy Hurls Bears to 4-0 Win Over Blues,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, August 23, 1952: 8.

39 “Roach Hurls No-Hitter, Bears Split,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, August 29, 1952: 8.

40 “Bears Edge Rox, 4-3, 10-9; Finish Third” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, September 2, 1952: 8.

41 “Caffie Tops Aaron for Batting Crown,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, September 6, 1952: 11.

42 “Superior Cops in 12th, For Playoff Win,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, September 4, 1952: 14.

43 “Bears Rally to Win, 8-7, Square Series,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, September 5, 1952: 8.

44 “Blues Knock Bears Out of Playoffs, 4-3,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, September 6, 1952: 10.

45 “Three Bears Place on All-Star Squad,” Eau Claire Daily Telegram, September 26, 1952: 8.

Adding to the challenge was the fact that Aaron’s initial exposure to life in the minors in 1952 as a member of the Eau Claire Bears included no real racial dimension, a fact that made his experience in 1953 all the more jarring. Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the home of the Braves C-level affiliate, was almost 100 percent White, and that fact made Aaron more an object of curiosity than a target for derision or abuse.1 One of three Blacks on the team, the 18-year-old shortstop flourished on the field, hitting .336 with 9 home runs, 61 runs batted in, and 25 stolen bases in just 87 games. The performance earned him a promotion to the Jacksonville (Florida) Braves, the organization’s A-level club in the South Atlantic League, commonly known as the Sally League.

It was a very different place than Eau Claire. Indeed, while the level of baseball represented a promotion, the social conditions for a young Black man, a year before the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, in no way represented a step up from Eau Claire. In fact, not only had the Sally League not yet been integrated, but it was “widely considered to be the most hostile league for blacks in the minor-league system. Perhaps more than any minor league, the Sally represented the major challenge to integration.”2 So poisoned was its reputation that one author went so far as to say that in Jacksonville, Aaron “would have a more difficult time even than [Jackie] Robinson[,]” who at least had the “benefit of going to his home ballpark in Brooklyn half the time.”3

From the outset there were challenges, big ones. But while Aaron was switched to second base both to accommodate his teammate and fellow shortstop Felix Mantilla, and because he was seen as having a “natural throw from second, the challenges that Aaron faced had, for the most part, little to do with baseball.4 In fact, Aaron thrived on the diamond, experiencing little trouble between the lines. In the words of one biographer, Aaron “destroyed the opposition.”5 Indeed, before the season even officially started, the young second baseman offered a preview of what was to come in an April Fool’s Day preseason contest against the Boston Red Sox. As the Red Sox pummeled the Braves, 14-1, Aaron was a singular bright spot for Jacksonville, stroking two singles off southpaw Mel Parnell while preventing a shutout with a 400-foot home run off reliever Ike Delock in the eighth inning.6 Meanwhile, Aaron’s regular-season exploits were no less noteworthy with one particular highlight being back-to-back doubleheaders against Sally League rival Columbia in which he went 12-for-13.7

While leading Jacksonville to the Sally League pennant, Aaron won Most Valuable Player honors while compiling a stat line that featured a batting average of .362 with 22 home runs, 36 doubles, 14 triples, 115 runs scored, 125 runs batted in, and 338 total bases.8 And by season’s end he had acquired 13 wristwatches (most of which Aaron gave away to his teammates) as well as a dozen suits, all of which were awarded by local stores for a variety of baseball accomplishments. These rewards meant that Aaron was not only one of the best players in the minors, but he was also one of the best-dressed.9 In addition, the new team owner, Jacksonville businessman Sam Wolfson, the son of a Jewish immigrant and a longtime champion of the poor, was a man who had “been impressed by many of the players in the Negro American League” and was determined to integrate the team.10 In the same spirit as the local businessmen, Wolfson was known to leave envelopes of cash in a player’s lockers as a reward for outstanding play, no small reward given the salaries minor leaguers earned at the time. Aaron used his bonus money to buy his parents a television set.11 But as great as those numbers and the accompanying rewards and honors were, they reflected only one part of Aaron’s Jacksonville experience.

Quite simply, integrating the Sally League was a monumental task. As one author wrote, “The small towns that comprised the league were notorious – societies with little sophistication that enforced Jim Crow laws ruthlessly.”12 Indeed, the daily contradiction that was Aaron’s life as a Jacksonville Brave was summarized by iconic columnist Red Smith, who observed that Aaron “led the league in everything except hotel accommodations.”13

The realities of segregation were very much apparent in the living arrangements that Aaron, Mantilla, and teammate Horace Garner endured. In Jacksonville they were unable to live in the same place as their White teammates. Instead, they were provided a place to stay in the home of Jacksonville businessman Manuel Rivera, who, like Mantilla, was of both Puerto Rican and Black descent.14 Meanwhile, Aaron recalled, when the Braves were on the road, when the team arrived in a rival town for a road series, the bus driver would stop, get the team settled, and then take the Black trio “to their accommodations, usually a Black family on the ‘other side of the tracks.’”15

In fact, the pressure and challenges inherent in breaking the color line in the Sally League were obvious and constant. Aaron, Mantilla, and Garner had no choice but to always be on their best behavior, and if they forgot, the powers that be were always ready to remind them. Before their first game, the trio was told by Jacksonville’s mayor “that whatever they heard or fans tried to do to them, they must ‘suffer it quietly.’ Aaron would later call it the mayor’s Branch Rickey speech.”16 Such warnings were not limited to public officials. Indeed, “at the start of the 1953 season, Sally League umpires warned Aaron, Mantilla, and Garner not to engage with hostile white fans or opponents. They were also warned not to argue calls with umpires, in order not to incite white fans.”17 Given the racial dynamic of the times, it was not really a surprise, but it made for a less-than-even playing field as it quickly became apparent that “[o]ne result of the umpire edict was open season on black players. Pitchers threw at Henry, constantly sending him into the dirt.”18

Of course, all Sally League parks were segregated, which meant that Aaron and his Black teammates played before starkly divided crowds, one part of which proudly cheered on their fellow African Americans, thrilled at both their accomplishments and the fact that they were able to play. This was true both in Jacksonville and on the road, where racial pride often trumped team loyalties.19 Indeed, they cheered the most elemental plays, stomping their feet when a pop fly was caught. In one instance so many Black fans came out to see Aaron and his teammates that the stands collapsed.20 At the same time, they had to be wary of the often-differing response from the White section of the crowd. Indeed, the White fans were by no means content to simply watch a team that had been playing in Jacksonville for decades. Things were different now and rather than simply enjoy the game, some seemed focused on the fact that Aaron, Mantilla, and Garner had dared to intrude upon their previously all-White playground.

