Monagan: The untold story of one of baseball’s greatest pitchers, John Donaldson
From Matt Monagan at MLB.com on February 15, 2020, with mention of SABR member Peter Gorton:
When you first Google the name “John Donaldson,” you won’t find much of anything related to baseball.
There’s economist John Donaldson, there’s Vanna White’s longtime boyfriend John Donaldson, there’s even this very serious looking chess player named John Donaldson.
But keep searching.
You’ll find some other John Donaldson, a second baseman from the 1960s, who comes up first on baseball-reference. Sweet baseball card, but not the one we’re looking for.
Eventually, you’ll find the John in question, but unless you know better, you’ll just move on. Six seasons? A 23-22 record?
But then maybe you’ll do a little more sleuthing, and you’ll come across The John Donaldson Network. The John Donaldson pot of gold. Thousands upon thousands of newspaper clippings, stats, videos and quotes about the left-handed wonder.
And then you’ll see the numbers.
33 years pitching. 413 wins. 5,081 strikeouts. 14 no-hitters. Two perfect games.
It can’t be real, you’ll say to yourself. How have I never heard of this guy?
Read the full article here: https://www.mlb.com/news/the-amazing-negro-leagues-player-john-donaldson
Originally published: February 24, 2020. Last Updated: February 24, 2020.