Whirty: Top black baseball pitcher Yellowhorse Morris played briefly in Iowa
From SABR member Ryan Whirty at the Des Moines Register on April 4, 2015:
For an ever-so-brief few months in the 1930s, the Van Dyke Colored House of David’s pitching staff was anchored by mound ace Harold “Yellowhorse” Morris, whose career bordered on the mythical.
Morris’ exploits, adventures and travels are the stuff of legend among the Negro Leagues community, with the details frequently veering toward the fantastical. Criss-crossing the country, playing for whichever team could offer him the most lucrative payday, Morris became a type of Negro Leagues cipher at a talent level just below that of his big-time, Hall-of-Fame equivalent, Satchel Paige.
One story has a team bus breaking down on the barren plains of central Canada and his team abandoning Morris in the middle of nowhere. Whether that story is true or mythos almost doesn’t matter; the fact that it’s survived this long is testimony to Yellowhorse’s status in the pantheon of Negro Leagues characters.
Read the full article here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/life/2015/04/04/sioux-city-baseball-yellowhorse-morris/70762130/
Originally published: April 6, 2015. Last Updated: April 6, 2015.