The abuse was unrelenting. Fans in the White sections regularly booed and heckled the Black players. It was not uncommon for fans to “wear mops on their heads and release black cats onto the field.”21 Furthermore, “Racial invective regularly rained down from the stands, and white and black fans yelled at one another from their segregated seats. In Augusta, Georgia, hostile spectators hurled rocks at Horace Garner. When the umpire used the loudspeaker to admonish people not to throw things onto the field, the crowd became even more inflamed. Aaron recalls Whites yelling, ‘N*****, we’re gonna kill you next time. Ain’t no N***** gonna squawk on no white folks down here.’”22 Mantilla recalled how Whites would yell from the stands, calling them “alligator bait.”23

Even in Jacksonville, before the home crowd, Aaron and his teammates had to hear fans telling them to “go back to the cotton fields.”24 While things improved as the season went on and the trio’s performances began to earn them respect, the challenges and abuse, regardless of the locale, were nonstop and ever-present and none were immune. If it weren’t catcalls and verbal abuse, it was rocks thrown from the White section of the bleachers.25 It was impossible to ignore. The 1953 season with the Jacksonville Braves presented a series of daily challenges, both at home and on the road. Indeed, when asked, “Which city was the worst?” Aaron responded, “You couldn’t say because they were all bad.”26

Adding to the challenge was the fact that not all the pressure came from outsiders. From the start, Aaron “proceeded gingerly, not assuming that even his own teammates were sympathetic to his situation. The reverse was often true: On more than one occasion White players who reached out to their black teammates could find themselves outcasts as well.”27 Indeed, on one trip to Columbia, South Carolina, a White teammate recalled offering to get food from a segregated restaurant. The players paid him, but the response from his White teammates, especially the Southerners, was less than welcoming.28 “They hated me just as much as they did Hank and Felix and them because I would do that.” That same teammate observed that Aaron “was real quiet in the clubhouse. Those guys, they knew they weren’t accepted by everybody, so they didn’t say and do a lot of things that we would do. It was just a lot of bullshit. It was the worst part. I was down there nine years and that was the worst thing in the nine years.”29

Fortunately, Aaron, Mantilla, and Garner had teammates who did accept them and supported them as ballplayers and as men. One of those was Ohio native Jim Frey, who spent 14 seasons in the minor leagues without ever reaching the majors before going on to a distinguished career as a major-league coach and manager.30 Frey “held Henry in high esteem. He loved his talent, but he also felt acute personal pain because of the abuse Henry endured in Jacksonville during the 1953 season.”31 Meanwhile, Mantilla also “remembered the good white teammates who made his and Henry’s time a bit easier.”32 Foremost among them was outfielder and North Carolina native Pete Whisenant, who “often made sure the black players were not isolated. Whisenant, Mantilla remembered, would often go out to dinner with Henry and Mantilla after games, looking for an integrated place where the teammates could hang out together.”33 But “[o]ften, as Mantilla recalled, such a small gesture could put them all at risk.”34

It was a learning process for all. Indeed, while teammates like Frey and Whisenant were learning about the challenges faced by their Black teammates in the South, Aaron and company “were watching the white players, taking in how they responded to their teammates’ humiliations, who they were as men.”35 Mantilla “recalled his time in the minor leagues as horribly oppressive, where race was consistently the determining factor in virtually every encounter, on or off the ball field. He remembered his difficulties in learning English and understanding the culture.”36

In the face of all of the abuse and the indignities heaped upon Aaron, Mantilla, and Garner, and despite being constantly reviled and subjected to untold amounts of verbal harassment, like Jackie Robinson in 1947, the three stayed focused on the game, regularly taking “their revenge at the plate.”37 Indeed, in one instance Aaron got five hits while he, Mantilla, and Garner reached base on 13 of their 14 times at bat.38 Frey recalled, “I never saw a black player who did anything but put his head down, played well, weather the storm. They had to.”39 Frey added, “It was just terrible what (Aaron) was subjected to. And he just took it all and hit. Baseball is a hard-enough game when everyone is rooting for you. You cannot believe what it must have been like to be Henry Aaron in 1953. It was a heartbreaking thing to watch.”40

One major source of support and comfort for Aaron and his Black teammates was Braves manager Ben Geraghty, who did much to help ease the tension. Aaron always called Geraghty “the best and most influential manager” he ever played for.41 A longtime baseball man and a New Jersey native, Geraghty “recognized Henry’s potential almost immediately[,]” realizing that he “possessed the ability to be not just a major-league player but a great, possibly transcendent one.”42 But in recognizing that talent he also knew that part of his job was to help Aaron maximize it. Consequently, for all his support, he was no less intent on helping make him a better player and “chided Henry constantly” to the young star’s benefit.43

Geraghty also realized that the toughest part of the experience was off the field, and he was a constant source of support in that area. Years later. Aaron remembered how, “[w]herever we stayed, Ben Geraghty would always make it a point to come over and see us. He had nothing special to say – he’d just drink a few beers and talk baseball – but it meant a lot to us that the manager would go out of his way to make us feel like part of the team.”44 Aaron recalled one time that the whole team was invited to Fort Benning, Georgia, but when it came time to eat “Horace, Felix and I were shuttled off to the kitchen. As soon as we sat down, here came Ben to join us. I’ve known white players and managers who will try to put on a good face around black players despite their real feelings, but there wasn’t a phony bone in Ben’s body. He was just a baseball man, and to him we were just baseball players. Besides that, he liked us.”45

But while integrating the Sally League had its own set of challenges, Aaron, unlike Jackie Robinson, “was not alone when he helped integrate the half-century-old” league. Rather, while he was considerably younger than Jackie Robinson was when Robinson joined the Dodgers, Aaron “had two black teammates as well as two African American opponents with league rival Savannah, Georgia.”46 But in reality “these numbers did not make Aaron’s Sally League season easy.”47 Indeed, it was still very much an experiment, a truth reflected in the fact that Montgomery had decided to wait before integrating its team, wanting to see how it went with Jacksonville and Savannah before taking the plunge.48

It was a challenge that made “perseverance … a prerequisite for black players.”49

As one observer noted, for Aaron, “the 1953 campaign was an exercise in perseverance, a crusade to prove the naysayers wrong.”50 Aaron himself recalled, “I’m sure that the Braves knew we were going to have some problems. … If we had failed, if we had come south and started arguing, fighting, and not having a good year, there would have been something for the press to talk about. … It would certainly have been something for everyone to say, ‘I told you so.’”51

Slowly, if haltingly, progress was made. Indeed, “[w]hile Jacksonville was busy integrating its team,” the team itself was “garnering increased revenues from the influx of African American and white fans eager to see Aaron, the league’s new superstar.”52 In fact, total attendance for the Braves in 1953 was more than twice what their predecessor the Jacksonville Tars had drawn the previous year.53 Indeed, as the season advanced and Aaron and Mantilla both made the midseason all-star game as the team powered toward its first league championship since 1912 when the team was known as the Jacksonville Tarpons, there was considerable evidence that “the crowds had warmed to their presence. They wore the right uniform.”54 Typical of the awkward progress, Mantilla remembered, was when after a victory in a “hard-fought contest,” a White fan “approached the two players [Aaron and Mantilla] easily. ‘I just wanted to say,’ the man said, ‘that you N*****s played a hell of a game.’”55

While the recognition was often grudging, in fact, Aaron, Mantilla, and Garner regularly “played a hell of a game,” a fact that was evident from the start. Indeed, based on their performances the previous year, as well as their team-leading efforts in the early days of the 1953 season, observers quickly recognized that racial issues aside, the three new players made Jacksonville a better team. As one columnist wrote in April, “We’re convinced. After watching the Jacksonville Braves of the Class A South Atlantic League soundly trim the Savannah Indians 19-3, in their home opener the other day we’ll have to go along with the facts. The Milwaukee Braves have one of the strongest, if not THE strongest Class A baseball team in the country today.”56 The Wisconsin writer asserted, “We’ll go so far as to say that the Jacksonville club will win the Sally League by at least 10 games this year,” noting that it had been years since Jacksonville had fielded a pennant-winner.57

And of course, at season’s end, in a decision Sally League President Dick Butler hailed as evidence that “the color barrier has been broken, there’s no doubt about that,” Aaron was the overwhelming choice for the league’s Most Valuable Player Award.58 It was an award his “team mates, white and Negro, said they never doubted” he would win.59 Yet the ever-modest Aaron was reported to be “a little surprised,” commenting, “I didn’t much expect it. I thought I might get some rookie award.”60 But Geraghty observed that Aaron was “far ahead of his nearest competitor” for the honor, adding that he was “an excellent team man largely responsible for the Braves being in first place since April.”61

In fact, his value to the team had been made clear when he was spiked in a game just days before the Sally League’s 50th Anniversary East-West Game, an injury that caused him to miss the game, which was particularly disappointing for the large Black crowd that had hoped to see the breakthrough star in action.62 The injury and Aaron’s possible absence from the Braves lineup sparked no small amount of concern. One writer observing that “[p]erhaps more than any individual, he is responsible for the Braves front running position in the pennant race,” said that the injury was viewed “as a major calamity by Braves followers.”63 Meanwhile, another writer observed that “[w]ithout Aaron’s bat the Braves are like a ship without a rudder.”64 Fortunately, Aaron recovered, and the Braves continued their march to the pennant.

As the season went on, more questions emerged about which position he should play going forward. While the shift to second base had been a challenge, it had not been a problem. Even so, the young infielder began taking fly balls in the outfield as the season continued.65

In the end, while the Braves won the regular-season crown, claiming their first pennant in decades, they fell short in the postseason playoffs, losing a seven-game series to the Columbia (South Carolina) Reds. While Aaron would look back on the season with justifiable pride, noting that he, Mantilla, and Garner “had played a great season of baseball in the Deep South under circumstances that nobody had experienced before and – because of us – nobody would again,” he could not escape Jacksonville without a final indignity.66 After clinching the pennant in Savannah, the team arranged for a party at a Savannah restaurant. However, Aaron, Mantilla, and Garner had to stay in the kitchen while the rest of the team partied in the restaurant. After a little while the team’s general manager gave Aaron and his teammates $50, telling them to have their own party. The trio ended up keeping $15 apiece and spending the remaining $5 on some beer.67 The players might have taken solace in the fact that things did get better when they returned to Jacksonville. The team held a party at a local country club, where Mr. Wolfson, as Aaron called him, was able to get the three Blacks admitted for the occasion. Even so, when a Black reporter arrived to cover the barrier-breaking event, he was not allowed inside.68

In the end, for all the travails, beyond their heroic and precedent-shattering efforts, the season in Jacksonville did yield one very large benefit unrelated to baseball for Henry Aaron. Days before the season began, while hanging around the ballpark, Aaron saw an attractive girl about his age heading into the post office. Clubhouse man T.C. Marlin, who was reputed to know everyone in that part of town, introduced the two.69 Initially hesitant, she said Aaron would need to meet her parents. Before long, the future Hall of Famer and and Barbara Lucas, a young student at a local business school, described as “tall and thin with sparkling green eyes,” were dating.70 It turned out that she had a brother who also played baseball and who would later sign with the Braves organization. After going together all summer, Aaron asked Barbara to marry him and accompany him to winter ball in Puerto Rico.71 It was the final step in an 18-month whirlwind that had seen the teenager go “from standing on the platform at the L&N Railroad station to playing in the Negro Leagues to being a married man.”72

Jacksonville had proved to be a tremendously important stop on Henry Aaron’s baseball journey, and for all the contradictory elements of the experience, not only did the city ultimately recognize it, but they wanted to be associated with Henry Aaron, the athlete and the man. That desire was made clear and official in 2021 when the City Council unanimously named the local field “Henry L. Aaron Field at J.P. Small Memorial Stadium.”73

BILL PRUDEN has recently retired after over 40 years as a teacher of American history and government. A SABR member for over two decades, he has contributed to SABR’s BioProject and Games Project as well as a number of book projects. He has also written on a range of American history subjects, an interest undoubtedly fueled by the fact that as a 7-year-old he was at Yankee Stadium to witness Roger Maris’s historic 61st home run.

NOTES

1 Howard Bryant, The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron (New York: Anchor Books, 2011), 44.

2 Bryant, 50.

3 Bryant, 50.

4 Jake Penland, “In the Press Box,” Columbia (South Carolina) State, July 24, 1953.

5 Bryant, 57.

6 F.C. Matzek, “Red Sox Display Their Wares on Jacksonville, Win, 14-1,” Providence Journal, April 2, 1953.

7 Bryant, 57.

8 Bryant, 57.

9 Hank Aaron with Lonnie Wheeler, I Had A Hammer (New York: Harper Perennial, 2007), 97; Scott A. Grant, “Hank Aaron’s Ties to Jacksonville Run Deeper Than You Think,” Ponte Vedra (Florida) Recorder, January 28, 2021; https://pontevedrarecorder.com/stories/hank-aarons-ties-to-jacksonville-run-deeper-than-you-think,11926.

10 “Hank Aaron’s Ties to Jacksonville Run Deeper Than You Think”; Dave Burkey, “Hank Aaron Played for the Jacksonville Braves in 1953,” JAX Examiner (Jacksonville), January 22, 2021; https://jaxexaminer.com/hank-aaron-played-for-the-jacksonville-braves-in-1953/.

11 Aaron, 97.

12 Bryant, 51.

13 Bryant, 191.

14 Scott Butler, “Hank Aaron Hammered Home Runs in Jacksonville in 1953; What Do We Know of Him Then?” Florida Times Union (Jacksonville), February 1, 2023; Anthony Castrovince, “Aaron Broke Barriers During Rise to Majors,” MLB.com; https://www.mlb.com/news/hank-aaron-broke-racial-barriers-in-minors.

15 Mark Arnold, “Saying Goodbye to Hammerin’ Hank Aaron-Part III,” From a Native Son, March 14, 2021; https://fromanativeson.com/2021/03/14/.

16 “70 Years Ago Aaron Integrated South Atlantic League,” RememberHenryHarris.com; https://rememberhenryharris.com/70-years-ago-aaron-integrated-south-atlantic-league/.

17 Bryant, 54.

18 Bryant, 54.

19 Chuck Williams, “Before he Was a Legend, Hank Aaron Came through Columbus on His Way To Stardom,” News3, Columbus, Georgia, January 22, 2021; https://www.wrbl.com/sports/before-he-was-a-legend-hank-aaron-came-through-columbus-on-his-way-to-stardom/.

20 Grant, “Hank Aaron’s Ties to Jacksonville Run Deeper Than You Think.” There is no information provided as to where this took place.

21 “Hank Aaron’s Ties to Jacksonville Run Deeper Than You Think.”

22 Bruce Adelson, Brushing Back Jim Crow (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1999), 2-3.

23 Bryant, 53-54.

24 Bryant, 52.

25 Mark Arnold, “Saying Goodbye to Hammerin’ Hank Aaron – Part III,” From a Native Son, March 14, 2021; https://fromanativeson.com/2021/03/14/.

26 Bryant, 52.

27 Bryant, 55.

28 Bryant, 55.

29 Bryant, 56.

30 “Jim Frey, Manager Who Flirted With Championships, Dies at 88.” New York Times, April 14, 2020.

31 Bryant, 51.

32 Bryant, 54.

33 Bryant, 54.

34 Bryant, 54.

35 Bryant, 52.

36 Bryant, 53.

37 Adelson, 3.

38 Adelson, 3.

39 Bryant, 55.

40 Bryant, 51-52.

41 Bryant 60.

42 Bryant, 56.

43 Bryant, 56.

44 Aaron, 88.

45 Aaron, 88-89.

46 Adelson, 2.

47 Adelson, 2.

48 Bryant, 54.

49 Bryant, 55.

50 Adelson, 3.

51 Adelson, 3.

52 Adelson, 67-68.

53 Jacksonville Tars Franchise History (1926-1952), Stats Crew, https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/t-jt12212; Jacksonville Braves Franchise History (1953-1960), Stats Crew, https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/t-jb12199.

54 Bryant, 54.

55 Bryant, 54.

56 Red Wyczawski, “Ex-Bears on Formidable Jacksonville Club,” Northwest Sportscope, Daily Telegram (Eau Claire, Wisconsin), April 22, 1953.

57 Wyczawski, “Ex-Bears…”

58 Ed Goins, “Negro Star Voted Award,” Durham Morning Herald (Durham, North Carolina), August 19, 1953.

59 “Henry Aaron, Negro Athlete is Voted Sally’s Most Valuable,” Panama City News-Herald (Panama City, Florida), August 19, 1953.

60 “19-Year-Old Henry Aaron Top Prize in Milwaukee Talent Hunt,” Evansville Press (Evansville, Indiana), September 3, 1953.

61 “Henry Aaron, Negro Athlete…”

62 Luther Thigpen, “Threatening Weather Held Crowd Down,” Macon News (Macon, Georgia), July 15, 1953.

63 Mercer Bailey, Henry Aaron Termed Key to Jacksonville’s Success,” Alabama Journal (Montgomery, Alabama), July 15, 1953.

64 Sam Glassman, “It Seems to Me,” Macon Telegraph (Macon, Georgia), August 11, 1953.

65 Whitney Martin, “Sports Trail,” Beckley Post-Herald (Beckley, West Virginia), October 27, 1953; “Jacksonville Star Selected on Twelve of Sixteen Ballots, Pittsburgh Courier, August 29, 1953.

66 Arnold, “Saying Goodbye…”

67 Aaron, 101.

68 Aaron, 101.

69 Aaron, 77-78

70 Bryant, 56.

71 Bryant, 57.

72 Bryant, 57.

73 Butler, “Hank Aaron hammered…”

Henry Aaron posing for a pre-game portrait in Puerto Rico. (Courtesy of Jorge Colon Delgado.)

Henry Aaron arrived in Puerto Rico as a teenager, a poor defensive infielder, and a minor leaguer. A few months later, he left a bona fide star, a father, and a major-league-ready outfielder.

The Milwaukee Braves wanted him to get additional experience in the island’s winter league. Though Aaron terrorized South Atlantic League (Sally) pitchers with a .362/.399/.589 slash line in 1953, he made 36 errors as a second baseman. His .947 fielding percentage was a slight improvement over his 1952 numbers as the Eau Claire Bears’ shortstop (35 errors in 87 games).

Despite his unquestionable offensive skills, Aaron acknowledged that he “needed a little money and all the ballplaying I could get. The Puerto Rican League was loaded with major-league pitchers, and it would be a good chance for me and the Braves to find out how ready I really was as a hitter.”1

Aaron, however, did not travel to the Caribbean by himself. Minor-league teammate Félix Mantilla eagerly volunteered to help him adjust to Puerto Rico, though the island’s racial harmony was a welcome change over the Sally cities. Both Aaron and Mantilla had married women they met during the 1953 season, and the quartet became fast friends.2

Former teammate Roberto Vargas recalled a skinny Aaron as a good but not great hitter, who “was taking too many strikes with men on base. Manager Mickey Owen told him the next time he took a strike with men in scoring position, he was going to fine him. So he even started swinging at the balls in the ground.”4

Though Caguas5 won its first three games, cleanup hitter Aaron started slowly (3-for-14).6 His sixth-inning double drove in Mantilla as the tying run on October 14 against the Leones of Ponce. Jim Rivera, who had previously walked, and Aaron would later be driven in by Dale Long as the Criollos won, 5-3.7 Aaron seemed tentative at the plate and was dropped to the seventh spot in the order on October 21 against Santurce.8 Less noticed but more importantly, he switched from second base to right field during the game, a move that would turn his season around.

Owen was mindful of Aaron’s development as a complete player, not just a hitter: “I knew where I could get a better second baseman than Aaron, [but] he could hit. So, one day I hit him a few fly balls and he went to it and got them easy, and he threw good. I said, you’re not an infielder, you’re an outfielder.”9 The transition solidified the club, as outfielders Luis Rodríguez Olmo (34 years old) and Juan “Tetelo” Vargas (47 years old) had lost a step.10 Smooth fielding Charlie Neal took over second base and formed a silky-smooth double-play combination with Mantilla.

The Caguas manager also “taught [Aaron] weight distribution and how to hold his hands steady. Owen saw that Henry possessed an uncommon ability as a hitter, and he took it upon himself to help refine that ability.”11 Owen saw similarities between Aaron and one of the sport’s greatest batsmen: “[D]on’t let anybody change you, because you’re going to be a good hitter and probably a great hitter if you take care of yourself. I could just see (Rogers) Hornsby in him the way he would take that whip swing and drive the ball all over the park. Both of them would get that big end of the bat around so fast. And they were both hitchers. They’d get their hands started before the swing, like a sprinter getting a running start. Aaron was even the same size as Hornsby. I believe if he hadn’t started thinking about home runs later on, he would have had some years when he batted .400, just like Hornsby.”12

On October 22 Aaron injured his ankle running to first base and missed a few games,13 perhaps a blessing in disguise as he was homerless in 24 at-bats with a .208 average.14 According to Roberto Vargas, Owens “told Aaron ‘if you have men on scoring position and you take a strike, I will fine you’ so he would be more aggressive at the plate.”15

Aaron began to turn a corner on October 30 against San Juan. He singled twice, tripled, and drove in two runs in a 10-9 loss to the San Juan Senators.16 He surpassed .300 in early November and reached .310, fourth-best in the league, by November 3.17 Though Caguas lost 5-3 to Ponce on November 30, Aaron “won the highest cheer of the night as he nabbed Wilson’s long drive by climbing the right field fence.”18

His average reached .363 by late November, but he had clouted only two home runs.19 By December 8, Aaron was in the top 10 in various offensive categories with a .352 batting average, 19 RBIs, 19 runs, 9 doubles, and 3 home runs.20

Aaron was tied with Luis “Canena” Márquez with a .343 batting average as play halted for the All-Star Game.21 The contest, played in Caguas on December 23, provided Aaron with another venue to display his considerable talents. He walloped two home runs (which cleared the bleachers behind center field), a double, and a single to lead the “Imports” (non-Puerto Ricans) over the “Natives” (Puerto Ricans or those of Puerto Rican heritage), 11-1.22 He was named the game’s Most Valuable Player and won a 60-yard dash before the contest.23 Natalio Irizarry, who threw 29 consecutive scoreless innings during the regular season and led the league with a 1.49 ERA, was pleased that Aaron’s “450-foot plus HR off me in the All-Star Game” did not count against his season totals.24

Aaron leapfrogged past Márquez by December 28, aided by a 4-for-5 game against San Juan on December 26.25 He provided two singles, a double, and a 400-foot home run (his sixth) in Caguas’s 11-3 victory. Aaron drove in four of the team’s runs.26

As 1953 ended, Aaron led the league in batting with a solid 13-point lead over Márquez (.357 to .344). The Sporting News’s end-of-the year article on the Puerto Rican Winter League called out Aaron as a “Negro whiz who won the Sally League batting title this year with .362.”27

Caguas and Mayagüez split a January 4 doubleheader, and though Aaron (3-for-6) beat Márquez (1-for-4),28 the lead had narrowed to six percentage points by the end of that week (.343 to .337).29 The Criollos suffered a harrowing scare on January 8 when Aaron and Rivera collided while chasing a line drive. Both outfielders left the game.30

Henry Aaron rounds third after one of his league-leading nine home runs, tied with Caguas teammate Jim Rivera. (Courtesy of Jorge Colon Delgado)

By January 14 Márquez led the batting race, .347 to .336, as both teams were tied for second place, but Aaron’s bat was thunderous in a January 13 victory over the Santurce Cangrejeros (Crabbers).31 He walloped a three-run blast in the eighth inning to give Caguas an 8-5 win.32 On January 15 Caguas lost a doubleheader in Mayagüez and Aaron managed only one hit.33 He hit his ninth and last home run of the season on January 21, part of a three-hit performance against Santurce to regain the batting race lead.34 El Mundo joked that “Canena (Márquez) and Aaron are playing heads or tails,” in reference to the hitting crown.35

Márquez overcame Aaron for good after January 29, .342 to .339,36 as Aaron began a 3-for-18 slide to drop his average to .322. Caguas, however, clinched first place on February 3 with a 3-0 victory over Ponce.37 As regular-season champions, the Criollos earned a spot in the playoff finals. Their opponents were decided in a best-of-seven series between Mayagüez and San Juan. The Indios (Indians) beat the Senadores (Senators) to pit Márquez and Aaron against each other in the finals.38 During the season, Márquez (27-for-69, .391) and Aaron (19-for-60, .317) brought out the best of each other in games between their teams.39

Rain delayed the first game of the finals to February 11. Caguas edged Mayagüez, 5-3, with Márquez (1-for-4, 2 runs) outperforming Aaron (0-for-3).40 The next day Mayagüez took the second game, 5-1, with both Márquez and Aaron going 1-for-4.41 Aaron contributed a double and a home run in the third game, a 7-1 Caguas victory on February 13.42 The Criollos won a thrilling 1-0 game on February 15, though neither Márquez (0-for-4) nor Aaron (1-for-3) played a key role.43 Aaron went 2-for-5 with one RBI in the February 16 clincher, an 11-0 whitewash.

Márquez was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the regular season, but Aaron won the slugging title, drove in 42 runs, stole seven bases, scored 37 runs, hit 16 doubles, and tied Rivera with nine home runs. Rivera, who played 10 years in the big leagues, recalled, “When he was with us at the bat, he never pulled the ball. He hit the ball where it was pitched. He hit a lot of balls to center field, right-center and right field. I couldn’t believe when I saw he became a good pull hitter later on. That’s how he hit all of those home runs; he had great wrists.”44

Opposing hurlers were clear in their assessment. San Juan left-hander Jack Harshman noted that “he had absolutely great hand-wrist action. I had him 0-and-2 once and threw him a high and inside fastball to force him away from the plate. But he leaned back and hit it over the center field wall. Aaron had the best hands I’ve ever seen.”45 Luis Arroyo, future Yankee and Pirate, found “Aaron was a no-nonsense player with Caguas and mature for his age … went from A ball to Puerto Rico and the major leagues quickly.”46 Bob Turley remarked, “[Y]ou could tell Aaron had a major-league stroke … by the way he sprayed the ball to right and right-center.”47 Cangrejeros ace Rubén Gómez found the youngster “quiet, respectful, baseball-smart, disciplined,” a sentiment echoed by his teammate Bill Greason: “hard-working kid consistent, very mature for his age.”48 Tommy Lasorda was more succinct: “It was hard to pitch to Aaron with his reflexes and talent.”49

Perhaps the only drawback of Aaron’s season was not playing in the Caribbean Series: “[W]hen he wrapped up the season with the Criollos, he did not accompany the team to the Caribbean Series because the Braves called him for spring training.”50 There was another benefit, as he “wanted to show my parents – and Barbara’s – their new granddaughter. Our first child, Gaile, was born in Puerto Rico and spent her first couple of months in the little house we rented there.”51

By Aaron’s own admission, he had been told that “no matter how he hit (in Puerto Rico), he would spend the entire 1954 season in Toledo.”52 Luck intervened: Bobby Thomson, Milwaukee’s expected left fielder, broke his ankle on March 13, so the position was up for grabs. Aaron seized the opportunity and finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting, averaging .280/.322/.447 in 122 games, despite missing roughly a month with his own broken ankle on September 5.

Caguas and Milwaukee had discussed Aaron’s return for the 1954-1955 season, but his injury prevented a second Caribbean foray. Fully healed after a restful postseason, he reached superstardom in 1955 and was selected to the first of his record-setting 25 consecutive All-Star Game appearances.53

Aaron was grateful for the opportunity to hone his skills: “There’s no question [the year in Puerto Rico] was a steppingstone in my getting to the major leagues. It gave me confidence.”54 He would occasionally return to Puerto Rico, including throwing out the first pitch at the 1976 All-Star Game and a 2007 visit with Sadaharu Oh for the World Children’s Baseball Fair.55 He fondly recalled his stay: “I learned a lot in Caguas. … That’s where I became an outfielder, thanks to my manager, Mickey Owen. … I played alongside my good friend, almost brother, Félix Mantilla … and my daughter Gaile was born in Caguas in 1954.”56

TONY S. OLIVER is a native of Puerto Rico currently living in Sacramento, California, with his wife and daughter. While he works as a Six Sigma professional, his true love is baseball and he cheers for both the Red Sox and whoever happens to be playing the Yankees. He is fascinated by baseball cards and is currently researching the evolution of baseball tickets. He believes there is no prettier color than the vibrant green of a freshly mown grass on a baseball field.

NOTES

1 Tom Van Hyning, “Remembering Hank Aaron’s Remarkable 1953-54 season in Puerto Rico,” Béisbol 101, January 24, 2021, https://beisbol101.com/remembering-hank-aarons-remarkable-1953-54-season-in-puerto-rico/.

2 Ennis Davis, “Four Hammering Hank Aaron Sites in Jacksonville,” The Jaxson Mag, February 23, 2021, https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/four-hammering-hank-aaron-sites-in-jacksonville/.

3 “Aaron es líder en seis fases,” El Mundo, August 24, 1953: 1; Ed Goins, “La Ambición de Aaron: Refuerzo de los Criollos Aspira Llegar a Bravos,” El Mundo, September 3, 1953: 17.

4 Nick Diunte, “Hank Aaron’s Lone Season in Puerto Rico Forever Altered His Path to the Hall of Fame,” Forbes, January 22, 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickdiunte/2021/01/22/hank-aarons-lone-season-in-puerto-rico-forever-altered-his-path-to-the-hall-of-fame/amp/.

5 Officially, the Caguas franchise was known as the Criollos Brujos of Caguas-Guayama during 1953-54. The original Brujos (Warlocks) of Guayama were one of the league’s original teams but folded after four seasons. Given the proximity of the two cities, the co-branding made sense, but the Criollos played only in the Solá Morales Stadium of Caguas that year. Mayagüez was given the Indios Tiburones moniker, playing on the city’s proximity to Aguadilla, home of the former Tiburones (Sharks) franchise.

6 “Promedios Generales,” El Mundo, October 17, 1953:

7 Miguel Rivera, “Mayagüez y Caguas se Mantuvieron Invictos al Ganar Anoche,” El Mundo, October 15, 1953: 19.

8 “Box Scores,” El Mundo, October 23, 1953: 18.

9 Diunte.

10 In 2013, to commemorate the league’s 75th anniversary, both Rodríguez Olmo and Vargas were named among the league’s top 75 players of all time.

11 Howard Bryant, The Last Hero (New York: Pantheon Books, 2010), 60, 239.

12 Hank Aaron and Lonnie Wheeler, I Had A Hammer (New York: Harper Collins, 1991), 79, 80.

13 “Aaron es 4to lesionado,” El Mundo, October 23, 1953: 20.

14 “Promedios Generales,” El Mundo, October 24, 1953: 19.

15 “Roberto Vargas: Part 2,” SABR Oral History Collection, August 8, 1992, https://sabr.org/interview/roberto-vargas-1992/

16 “San Juan se Impuso al Caguas, 10-9,” El Mundo, October 31, 1953: 1.

17 “Líderes,” El Mundo, November 4, 1953: 1.

18 Miguel Rivera, “Debutante Rotblatt, el perdedor,” El Mundo, November 21, 1953: 1.

19 “Líderes,” El Mundo, November 24, 1953: 1.

20 “Líderes,” El Mundo, December 8, 1953: 1.

21 Santiago Llorens, “Imports Win Puerto Rican All-Start Tilt,” The Sporting News, January 6, 1954: 22.

22 Through 2024, only five players have hit a pair of home runs in an all-star game: Josh Gibson, Roberto Clemente, Ismael Oquendo, and Candy Maldonado.

23 The format of the all-star game has changed over the years. For many decades it featured the “Metropolitan area” (San Juan, Santurce, Caguas/Bayamón) against the “rest of the island” (Ponce, Mayagüez, Arecibo). It is now an interleague competition between the stars of the Puerto Rican and Dominican Republic Winter Leagues.

24 Thomas Van Hyning, “Remembering Hank Aaron’s Remarkable 1953-54 season in Puerto Rico.”

25 “Líderes,” El Mundo, December 28, 1953: 1.

26 Héctor Barea, “Caguas Explotó a Harshman y Aaron Dió 5-4 en Victoria, 11-3,” El Mundo, December 28, 1953: 1.

27 Santiago Llorens, “Braves’ Kids Help Caguas in Flag Fight,” The Sporting News, December 30, 1953: 23.

28 “Box Scores,” El Mundo, January 4, 1954: 19.

29 “Líderes,” El Mundo, January 8, 1954: 19.

30 “Hit Smith,” El Mundo, January 9, 1954: 15, 17.

31 “Líderes,” El Mundo, January 14, 1954: 1.

32 Héctor Barea, “Jonrón Aaron en 9o. Dió Triunfo a Caguas Sobre Santurce, 8-5,” El Mundo, January 14, 1954: 1.

33 El Mundo, January 16, 1954:1 15, 177.

34 “Aaron Dió 9º Jonrón; Pasó 1º en Bateo,” El Mundo, January 22, 1954: 1.

35 “Bombones,” El Mundo, January 25, 1954: 1.

36 Héctor Barea, “Los Criollos a ½ Juego de la Tribu,” El Mundo, January 30, 1954: 1.

37 “Box Scores,” El Mundo, February 5, 1954: 19.

38 From 1951-1952 to 1957-1958, the league’s top three teams qualified for the postseason. Since then the format has switched to two semifinal series (1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3), a round-robin playoff (1980s-1990s), and back to the current semifinal setup.

39 Guido Ortiz, “El Mayagüez con Dominio en Ofensiva,” El Mundo, February 10, 1954: 1.

40 Miguel Rivera, “Caguas-G. al Frente en Serie Final al Ganar Buhl, 5-3,” El Mundo, February 12, 1954: 1.

41 “Tribu Empató Serie con Triunfo de Valentine, 5-1,” El Mundo, February 13, 1954: 1.

42 El Mundo, February 15, 1954: 22-23.

43 “Box Score,” El Mundo, February 17, 1954: 17.

44 Diunte.

45 Van Hyning, “Remembering Hank Aaron’s Remarkable 1953-54 season in Puerto Rico.”

46 Van Hyning.

47 Van Hyning.

48 Van Hyning.

49 Van Hyning.

50 Jorge Figueroa Loza, “Hank Aaron: Fallece una leyenda de las Grandes Ligas,” El Nuevo Dia, January 23, 2021: https://www.pressreader.com/puerto-rico/el-nuevo-dia1/20210123/281535113650281.

51 Aaron and Wheeler, 80.

52 Bryant, 57.

53 Aaron was an All-Star in 21 straight years but played in 25 contests. From 1959 to 1962, two All-Star Games were played each year.

54 Thomas Van Hyning, Puerto Rico’s Winter League: A History of Major League Baseball’s Launching Pad (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 1995), 19. Van Hyning cites USA Today, December 22, 1988, as the original source.

55 Matt Rothenberg, “Hank’s Giving: Henry Aaron’s Legacy Continues Off the Field,” Baseball Hall of Fame, https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/support/hank-aaron-continues-legacy-through-giving.

56 Luis Rodríguez Mayoral, “Hank Aaron, genial pelotero que vivió agradecido de Puerto Rico,” Béisbol101, January 22, 2021, https://beisbol101.com/hank-aaron-genial-pelotero-que-vivio-agradecido-de-puerto-rico/.

New Orleans was long considered a “baseball town,” despite never having a major-league franchise located there.

Going back to the 1880s, the city had been the home of the minor-league New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans’ last season in New Orleans was 1959. Before Florida and Arizona became the primary sites for major-league spring-training camps, eight major-league teams conducted their camps in the city from 1900 to 1939.1

New Orleans area high schools produced their share of professional players from the 1920s to the 1960s. Major leaguers like Mel Ott, Mel Parnell, Howie Pollet, Connie Ryan, Putsy Caballero, Al Jurisich, Jack Kramer, George Strickland, and Rusty Staub were signed out of high school by major-league teams. A New Orleans Times-Picayune article in 1939 reported that 100 professional players that season had ties to the city.3

The city’s attempt to attract a major-league team was triggered by the construction of the Louisiana Superdome in the early 1970s. Following the lead of Houston, which built the Astrodome as the home of its major-league baseball Astros and NFL Oilers teams, Louisiana state officials and local businessmen wanted to build a multisport domed stadium in New Orleans. It was their intention to accommodate baseball in addition to the existing NFL Saints and NBA Jazz franchises.4

Aaron played his first big game in New Orleans decades earlier. He began his major-league career with the Milwaukee Braves as a 20-year-old in 1954. By 1956 he had established himself as a legitimate star, as he led the National League in hits (200), batting average (.328), and total bases (340). He finished third in the National League MVP voting, behind Dodgers pitchers Don Newcombe and Sal Maglie.

After the 1956 regular season, Willie Mays hand-picked a barnstorming team of Black players who toured Southern cities and played exhibition games against a team of Negro American League players. Aaron was one of the players featured on Mays’ team, called the Major League All-Stars. Cincinnati Reds outfielder Frank Robinson, the 1956 National League Rookie of the Year, and New York Yankees outfielder-catcher Elston Howard were also on the team.5

With the city’s past history with Negro League baseball, the exhibition games on November 4 and 6 between the two teams were highly anticipated events within the Black community. The games were scheduled at Pelican Stadium, the ballpark of the hometown minor-league Pelicans, as well as the Negro League teams when the Pelicans played out of town. The first game, on a Sunday, drew over 5,300 fans. After the major leaguers scored once in the first inning, Aaron hit a two-run home run in the third. The Negro Americans tied the score in the fourth, and it remained even until the ninth inning. The Major League All-Stars finally prevailed, 4-3, on an RBI single by Al Smith.6 The second game scheduled for two days later was canceled because of rain.7

Aaron followed his barnstorming stint with an MVP season in 1957 in which he led the National League with 44 home runs and 132 RBIs and helped propel the Braves to their first World Series championship since 1914.

Henry Aaron returned to New Orleans for a 1984 Old-Timers game in the Louisiana Superdome and hit a two-run homer off Bob Feller in the first inning. (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

Henry Aaron and Tommie Aaron crossing bats at Bradenton, Florida on March 1, 1962. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

“Relationships between brothers can be complex things,” concluded the award-winning author Tom Stanton, right after commenting about Hank Aaron and his far less famous Braves teammate, his brother Tommie. Stanton was mainly expressing empathy for Tommie having to play in the imposing shadow of his Hall of Fame brother, and the author was by no means alone in having done so. Still, he provided a valuable insight into the health of the dynamic between the two: “Almost every lengthy story about Tommie Aaron included comments from Hank, who played the role of big brother admirably, deflecting some of the spotlight off himself and onto his sibling,” Stanton said. In the case of the two Aaron brothers, Stanton perceived value in understanding that relationship, or at least in trying.1 In fact, other writers who were clearly intrigued by the relationship between the Aarons offered insights worth pondering.

This complexity probably means one should tread carefully, especially with regard to generalizations. It might help to keep in mind that how sportswriters perceived the relationship between the Aaron brothers while both were still alive could have been very different from how they perceived their relationship many years later. If so, that would be thanks to the advantage of hindsight, just as halls of fame commonly have a waiting period before a retired player can be considered for enshrinement.

It might be necessary to explain seemingly inconsistent or even contradictory statements, if not behavior, by the brothers – assuming such statements were sincere. That said, relationships between brothers can certainly change over time, for better or worse, or some of both. Also, comments are sometimes made in the proverbial heat of the moment. Of course, sportswriters are external to such family dynamics, but it’s possible that any “dirty laundry” they might air could undermine brotherly bonds, if it makes it back to the siblings. In the particular case of the Aaron brothers, that was quite rare. Tom Stanton would clearly agree that if any common practice in sports journalism could damage the rapport between the Aaron brothers, it was when the large gap between the outputs of their playing careers served as the basis for a trivia question. It was practically a trick question, asking which brothers combined for the most career major-league home runs. “The nugget of trivia came at Tommie Aaron’s expense, reducing him to a punch line,” Stanton bemoaned.2 The Aarons remain the correct answer, but Henry hit 755 to Tommie’s 13.

Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising example of a reaction in print to this trivia question was in 1998, by a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and author of multiple New York Times bestselling books, Harvey Mackay. “Ninety million kids play baseball and dream of reaching the majors; only a handful do,” Mackay said in defense of Tommie Aaron. He then compared Tommie to a very different brother who was likewise relegated to a secondary status, namely Milton Eisenhower, who “was nobody’s comedy foil,” despite being a younger brother of President and General Dwight Eisenhower. Milton, Mackay noted, had been “president of Kansas State University, Penn State and Johns Hopkins. Who wouldn’t be proud of that kind of record?”3

If journalists questioned the strength of the relationship between Henry and Tommie Aaron, it was often simply by pointing out the difference between their ages, which was more than five years. Especially in such a large family, including three sisters and other brothers, such observations seemed to assume that it was unlikely for Henry and Tommie to have been close as the two were growing up. However, Howard Bryant noted in his book on Henry that in the family’s home at 2010 Edwards Avenue in Mobile (which has been preserved elsewhere as the Hank Aaron Museum), Henry shared a bed with Tommie and their oldest brother, Herbert Jr.4

When Tommie joined the parent club at the start of the 1962 season, there was an additional reason for the two bothers to spend considerable time together: They were instantly roommates when the Milwaukee Braves made road trips. Félix Mantilla had previously been Henry’s roommate on the Braves, but after the 1961 season Mantilla was selected by the New York Mets in the National League expansion draft. Henry’s autobiography said Tommie had reached the majors “just in time, (because) I needed a roommate on the road.” Henry didn’t mention any concern about loneliness as the only Black player on the roster, but it seems plausible to read that between the lines. Henry quickly switched to a humorous tone when he called Tommie “a great roommate, except for one morning at the Chase Hotel in St. Louis.” The elder Aaron recalled eating breakfast on his bed when the room’s air-conditioner exploded and burst into flames, causing smoke to quickly fill their room. He speculated that Tommie had earlier been “fiddling” with it, though quickly conceded, “I don’t know what happened, really.” Henry bemoaned the fact that everything in the room was ruined but then quipped, “The people who ran the Chase probably figured that’s what happens when you start letting in the coloreds.”7

Tommie Aaron. (SABR-Rucker Archive)

In actuality, it was Tommie who was thought to have a more obvious sense of humor than Henry, and it bolstered their rapport. “Tommie was always quick with a laugh,” noted their former teammate Joe Torre, “and he made it easier for Hank.”8 Howard Bryant said that “having Tommie in the big leagues changed the dynamic of the Braves clubhouse” for the better, because he was so popular with coaches and managers, in addition to teammates. “Having Tommie on the club brought Henry even closer to the city and the club,” Bryant asserted (emphasis added).9 “Their personalities came from opposite poles, with Tommie the talkative, outgoing type and Henry the Quiet Man. But the younger brother had the gift of gab plus the sense of humor that touched the heart and soul of his introverted but famous sibling,” wrote another Aaron biographer, Dan Schlossberg. “He made Hank laugh, though Tommie’s constant trips up and down between the majors and minors were no laughing matter to the brothers. They hated their separations.”10

Tommie Aaron celebrated his 35th birthday during his first season as a minor-league manager, of Double-A Savannah in 1974. He appeared in more than 100 minor-league games during 1973 as a player-coach but didn’t play at all during 1974. Though plenty of players continue on professional rosters well into their 30s, presumably Tommie knew he wasn’t going to be a player again. Whenever that realization occurred, it might have caused his perception of Henry to shift. Regardless, after the 1974 minor-league season ended, he reflected on their relationship. “You know, I kind of enjoy it, having a brother like that,” Tommie said. One sportswriter was convinced that at the start of Tommie’s baseball career, the likelihood of being compared to Henry routinely, and never being comparable, hadn’t occurred to him. “Maybe if it had, I wouldn’t have signed with the Braves.”11 It’s possible Tommie was simply saying what he thought the reporter wanted to hear, though longtime Braves scout and executive Paul Snyder, for one, was convinced that Tommie “was very genuine.”12

Tommie also offered an interesting comment about Henry’s disappointment that neither of the Aaron brothers was seriously considered by Atlanta Braves general manager Eddie Robinson to fill the club’s midseason managerial vacancy around the time their former teammate Eddie Mathews was fired on July 21, 1974. “Hank never talked about managing before,” said Tommie, “but if he wants to be, I’d be happy for him.”13 That could’ve been interpreted as an acknowledgment by Tommie that he and Henry had been out of touch. In fact, Henry had been consistent but only up to a point, with statements like, “I think Eddie Robinson should have had the courtesy to ask me if I was interested. I don’t want to manage, but I think he should have asked me if I did.” Henry’s change of mind was characterized as rather abrupt when he then told NBC broadcaster Tony Kubek, “I think I would accept at this time simply because there are no black managers in the major leagues.”14

Henry spoke to this sequence of events in his autobiography, explaining how he didn’t think he’d contradicted himself, but rather “was just telling the rest of the story.”15 Henry also spoke bluntly about Robinson’s stated reason for not considering Tommie for the vacancy, that the club didn’t want to interfere with the younger Aaron as he managed Savannah during a pennant race. “That was pure malarkey,” Henry wrote. “I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a situation where the organization considered the welfare of the minor-league club ahead of the major-league club.”16 It’s possible Henry Aaron was faking this indignity on behalf of his brother, though it’s difficult to see what he might have gained by such insincerity.

After the Aaron brothers were no longer major-league teammates, the next time they were closest in a baseball context may have been in 1977 and 1978, after Henry had retired as a player and taken an executive position in Atlanta’s front office and while Tommie peaked as a minor-league manager with the Triple-A Richmond Braves. Before the 1978 season, a Richmond sportswriter credited both Tommie and Henry, the latter as minor-league director, with making the tough decisions to assemble Richmond’s roster.17 The result was ultimately winning the International League’s playoffs in September, after which Tommie became a coach with Atlanta.18

It probably surprised few baseball fans in 1981 that, despite Henry’s having been retired for half a decade, plus Tommie having proved himself as a manager atop the minor leagues and having settled in as a Braves coach, the younger Aaron couldn’t escape a familiar shadow. “Fans and media representatives alike also usually get around to prodding Tommie for answers about Hank’s habits, his childhood, his stardom, and even his personal affairs,” noted one minor-league beat writer. “It’s Hank this and Hank that.” Tommie demonstrated that his attitude about his brother hadn’t changed over two decades. “I knew I wasn’t the same kind of player,” he said. “If I would have pretended to be, I would have only put pressure on myself. I went out and played my game of baseball.”19

Leukemia took the life of Tommie Aaron at Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital on August 16, 1984, just 11 days past his 45th birthday. In addition to his wife and their three children, he was survived by both of his parents and six of his siblings.20 According to Howard Bryant, for well over two years before Tommie died, Henry phoned him every day, and often took him food during his extended illness. His widow said everyone at Tommie’s deathbed was startled when the end came and Henry punched a window in the hospital room.21 “Tommie never demonstrated any pain until the very last night before he passed,” said Henry Aaron. “It was the hardest night of my life.”22 Given the consistently of their comments about one another for so long, Henry’s assertion is quite easy to take at face value.

Bryant, writing in 2010, commented on the Aaron brothers’ respective genuineness, implying that when Henry was so serious in large groups, he wasn’t revealing his full personality. “Tommie Aaron was the one person who had bridged that gap with Henry, perhaps, apart from [Henry’s wife] Billye, better than any other person in Henry’s life,” Bryant concluded. “Tommie could swear and joke and loosen Henry up in public to the point where, around Tommie, Henry Aaron was a different person.”23 Dan Schlossberg, another Aaron biographer, had four full decades after Tommie Aaron’s death to reflect on the true nature of his relationship with Henry. “Tommie himself never won an MVP as a major league player,” Schlossberg noted, “but he was the Most Valuable Player for many who knew him, including his brother.”24

RICH BOGOVICH is the author of Frank Grant: The Life of a Black Baseball Pioneer. His prior book profiled another pre-1920 Hall of Famer, Kid Nichols. He has contributed chapters to more than a half-dozen SABR books on Negro Leaguers. In 2023 he solved the mysterious disappearance of Negro Leagues superstar Dave Brown a century ago. Richard has degrees from Northern Illinois University and is office manager of the Wendland Utz law firm in Rochester, Minnesota.

NOTES

1 Tom Stanton, The Road to Cooperstown: A Father, Two Sons, and the Journey of a Lifetime (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2003), 114. For Stanton’s credentials, see https://www.tomstanton.com/.

2 Stanton, 113-114.

3 Harvey Mackay, “Take Pride in Legacy of Your Own,” Fresno Bee, August 30, 1998: C4.

4 Howard Bryant, The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron (New York: Pantheon Books, 2010), 26.

5 Bryant, 292.

6 “Tom Aaron of Braves to Wed Nurses’ Aide,” Milwaukee Journal, October 10, 1962: 2, 19; Atlanta Braves’ Public Relations Department, Atlanta Braves 1984 Guide for Press, Radio and Television, February 15, 1984: 7.

7 Hank Aaron with Lonnie Wheeler, I Had A Hammer: The Hank Aaron Story (New York: Harper Perennial, 2007), 224-225.

8 Bryant, The Last Hero, 292.

9 Bryant, 292, 293.

10 Dan Schlossberg, Home Run King: The Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron (New York: Sports Publishing, 2024), 158.

11 Alan Lassila, “Tommie Aaron Makes Name for Himself – as Manager,” Sarasota (Florida) Journal, September 19, 1974: 1D.

12 Bryant, The Last Hero, 449.

13 Lassila, 2D.

14 Alan Truex, “Tommie,” Atlanta Journal, July 24, 1974: 1-E, 8-E; Frank Hyland, “Hank,” Atlanta Journal, July 24, 1974: 1-E, 8-E. Fittingly, these two articles were printed side by side.

15 Aaron with Wheeler, I Had a Hammer, 384-385. Henry added that he could understand sportswriters’ perception that he was contradictory, but he was particularly bothered by Hyland – see Note 14 – writing that Henry had either lied to Atlanta sportswriters or on national television.

16 Aaron with Wheeler, 385.

17 Vic Culp, “R-Braves Receive Belloir and LaCorte,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 1, 1978: C-1.

18 Atlanta Braves’ Public Relations Department, Atlanta Braves 1984 Guide for Press, Radio and Television, February 15, 1984: 7.

19 Eddie Augustine, “Oh, Brother! Tommie Aaron ‘Hank’ers for Fame,” Anderson (South Carolina) Independent, July 11, 1981: 1B. The Anderson Braves played in the South Atlantic League.

20 Gerry Fraley, “Braves Mourn Loss of Tommie Aaron – Coach and Friend,” Atlanta Journal, August 17, 1984: 3-D; “Funeral Service Held in Mobile for Tommie Aaron,” Atlanta Daily World, August 24, 1984: 7. Fraley included a bit of trivia by reporting that on May 27, 1962, Aaron set a major-league record for most double plays initiated by a first baseman (3).

21 Bryant, The Last Hero, 449.

22 Aaron with Wheeler, 434.

23 Bryant, 449.

24 Schlossberg, Home Run King, 132.